Ability factors and cognitive processes

Abstract

Several measures of the speed of information processing were related to ability factors derived from the Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Ninety-one college students took a battery of paper and pencil tests designed to measure four ability factors: fluid intelligence (Gf), crystallized intelligence (Gc), spatial visualization (Gv), and clerical perceptual speed (CPS). They also performed paper and pencil and computerized versions of three information processing tasks: mental rotations, letter matching, and sentence verification. Correlations among the ability measures, among the information processing measures, and between the two domains were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The four ability factors were found to be largely independent in this college population. Speed of letter-matching and sentence verification were highly correlated, but neither was related to speed of mental rotation. Mental rotation speed was strongly correlated with Gv; letter matching speed was correlated with CPS; and sentence verification speed was correlated with both Gc and CPS.

Numerical cognition: On the convergence of componential and psychometric models

“…In this previous study, a path coefficient of -.879, estimating the relationship between the elementary operations subsumed by the Arithmetic Processes factor and performance on the measures of Numerical Facility, was found. For the current sample, estimation of the identical path produced a highly com- The directed path from the Intercept: Encode-Decide-Respond IP factor to the Perceptual Speed ability factor was also estimated in an attempt to replicate previous results (Geary & Widaman, 1987;Hunt et al, 1975;Lansman et at., 1982). Here, the value of the resulting path coefficient, -.538, was lower than was found for a sample of undergraduate students (-.707; Geary & Widaman, 1987), but the same basic relationship was replicated.…”

“…Each of the five directed paths relating the IP factors to the test factors was driven by this theoretical consideration (Keating et al, 1985;Keating & MacLean, 1987). First, based on our earlier finding (Geary & Widaman, 1987), a directed path from the Arithmetic Processes IP factor to the Numerical Facility ability factor was estimated, as was a second directed path from the Intercept: Encode-Decid Respond latent variable to the Perceptual Speed factor (Geary & Widama 1987;Hunt et al, 1975;Lansman et al, 1982). Directed paths from the Wor ing-Memory Capacity factor to both the General Reasoning factor and the Mex ory Span factor were estimated, based on Carroll's (1976) task analysis of earlier version of these ability measures.…”

“…The measures of perceptual speed were included in this study in an attempt to repli. cate previous findings that supported a relation between rate of executing basic processes (e.g., encoding of integers) and performance on these ability test, (Geary & Widaman, 1987;Hunt et al, 1975;Lansman et al, 1982). The basic numerical operations were identified within the context of a more general componential model for cognitive arithmetic.…”

“…Such a finding would strongly suggest that the same cognitive processes have been isolated with rather different research traditions; the first focusing on individual differences on traditional paper-and-pencil ability measures, and the second concerned with identification and elucidation of mental processes by means of the experimental method (Hunt, 1978). Previous studies that have attempted to demonstrate empirically a relationship between psychometrically derived ability measures and parameters that reflected elementary cognitive operations in the same domain (such as verbal ability), have produced mixed results (Hunt, Lunneborg, & Lewis, 1975;Keating, List, & Merriman, 1985;Lansman, Donaldson, Hunt, & Yantis, 1982;Sternberg & Gardner, 1983). In fact, many of these studies failed to demonstrate a readily interpretable pattern of relationships between parameters derived through experimental and chronometric techniques and performance on traditional ability measures (e.g., Keating et al, 1985; for a critical review of this area, see Keating & MacLean, 1987).…”

A Psychometric Analysis of a Three‐dimensional Spatial Task

“…An interesting implication of this model is its possible compatibility with the "slope and intercept" methodology commonly used by cognitive researchers interested in individual differences (e.g., Lansman, Donaldson, Hunt, & Yantis (1982). The slope and intercept methodology calls for computing the regression of response time on item attributes such as angular disparity, for each subject.…”