Mental chronometry (MC) studies cognitive processes measured by time. It provides an absolute, ratio scale. The limitations of instrumentation and statistical analysis caused the early studies in MC to be eclipsed by the "paper-and-pencil" psychometric tests started by Binet. However, they use an age-normed, rather than a ratio scale, which…

Although it is well established that preterms as a group do poorly relative to their full-term peers on tests of global cognitive functioning, the basis for this relative deficiency is less understood. The present paper examines preterm deficits in core cognitive abilities and determines their role in mediating preterm/full-term differences in IQ.…

Various taxonomies of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) items have been proposed in the literature to account for performance on the test. In the present article, three such taxonomies based on information processing, namely Carpenter, Just and Shell's [Carpenter, P.A., Just, M.A., & Shell, P., (1990). What one intelligence test…

Despite certain limitations, factor analysis aids in the identification and characterization of cognitive processes. Variables manipulated for this purpose must be well constructed psychometrically, and it is desirable to dissect tasks into hypothesized components and to use factor analysis in conjunction with other techniques. Well-known…

The relation between general intelligence (psychometric "g") and temporal resolution capacity of the central nervous system was examined by assessing performance on eight different temporal tasks in a sample of 100 participants. Correlational and principal component analyses suggested a unitary timing mechanism, referred to as temporal "g".…

The aims of this study were to investigate whether the executive functions, inhibition, shifting, and updating, are distinguishable as latent variables (common factors) in children aged 9 to 12, and to examine the relations between these executive functions and reading, arithmetic, and (non)verbal reasoning. Confirmatory factor analysis was used…

Event-related potentials (ERPs) and reaction time (RT) were recorded concurrently during performance of 6 simple cognitive tasks by 30 right-handed women who varied in mental ability. Results suggest that ERPs and RT may assess stimulus evaluation time and the response-production time components of cognitive information processing. (Author/SLD)

A battery of information processing measures and psychometric tests of specific and general cognitive abilities was administered to 34 monozygotic and 13 dizygotic reared apart twin pairs or triplets. Correlations between information processing parameters and psychometric abilities as well as twin resemblances for the information processing…

Six points of view regarding the future of intelligence testing are considered, and a "prototypical" point of view is presented. The past history and present status of intelligence testing and research are considered. Their future is discussed in terms of assessment of various kinds of components of intelligence. (Author/RD)

Mildly retarded young adults were given simple and choice reaction time (RT) tests. Subjects' RTs increased with stimulus complexity. RTs of retarded subjects were slower and evidenced more intraindividual variability than those of nonretarded subjects. Several RT parameters were related to measures of intelligence. (Author/RD)

The generality of ability factor structure in adulthood and old age was investigated. Data were analyzed for 198 young individuals (15-32 years), 156 younger old individuals (53-68 years), and 156 older old individuals (69-91). Variables were nine tests marking three ability factors. (Author/CTM)

This article analyzes if working memory (WM) is especially important to understand "g." WM comprises the functions of focusing attention, conscious rehearsal, and transformation and mental manipulation of information, while "g" reflects the component variance that is common to all tests of ability. The centrality of WM in individual differences in…

This study explored the structure of elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs) and relations between the corresponding construct(s) with processing speed (Gs) and fluid intelligence (Gf). Participants (N=321) completed 14 ECTs, 3 Gs, and 6 Gf marker tests, all administered in paper-and-pencil format to reduce potential confounds evident when tasks are…

When the mathematics and extended range vocabulary subtests on the Relief Format Assessment Test were factor analyzed, altitude estimation (predicted by mathematics aptitude) and terrain analysis (predicted by vocabulary skills) were found to underly map-reading performance. Solutions were found to be dependent on verbal-analytic ability more than…

The hierarchical and radex models of ability organization are shown to be parallel. Both suggest a complexity continuum for cognitive performance tasks which, in the radex model, corresponds to the general-to-specific dimension in factor analyses. The bases for this continuum indicate its importance for theories of intelligence. (Author/RD)