Three studies of college students found a sex difference in the correlation of memory scanning rate, short- and long-term components of free recall, and word recognition with memory span. Findings are discussed in terms of prior work and a theory presented to account for the obtained sex differences. (Author/RD)

The relationship between elementary operations underlying processing of numerical information and performance on psychometrically derived ability measures requiring processing of numbers but defining separate ability factors was studied for 102 Air Force recruits (54 males and 48 females). Patterns of convergent and discriminate relationships for…

Measurement and psychometric quality of the Sternberg task (S. Sternberg, 1966, 1969), a memory search task, was investigated with 78 undergraduates. Individual performance was fairly homogeneous across responses, fairly unstable over time, and fairly stable across stimulus content. Implications for individual differences research are discussed.…

This study examined the phenotypic and genotypic relationship between working memory speed (WMS) and working memory capacity (WMC) in 12-year-old twins and their siblings (N = 409). To asses WMS all children performed a reaction time task with three memory loads from which a basic mental speed measure and the derived slope were used. WMC was…

Most psychometric tests of spatial ability are paper-and-pencil tasks at the ''figural'' scale of space, in that they involve inspecting, imagining or mentally transforming small shapes or manipulable objects. Environmental spatial tasks, such as wayfinding or learning the layout of a building or city, are carried out in larger spaces that…

Data from 33 separate studies were combined to create an aggregate data set consisting of 16 cognitive variables and 6832 different individuals who ranged between 18 and 95 years of age. Analyses were conducted to determine where in a hierarchical structure of cognitive abilities individual differences associated with age, gender, education, and…

To determine whether the visuospatial n-back working memory task is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive processes believed to underlie intelligence, this study compared the reaction times and accuracy of performance of 70 participants, with performance on the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB). Testing was conducted over two sessions…

Substitution tests have a long history in psychology because of their simplicity of administration and their sensitivity to individual differences related to complex cognitive performance. Despite their widespread use there is no agreement on what the substitution test measures. The present study approached this question by applying a method of…

Confirmatory factor analysis of Australian adaptations of combined Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) scores was conducted in a sample of 277 participants undergoing investigation for neurological disorders. The best-fitting model was a six-factor model representing the latent abilities of…

Investigated were the abilities of 98 educable mentally retarded adolescents to encode and retrieve words using semantic and acoustic cues in a free and cued recall task. Available from: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 355 Chestnut Street, Norwood, New Jersey 07648. (CL)

A novelty preference method was used to examine memory processes in retarded persons. Recognition memory as indexed by novel looking declined over the retention interval. Since memory is being inferred from response preferences which reflect an induced motivational state, satiation, the relationship between this state and memory must be…

The hypothesis that a task that increases in complexity (increasing its correlation with a central measure of intelligence) does so by increasing its dimensionality by tapping individual differences or another variable was supported by findings from 46 adults aged 20-70 years performing a mental counting task. (SLD)

Two experiments compared recognition memory of 85 nonretarded and 85 mildly mentally retarded adolescents immediately and 1 week after presentation of word stimuli of semantic incidental, nonsemantic incidental, or intentional orienting instructions. Results suggest similar processing in mildly retarded and nonretarded persons, with longer…

Explored the contribution of two working memory systems, the articulatory loop and the central executive, and short-term memory to the word recognition and comprehension deficits of children with learning disabilities. Results of 2 experiments with 150 children support the idea that poor word recognition and comprehension reflect deficits in a…

Two experiments examined whether correlations between IQ and probed serial running memory depend on IQ-related individual differences in the retention of order information in short-term memory. Children's IQ correlated with memory, regardless of whether instructions emphasized serial or free recall; and with recent item but not recent order…