This pilot study investigated some relationships between tested ability variables and processing parameters obtained from memory search and visual search tasks. The 25 undergraduates who participated had also participated in a previous investigation by Chiang and Atkinson. A battery of traditional ability tests and several film tests were administered to all students. One of the film tests was designed to produce backward masking effect in short term visual memory. Factor scores were computed separately for ability tests and the short term visual memory test; these scores and other raw variables were then correlated with the slope, intercept, and digit span parameters from the Chiang and Atkinson study. In general, the correlations between parameters and ability variables were low, and the regression of parameters on ability variables yielded larger R's than the regressions of abilities on the parameters. The short term visual memory film test did not correlate more substantially with the processing parameters than it did with the ability factors. The overall pattern of correlation was interpreted in terms of an information processing model in which general ability is viewed as the executive function that selects, creates, and implements programs that process and store information. (Author/VT)