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. 2008 Apr;15(2):364-71.
doi: 10.3758/pbr.15.2.364.

Why is working memory related to fluid intelligence?

Timothy A Salthouse  1 , Jeffrey E Pink
Affiliations

Why is working memory related to fluid intelligence?

Timothy A Salthouse et al. Psychon Bull Rev. 2008 Apr.

Abstract

Nearly 1,000 adults performed a battery of cognitive tests and working memory tasks requiring simultaneous storage and processing of information. Because the amount of to-be-remembered information, or set size, varied randomly across trials, the relation between fluid intelligence and working memory could be examined across different levels of complexity and across successive trials in the working memory tasks. Strong influences of fluid intelligence were apparent in the simplest versions and on the initial trials in the working memory tasks, which suggests that the relation between working memory and fluid intelligence is not dependent on the amount of information that must be maintained, or on processes that occur over the course of performing the tasks.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Illustration of a model to investigate the influence of Gf on successive elements in an ordered sequence after taking influences on earlier elements in the sequence into consideration.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Means (and standard errors) for the proportion of correctly recalled items in the working memory tasks as a function of set size.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Standardized regression coefficients derived from the model in Figure 1, with the elements in the sequence corresponding to increases in set size.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Means (and standard errors) for the number of items correctly recalled as a function of trial number in the Symmetry Span and operation Span tasks.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Standardized regression coefficients derived from the model in Figure 1, with the elements in the sequence corresponding to successive trials.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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