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. 2022 Nov:106:103429.
doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103429. Epub 2022 Oct 25.

Link between fluid/crystallized intelligence and global/local visual abilities across adulthood

Gaelle E Doucet  1 , Noah Hamlin  2 , Jordanna A Kruse  2 , Brittany K Taylor  3 , Nicolas Poirel  4
Affiliations

Link between fluid/crystallized intelligence and global/local visual abilities across adulthood

Gaelle E Doucet et al. Conscious Cogn. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Human visual processing involves the extraction of both global and local information from a visual stimulus. Such processing may be related to cognitive abilities, which is likely going to change over time as we age. We aimed to investigate the impact of healthy aging on the association between visual global vs local processing and intelligence. In this context, we collected behavioral data during a visual search task in 103 adults (50 younger/53 older). We extracted three metrics reflecting global advantage (faster global than local processing), and visual interference in detecting either local or global features (based on interfering visual distractors). We found that older, but not younger, adults with higher levels of fluid and crystallized intelligence showed stronger signs of global advantage and interference effects during local processing, respectively. The present findings also provide promising clues regarding how participants consider and process their visual world in healthy aging.

Keywords: Crystallized intelligence; Fluid intelligence; Global precedence effect; Healthy aging; Visual processing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. Stimuli with global and local hierarchical levels
Note. The target is a square at one of the levels. In the task used in the present experiment, a square is the predefined target and could be absent or present at either level.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.. Distribution of the variables of interest
Note. (A) Global advantage index (L0D-G0D); (B) Distractor-Interference Index for Local processing (L5D-L0D); (C) Interference-to-Distractor Index during Global processing (G5D-G0D).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.. Association between efficiency ratios and global advantage (A), Distractor-Interference Index for Local processing (B), and Distractor-Interference Index for Global processing (C)
Note. No interactions with the age groups were detected.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.. Association between intelligence scores and global advantage index (A) and Distractor-Interference Index for local processing (B)
Note. Both panels show a significant interaction with age groups, where the older, but not the younger, group demonstrates a significant positive association between the variables of interest.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.. Results of the mediation analyses
Note. (A) model predicting global advantage index (GAI, L0D-G0D); (B) model predicting Distractor-Interference Index for Local processing (DIIL, L5D-L0D). Straight and darker lines indicate significant relationships. Dashed and Lighter lines indicate non-significant links. For the effects of intelligence scores on GAI and DIIL, values outside of parentheses are direct effects, and values italicized inside parentheses are total effects. All reported effects are standardized.
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