1. Intelligence Manuel Gerardo Saldivar, M.Ed. Higher-level Cognition Fall 2008

2. 2 Outline Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, J. R. Jr., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. F., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996, February). Intelligence: Knowns & unknowns. American Psychologist, 51(2), 77-101. Gray, JR, Chabris, CF, & Braver, TS (2003). Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 316-322. Conway, ARA, Kane, MJ, & Engle, RW (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 547-552

3. 3 A few metaphors Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox

4. 4 A few metaphors Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox Intelligence is..?

5. 5 A few metaphors Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox Intelligence is..? Uni-dimensional ------------ Multi-dimensional

6. 6 A few metaphors Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox Intelligence is..? Uni-dimensional ------------ Multi-dimensional Fixed ---------------------------------------- Unfixed

7. 7 Neisser, et. al. Intelligence: Knowns & unknowns Origins of intelligence testing and psychometrics Multiple forms of intelligence Cultural variation – how to define intelligence? –Intelligence: predictor variable or outcome variable? Genetic roots of intelligence

8. 8 Neisser, et. al. Intelligence: Knowns & unknowns (cont.) Group differences in intelligence –Nature vs. nurture

9. 9 Gray, et. al. Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence Focuses on gF (general fluid intelligence): “is a major dimension of individual differences and refers to reasoning and novel problem-solving ability” (p. 316) –Related to meta-cognition, working memory, and attentional control –Neural substrate of gF includes PFC

10. 10 Gray, et. al. Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence Hypothesis 1 : there is “a covariation of gF with brain activity in regions that are critical for attentional control” (p. 316) Hypothesis 2 : “the relationship between gF and brain activity should be stronger under high- interference conditions than under low- interference conditions” (p. 316)

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14. 14 Conway, et. al. Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence Focuses on WMC (working memory capacity): “the ability to remember things in an immediate-memory task (a task with no delay between the end of the presentation of items to be recalled and the period of recall itself)” (Cowan, p. 3). Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. New York: Psychology Press.

15. 15 Conway, et. al. Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence Spearman’s g: the ‘general intelligence factor’ Spearman, C. (1904). “General intelligence," objectively determined and measured. American Journal of Psychology, 15, 201-293.

16. 16 Conway, et. al. Latent variables cannot be directly measured –Ex.: math aptitude Factor analysis allows for the measurement of ‘principal components’ and their relation to underlying constructs

17. 17 Conway, et. al. Conclusions: WMC accounts for 1/3 to 1/2 of the variance of g “WM span tasks… require the active maintenance of information in the face of concurrent processing and interference… an executive attention-control mechanism [combats] interference” (p. 551) This executive module is located in the PFC

18. 18 Slides available for download: www.SaldivarResearch.com