Evaluating relational reasoning ability with the Semantic Similarities Test: The impact of fluid intelligence and vocabulary indices

Abstract

This study investigated the roles of fluid intelligence, semantic knowledge, and personality using the semantic similarity test (SST), which assesses participants’ relational reasoning abilities. Based on the original SST (Stamenković et al., Journal of Memory and Language, 105: 108–118, 2019), in Study 1, we developed the Japanese version of the SST with 20-word pairs (e.g., “time-river”) and rubrics (e.g., “it flows” corresponds to 2 pts) to classify participants’ brief explanations into three levels (2 pts, perfectly captures the relationship of two words; 1 pt, partially captures the relationship of two words; 0 pt, bad response) for each. In Studies 2 and 4, we confirmed that the SST scores showed a weak to moderate positive correlation with both vocabulary indices (the Japanese Vocabulary Size Estimation Test and vocabulary test derived from the WAIS-IV Vocabulary subscale) and the fluid intelligence index (Raven Progressive Matrices Short); however, it did not show a positive correlation with openness. In Study 3, we confirmed that the SST had reasonable test–retest reliability. These results showed that the Japanese version of the SST is related to both semantic knowledge and fluid intelligence, but has a limited relationship with the Big Five personality traits, especially openness.