Intelligence最新文献

Whether there is an association between intelligence and face processing ability (i.e., face detection, face perception and face memory) is contentious, with some suggesting a moderate, positive association and others contending there is no meaningful association. The inconsistent results may be due to sample size differences, as well as variability in the quality of intelligence measures administered. The establishment of a moderate, positive correlation between face processing and intelligence would suggest it may be integrated within the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of intelligence. Additionally, developmental prosopagnosia, a specific impairment of the recognition of facial identity, may be assessable in a manner similar to a learning disability. Consequently, we employed a psychometric meta-analytic approach to estimate the true score correlation between intelligence and face processing ability. Intelligence was positively and significantly correlated with face detection (r’ = 0.20; k = 2, N = 407), face perception (r’ = 0.42, k = 11, N = 2528), and face memory (r’ = 0.26, k = 23, N = 9062). Additionally, intelligence measurement quality moderated positively and significantly the association between intelligence and face memory (β = 0.08). On the basis of both theoretical and empirical considerations, we interpreted the results to suggest that face processing ability may be plausibly conceptualised within the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of intelligence, in a manner similar to other relatively narrow dimensions of cognitive ability, i.e., associated positively with intelligence, but also distinct (e.g., reading comprehension). Potential clinical implications for the assessment of developmental prosopagnosia are also discussed.

As applied to general intelligence, the Dunning-Kruger effect (DK) is the phenomenon in which individuals at the lower end of the intellectual ability distribution are more likely to overestimate their intelligence. In a recent article in Intelligence it was suggested that the DK is primarily a statistical artifact and, indeed, the application of more appropriate analyses led to a failure to replicate a significant effect. When some of the limitations (namely sample representativeness) were addressed and the more appropriate statistical methods were used in the current study, our analyses illustrated a statistically significant DK effect. However, the magnitude of the effect was minimal; bringing its meaningfulness into question. In conclusion, it is recommended that the conditions that result in a significant DK be further explored.

In STEM fields other than biological sciences (math-intensive STEM), there is a greater ratio of males to females (M:F ratio) than that of the general population. The Ability Distribution Hypothesis suggests that this is mainly due to greater male variance in g. Others hypothesize that this is due to sex differences in occupational interests. There has not been an empirical study to evaluate which kind of differences has greater effects on the M:F ratios in math-intensive STEM fields. To fill the gap, we examine the test scores, application for majors and final admissions in a complete dataset of college entrance. We study the M:F ratios of four math-intensive STEM majors: Economics, Engineering, Computer Science and Physical sciences and Math. In summary, we find that greater male variance exists in total test scores; greater male variance partially explains the female underrepresentation in the upper tails of total test scores; men appear to have stronger interests in Engineering and Computer Science than women, while women appear to have stronger interests in Economics and to a lesser extent Physical sciences and Math than men; compared to sex differences in test scores, sex differences in major-choosing appear to have stronger effects on the M:F ratios of math-intensive STEM majors.

Around one third of people across populations hold beliefs in epistemically unwarranted claims and theories. Why this effect is so strong remains elusive. In three studies (total N = 827), we clarified the relationships of fluid reasoning ability, analytic thinking style (indexed by non-intuitiveness and open-mindedness), and unwarranted beliefs in pseudoscience, paranormal phenomena, and conspiracy theories. Fluid reasoning predicted about 11% of variance in rejection of pseudoscience, but only 4% – in paranormal beliefs, and less than 2.5% – in conspiracist beliefs. By contrast, analytic thinking substantially predicted rejection of all the three kinds of beliefs, explaining 37% variance in pseudoscience and around 20% variance in paranormal and conspiracist beliefs. A novel finding indicated that fluid reasoning and analytic thinking predicted rejection of pseudoscience in an over-additive interaction. Fluid reasoning and analytic thinking explained the common variance shared by unwarranted beliefs, but not the belief-specific variance. Their relationships with unwarranted beliefs were stronger for males than for females. Overall, the three studies suggest that analytic thinking is more important than cognitive ability for adopting epistemically supported world-view.

Intelligence and complex problem solving (CPS) correlate closely, but little is known about the mechanism that translates intelligence into successful CPS. Therefore, this study considered the strategic exploration behaviors VOTAT (vary-one-thing-at-a-time) and NOTAT (vary no-thing-at-a-time) as possible mediators. A sample of 495 high-school students worked on nine CPS tasks, six of which with solely direct effects and three with direct and eigendynamic effects. We expected substantial mediation effects if the applied strategic behaviors were optimal to identify the particular underlying effect types (i.e., direct effects: VOTAT; direct and eigendynamic effects: VOTAT and NOTAT). The model for tasks with only direct effects revealed VOTAT and NOTAT to be substantial mediators: Whereas VOTAT showed substantial positive relations to intelligence and CPS performance, NOTAT unexpectedly showed substantial negative relations. Both VOTAT and NOTAT resulted in significant indirect mediation effects. The model for tasks with direct and eigendynamic effects showed substantial positive relations of VOTAT and NOTAT to intelligence and CPS-performance and resulted in significant and positive indirect mediation effects. Moreover, the indirect effects differed between VOTAT and NOTAT and across the two facets of CPS performance. Overall, strategic exploration behaviors are relevant for explaining the g-CPS-relation.

Tilt refers to a pattern of specific abilities and is based on within subject differences in two abilities (spatial and academic), yielding relative strength in one ability (spatial) and weakness in another ability (academic). The current study examined sex differences in spatial and mechanical tilt. Tilt was measured using the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Tilt was based on spatial and mechanical abilities contrasted with academic abilities (math or verbal), producing spatial and mechanical tilt (spatial/mechanical > academic) and academic tilt (academic > spatial/mechanical). For males and females, spatial and mechanical tilt correlated negatively with verbal and math scores on college tests (SAT, ACT, PSAT), indicating that spatial and mechanical tilt predicted low scores on the college tests. In addition, for males and females, spatial and mechanical tilt predicted jobs and college majors in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), with stronger effects for spatial and mechanical tilt contrasted with verbal ability. Although levels of mechanical tilt were higher for males, levels of spatial tilt showed no sex differences, a pattern that could be attributed to the spatial ability measured (visualization). In addition, no consistent sex differences in tilt relations with diverse criteria (tests, jobs, majors) were found. The results support investment theories and research on sex differences in vocational preferences for people versus things. Such theories assume that males prefer working with things and machines, boosting mechanical tilt, whereas females prefer working with people and in (non-technical) humanities fields, boosting academic tilt. Future research should consider tilt patterns in other developmental periods and examine whether tilt varies with ability level, as predicted by differentiation theories.

The study uses PISA data to evaluate cognitive development trade-offs between numeracy and literacy skills. The compendious literature validating the educational and financial gains from technical education fails to address the potential underdevelopment of verbal skills. Exploiting academic tracking in Italy’s high school education with distinctive Liberal Arts (n = 841) and STEM (n = 1968) pathways, the study rules out any cognitive trade-off and estimates the STEM premium on the reading section at about one-fifth of an international standard deviation (20 PISA points). Decomposition of the education production function reveals that the technical track outperforms Liberal Arts due to greater educational production efficiency overcompensating for worse educational production inputs. Further regression analysis links the STEM advantage to the four additional instructional units in math and physics. Robustness checks conducted using TIMSS and PIRLS test scores exclude that effects are secondary to differences in preexisting levels of student skills.¹

Generational IQ test score changes (the Flynn effect) were globally positive over large parts of the 20th century. However, accumulating evidence of recent studies shows a rather inconsistent pattern in past decades. Patterns of recently observed test score changes appeared to be markedly different in strength and even signs between countries and domains. Because of between-study design differences and data availability in terms of differing IQ domains, it is so far unclear if these inconsistencies represent a consequence of differences in Flynn effect trajectories between countries, covered time-spans, or investigated IQ domains. Here, we present data from 36 largely population-representative Germanophone standardization samples from 12 well-established psychometric tests (17 subtests) of 10 stratum II domains from 1996 to 2018, thus providing a comprehensive assessment of domain-specific changes according to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll intelligence model. Examination of both raw score and measurement-invariant latent mean changes yielded positive (comprehension-knowledge, learning-efficiency, domain-specific knowledge), negative (working memory capacity), stagnating (processing speed, reading and writing), and ambiguous (fluid reasoning, reaction and decision speed, quantitative knowledge, visual processing) stratum II Flynn effects. This means that in the present sample, the Flynn effect is surprisingly differentiated on domain level and does not conform to the frequently observed IQ test score gains in crystallized and fluid intelligence. These findings could be attributed to either (i) a so far undetected domain-specificity of the Flynn effect due to an unavailability of test data beyond crystallized and fluid domains or (ii) a symptom for an impending stagnation of the Flynn effect.

Substantial improvements in factors such as microbiological quality have been noted in laboratory rodent (mouse [Mus musculus] and rat [Rattus norvegicus]) populations over the last 140 years, since domestication of laboratory strains started. These environmental improvements may have caused Flynn effect-like cognitive changes to occur in these populations, perhaps if these improvements enhanced cognitive plasticity and, consequently, learning potential. While lack of relevant data precludes cross-temporal comparison of cognitive performance means of laboratory rodent populations, it is possible to estimate changes in the proportion of cognitive performance variance attributable to general cognitive ability (GCA) over time. This “differentiation effect” has been found to occur along with the Flynn effect in human populations, suggesting that environmental factors, possibly mediated by their effects on life history speed, may weaken the manifold of GCA across time, allowing for greater cultivation of specialized abilities. Meta-analysis of the literature on mouse and rat cognition yielded 25 mouse studies from which 28 GCA effect sizes could be estimated, and 10 rat studies from which 11 effect sizes could be estimated. Cross-temporal meta-analysis yielded evidence of significant “differentiation effects” spanning approximately a century in both mice and rats, which were independent of age, sex, factor estimation technique, and task number in the case of the mice, and both factor estimation technique and task number in the case of the rats. These trends were also independent of the random effect of strain in both cases. While this is suggestive of the presence of the Flynn effect in captive populations of non-human animals, there are still factors that might be confounding these results. This meta-analysis should be followed up with experimental investigation.