Intelligence
Manuel Gerardo Saldivar, M.Ed.
Higher-level Cognition
Fall 2008
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
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A few metaphors
Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox
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A few metaphors
Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox
Intelligence is..?
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A few metaphors
Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox
Intelligence is..?
Uni-dimensional ------------ Multi-dimensional
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A few metaphors
Isaiah Berlin: the hedgehog and the fox
Intelligence is..?
Uni-dimensional ------------ Multi-dimensional
Fixed ---------------------------------------- Unfixed
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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
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Neisser, et. al.
Intelligence: Knowns & unknowns (cont.)
• Group differences in intelligence
– Nature vs. nurture
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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
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Gray, et. al.
Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence
• Hypothesis1: there is “a covariation of gF with
brain activity in regions that are critical for
attentional control” (p. 316)
• Hypothesis2: “the relationship between gF and
brain activity should be stronger under highinterference conditions than under lowinterference conditions” (p. 316)
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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Slides available for download:
www.SaldivarResearch.com
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