Which working memory functions predict intelligence?

doi:10.1016/j.intell.2008.01.007

Intelligence

Volume 36, Issue 6, November–December 2008, Pages 641-652

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2008.01.007 Get rights and content

Abstract

Investigates the relationship between three factors of working memory (storage and processing, relational integration, and supervision) and four factors of intelligence (reasoning, speed, memory, and creativity) using structural equation models. Relational integration predicted reasoning ability at least as well as the storage-and-processing construct. Supervision, measured as specific switch costs, was not related to intelligence, but general switch costs were moderately correlated to the reasoning factor. The results question the view of working memory as a device for storage and processing, and the executive-attention account of working memory. They are better explained by theories describing working memory as a system for building relational representations through temporary bindings between component representations.

Section snippets

Method

The present data come from the study first reported in Oberauer et al. (2003). That report focused exclusively on the structure of WMC.

Results

We analyzed the data through a series of structural equation models (the full correlation matrix is given in the Appendix A). First, separate measurement models for intelligence and for the WMC and supervision variables were established. Intelligence was modeled by four correlated factors representing the functional factors of the BIS (Fig. 1, left). The measurement model for WMC and supervision (Fig. 1, right) was the one presented in Oberauer et al. (2003). We explored two ways of specifying

Discussion

Our results provide strong evidence for the hypothesis that the common variance of WMC and reasoning centrally includes the ability to form new structural representations (Oberauer et al., 2007). The RI tasks were explicitly constructed to capture this construct, and they have proven to be at least as good as dual-task combinations of storage and concurrent processing in predicting reasoning. The predictive power of RI was retained even with tasks that did not require any storage in the

Acknowledgement

The research reported in this article was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, grant WI 1390/1).

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View full text

Which working memory functions predict intelligence?

Abstract

Section snippets

Method

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgement

Working memory and intelligence: The same or different constructs?

Psychological Bulletin

Time constraints and resource sharing in adults' working memory spans

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Reasoning = working memory ≠ attention

Intelligence

Cognitive abilities and their interplay. Reasoning, crystallized intelligence, working memory components, and sustained attention

Journal of Individual Differences

Proactive interference and item similarity in working memory

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition

Memory for serial order: A network model of the phonological loop and its timing

Psychological Review

Spatial reasoning

Journal of Memory and Language

Intellectual development: Birth to adulthood

Complex span tasks, simple span tasks, and cognitive abilities: A reanalysis of key studies

Memory & Cognition

Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user's guide

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Individual differences in working memory and reading

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Not all executive functions are related to intelligence

Psychological Science

How many variables can humans process?

Psychological Science

Processing capacity defined by relational complexity: Implications for comparative, developmental, and cognitive psychology

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

The role of short-term working memory in mental arithmetic

Cognitive Psychology

Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives

Structural Equation Modeling

The effects of processing time and processing rate on forgetting in working memory: Testing four models of the complex span paradigm

Memory & Cognition

Test für das Berliner Intelligenzstrukturmodell (BIS)

Deductive reasoning

Annual Review of Psychology

Working-memory capacity, proactive interference, and divided attention: Limits on long-term memory retrieval

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

The role of prefrontal cortex in working-memory capacity, executive attention, and general fluid intelligence: An individual-differences perspective

Psychonomic Bulletin and Review