Intelligence and semen quality are positively correlated

Human cognitive abilities inter-correlate to form a positive matrix, from which a large first factor, called ‘Spearman's g’ or general intelligence, can be extracted. General intelligence itself is correlated with many important health outcomes including cardio-vascular function and longevity. However, the important evolutionary question of whether intelligence is a fitness-related trait has not been tested directly, let alone answered. If the correlations among cognitive abilities are part of a larger matrix of positive associations among fitness-related traits, then intelligence ought to correlate with seemingly unrelated traits that affect fitness—such as semen quality. We found significant positive correlations between intelligence and 3 key indices of semen quality: log sperm concentration (r = .15, p = .002), log sperm count (r = .19, p < .001), and sperm motility (r = .14, p = .002) in a large sample of US Army Veterans. None was mediated by age, body mass index, days of sexual abstinence, service in Vietnam, or use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or hard drugs. These results suggest that a phenotype-wide fitness factor may contribute to the association between intelligence and health. Clarifying whether a fitness factor exists is important theoretically for understanding the genomic architecture of fitness-related traits, and practically for understanding patterns of human physical and psychological health.     

Imaging intelligence with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) is a technique for the assay of brain neurochemistry in vivo. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), the most prominent metabolite visible within the ¹H-MRS spectrum, is found primarily within neurons. The current study was designed to further elucidate NAA–cognition relationships, particularly whether such relationships are moderated by sex, or tissue type (gray or white matter). We administered standard measures of intelligence to 63 young, healthy subjects and obtained spectroscopic imaging data within a slab of tissue superior to the lateral ventricles. We found that lower NAA within right anterior gray matter predicted better performance VIQ (F = 6.83, p = .011, r² = .10), while higher NAA within the right posterior gray matter region predicted better PIQ (F = 8.175, p = .006, r² = .12). These findings add to the small but growing body of literature linking brain biochemistry to intelligence in normal healthy subjects using ¹H-MRSI.     

Personality,intelligence and proof-reading

Two studies sought to determine personality and cognitive ability correlates of proof-reading. In both studies candidates were given 5 min to identify up to 55 errors in a 920 word, two page document. In Study 1, which tested 240 school children, fluid intelligence (as measured by the Baddeley Reasoning Test) was the highest correlate of proof-reading (r = .30). Eleven percent of the variance in total attempted scores was accounted for by intelligence, Introversion and low Conscientiousness. In the second study 70 undergraduates completed the same proof-reading test along with two intelligence tests (Baddeley Reasoning Test; Wonderlic Personnel Test) and a more robust personality measure (NEO-FFI). Proof-reading was correlated with both intelligence tests (Baddeley r = .45; Wonderlic r = .40). More of the variance was accounted for in the total attempted-score of errors than for a correct errors-detected score. When the two intelligence and five personality trait scores were regressed on to the proof-reading test score over a quarter of the variance (Adj R² = .28) was accounted for, but only the Baddeley test was a significant predictor (Beta = .39).     

A study of the performance of Egyptian college students on the Advanced Progressive Matrices

Results are reported for intelligence assessed with the Advanced Progressive Matrices of a sample of students at Ain-Shams University in Cairo (N = 2147). The Egyptian raw scores were transformed to British IQ equivalents using the published 1992 British norms for the APM, on which the sample obtained a British IQ of 89.5. Science students obtained a significantly higher average mean score than arts students by 7.5 IQ points. Male students obtained a non-significantly higher average IQ than female students 1.2 IQ points. Male students had greater variability than the female students.     

Sense of direction: General factor saturation and associations with the Big-Five traits

The ability to locate and orient ourselves with respect to environmental space is known as sense of direction (“SOD”). While there is considerable evidence for the predictive utility of self-report measures of this psychological construct, relatively little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the self-report scale by which it is most commonly measured – the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction scale (SBSOD, Hegarty et al., 2002) – or the broader personality correlates. The present study evaluated the factor structure of the SBSOD following administration to 12,155 individuals and situated it among prominent sources of individual differences, specifically the Big Five personality traits and intelligence. Findings suggest that the SBSOD scale has relatively high general factor saturation, and that a considerable portion of the variance in SBSOD scores is explained by other personality traits, including Conscientiousness (r = 0.33), Intellect (r = 0.27), Emotional Stability (r = 0.26), and Extraversion (r = 0.23). Cognitive ability was less highly correlated with SBSOD scores when measured at the level of general intelligence (r = 0.11) and in terms of mental rotation ability (r = .07). Recommendations are given for revision of the SBSOD scale based on item-level analyses.     

Marital status and reproduction: Associations with childhood intelligence and adult social class in the Aberdeen children of the 1950s study

Childhood intelligence (age 11) and occupational social status at midlife (age 46 to 51) was associated with marital status and reproduction in a sample from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort study (N = 9614).Male and female divorcees had lower childhood intelligence test scores than their married counterparts, but no meaningful difference was found between ever- and never-married individuals. Lower occupational social status increased the odds of being never-married, divorced, separated or widowed compared to being married by 53% to 26% in men (N = 2716) but not in women (N = 2920). Higher intelligence scores were associated with being married rather than divorced at midlife with odds ratios (OR) of 0.86 (Confidence Interval of 95% of 0.76 to 0.99) in men, and 0.87 (0.77 to 0.98) in women.In men, lower intelligence predicted having offspring (0.69; 0.59 to 0.81), while in women, higher occupational status was associated with lower odds of having children (0.66; 0.55 to 0.76). An interaction term showed that high intelligence women remained childless in the top occupational classes but, in the lower social groups, mothers were more intelligent than their childless peers. Intelligence or occupational status were not associated with the number of offspring in both sexes.     

Walking impairs cognitive performance among people with multiple sclerosis but not controls

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) complain of problems completing two tasks simultaneously; sometimes called ‘dual-tasking’ (DT). Previous research in DT among people with MS has focused on how adding a cognitive task interferes with gait and few have measured how adding a motor task could interfere with cognition. We aimed to determine the extent to which walking affects a concurrent working memory task in people with MS compared to healthy controls. We recruited MS participants (n = 13) and controls (n = 10) matched by age (±3 years), education (±3 years) and gender. Participants first completed the cognitive task (subtracting 7’s from the previous number) and then again while walking on an instrumented walkway. Although there were no baseline differences in cognition or walking between MS participants and controls, MS participants demonstrated a 52% decrease in number of correct answers during DT (p < 0.001). Mental Tracking Rate (% correct answers/min) correlated strongly with MS-related disability measured using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS; r(11) = −0.68, p < 0.01). We propose that compromised mental tracking during walking could be related to limited neural resource capacity and could be a potentially useful outcome measure to detect ecologically valid dual tasking impairments.     

The relation between empathy and offending: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of k = 38 studies (60 independent effect sizes), including 6631 participants, was conducted to investigate whether differences in cognitive and affective empathy exist between offenders and non-offenders. Cognitive empathy was more strongly associated with offending (d = .43) than affective empathy (d = .19). Moderator analyses revealed that various study and participant characteristics (i.e., year of publication, impact factor, age and sex of the participant, and assessment instrument) influenced the strength and direction of the association between cognitive empathy and offending. Type of assessment instrument, the number of variables on which the offender and comparison group were matched, age and sex of the participants influenced the strength of the association between affective empathy and offending.     

Le fonctionnement cognitif d’enfants atypiques à travers leur QI

The aim of this study is to find out whether atypical children – high potential children (IQ > 130, n = 10) versus intellectually delayed children (IQ < 75, n = 10) – present not only quantitative but also qualitative differences in regard to their IQ. Children are sampled according to school performance and paired with a control group (age, gender and socioprofessional context), therefore a total sample of 40 children. After analyzing individual and average profiles in the WISC-IV and two other cognitive tasks – a computerized version of Kohs’ Block Task (Samuel) and a cognitive version of Wechsler's Similarities – we suggest that the bases of intelligence are not the same depending on the IQ-level. Gifted children are not more heterogeneous as the control group, but their crystallised intelligence seems particularly well-developed due to a snowball effect of Gc. Moreover, they show better real-time learning abilities in Samuel. Profiles of intellectually delayed children are more homogeneous and imply a general deficiency, particularly in processing resources and the capacity for abstraction.     

Childhood IQ and in-service mortality in Scottish Army personnel during World War II

The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) provides a record of intelligence test scores for almost a complete year-of-birth group of children born in 1921. By linking UK Army personnel records, the Scottish National War Memorial data, and the SMS1932 dataset it was possible to examine the effect of childhood intelligence scores on wartime military service mortality in males. There were 491 matches between World War II (WWII) Scottish Army fatalities and the SMS1932 database; 470 (96%) had an age 11 mental ability score recorded. The mean (S.D.) age 11 IQ score of those who died on active service in WWII was 100.78 (15.56), compared with 97.42 (14.87) for male Army survivors (p < 0.0001; Cohen's d = 0.22). Men who took part in the SMS1932 and who were not found in the Army database had a higher mean score (100.45, S.D. =14.97) than those men who had been in the Army, regardless of whether they died or survived (mean IQ = 97.66, S.D. = 14.94; p < 0.0001; Cohen's d = 0.19). Male soldiers with a higher childhood IQ had a slightly increased risk of dying during active service in WWII. Men who did not join the Army had a higher IQ than men who did. Further research in this area should consider naval and air force personnel records in order to examine more fully the complex relationship between IQ and survival expectancy during active service in WWII.     

Emotional intelligence and depressed mood in adolescence: A multilevel approach

The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between individual emotional intelligence, group emotional intelligence and depressed mood in adolescence from a multilevel approach. The study sample comprised 2,182 adolescents (1,127 female and 1,055 male) aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 14.51, SD = 1.55). They attended 14 secondary schools in the Basque Country (northern Spain) and were grouped into 118 different classes. A two-level model (students nested in classes) with three predictor variables of level 1 (attention, clarity and repair of emotions) and one predictor variable of level 2 (class emotional intelligence) was used to examine their influence on depressed mood. The results indicated that clarity and the ability to regulate emotions at the individual level and emotional intelligence at the class level are important for explaining depressed mood. In this way, the study provides an integrative approach to research on the psychosocial well-being of adolescents that takes into account emotional variables located at different levels.     

Personality self-concept affects processing of trait adjectives in the self-reference memory paradigm

We combined personality, social cognitive, and cognitive paradigms for researching the self. Specifically, we examined whether personality trait assessments are associated with variation in the cognitive processes that produce the self-reference effect in memory. We found that self-reported, but not indirectly assessed, trait orderliness (Study 1; N = 98) and openness (Study 2; N = 92) were associated with slower free recall when corresponding trait adjectives were self-referenced, but not when adjectives were encoded in control tasks. The slower recall showed mixed predictive validity. Results suggest that personality congruent adjectives elicit more elaborative processing in the form of propositions that arise during self-reference, which counter-intuitively slows recall in a manner consistent with random search memory models and cue overload theory.     

Anhedonia in prolonged schizophrenia spectrum patients with relatively lower vs. higher levels of depression disorders: Associations with deficits in social cognition and metacognition

This study has sought to explore whether there are at least two subtypes of anhedonia in schizophrenia: one closely linked with depression and another that occurs in the absence of depression which is related to a general paucity of internal experience. Participants were 163 adults with schizophrenia who completed assessments of depression, anhedonia, executive functioning, positive and negative symptoms, social cognition and metacognition. A cluster analysis based on participants’ depression and anhedonia symptom scores produced three groups: High Depression/High Anhedonia (n = 52), Low Depression/Low Anhedonia (n = 52), and Low Depression/High Anhedonia (n = 59). An ANCOVA and post hoc comparisons controlling for positive and negative symptoms found that the Low Depression/High Anhedonia group had poorer metacognition and social cognition than other groups. These findings point to the possibility of a subtype of anhedonia in schizophrenia, one occurring in the relative lesser levels of depression, and tied to deficits in the ability to think about oneself and others.     

Vision and intelligence at age 83 in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921

The extent to which visual function, measured as near and distant visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, is correlated with concurrently measured cognitive function and prior intellectual ability was investigated in a narrow age range group known as the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921 (LBC1921). Participants were aged ~ 83 years at the time of testing (N = 321). A well-fitting structural equation model highlighted a significant contribution of a latent visual trait to a general fluid intelligence factor in old age, independent of the contribution from childhood intelligence. Additionally, childhood intelligence made a significant contribution to the general visual factor in old age. However, the model fitted equally well when the fluid intelligence factor is assumed to be a cause of the visual function latent trait, in which case childhood intelligence does not significantly influence vision in old age. We discuss these results with respect to four possible mechanisms by which vision and cognition can come to be correlated over the lifecourse.     

The stability and change of malaise scores over 27 years: Findings from a nationally representative sample

This study investigates the stability and change of malaise scores over a period of 27 years taking account of socio-demographic variables, childhood intelligence and behavioural problems. 6822 cohort members had the complete data on Malaise measured at 23, 33, 42, and 50 years. T-tests showed that there were significant changes of malaise mean scores over the 27 years: malaise scores decreased significantly from 23 to 33 years, but increased significantly from 33 to 42 years, and there were no significant change between 42 and 50 years. The trend showed a similar pattern for men and women, though women scored significantly higher than men on the measure at every time point. Correlational analysis showed that over 27 years malaise scores ranged from r = .41 to r = .52, indicating the relative stability. Malaise was significantly and inversely associated with childhood intelligence and behavioural problems. It was also significantly associated with education in the expected direction. Regression analysis showed that previous malaise scores were significant predictors of the later ones, and the strength of the predictive power decreased over time. Limitations were considered.     

Evolution of nurses’ social representations of hospital hygiene: From training to practice

Nurses’ social representations of hospital hygiene were analyzed. A cross-sectional method was used to compare and analyze the social representations of the concept domain of “hospital hygiene” across three independent groups of participants (n = 744). The groups included: (a) professional nurses (n = 114); (b) student nurses (n = 315); and (c) psychology students (n = 315). Comparisons were drawn: (a) between professionals and students; and (b) between student nurse cohorts at three different levels (years) of training. The results show an ongoing evolution of the social representations of hospital hygiene during training and in the course of professional practice. The representation of hospital hygiene is structured around the element “cleanliness” at the beginning of training and around “asepsis” at the end of training. An increased specialization of vocabulary pertaining specifically to hospital hygiene is also observed. A comparative analysis between students and professionals shows a lower number of common lexical associations in the student group. A discussion of how these results are related to other research in cognitive ergonomics and the analyses of dialogues involving professional interactions between experts and novices is provided.     

Understanding non-work presenteeism: Relationships between emotional intelligence,boredom, procrastination and job stress

Non-work related presenteeism refers to the behaviour of employees who engage in personal activities instead of work-related activities whilst at work. Currently, limited research exists concerning non-work related presenteeism, despite the suggestion that it can financially impact organisations more than absenteeism. The aim of the present study was to examine whether any significant relationships existed between non-work related presenteeism and four theoretically linked psychological variables: emotional intelligence (EI), job stress, boredom, and procrastination. Data was collected via an online questionnaire. A sample of 57 male and 127 female full-time employees across several industries and organisations completed the surveys. As hypothesised, a significant relationship was observed between non-work related presenteeism and EI (r = −0.25), boredom (r = 0.33) and procrastination (r = 0.26). Self-reported levels of job stress, however, were not significantly related to non-work related presenteeism. These results suggest that developing EI and improving job-related engagement may decrease non-work presenteeism.     

Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and infant externalizing and internalizing behaviors

Maternal postpartum depression has been shown to be one of the main predictors of externalizing and internalizing behaviors in toddlers and adolescents. Research suggests that presence of such behaviors can be observed as early as infancy. The current study uses longitudinal data from 247 mothers to examine the relationship between postpartum depressive symptoms at 8 weeks and the infant's externalizing and internalizing behaviors at 12 months. In unadjusted linear regression models, there were associations between postpartum depressive symptoms and infant externalizing behaviors (β = 0.082, SE = 0.032, p = 0.012) and internalizing behaviors (β = 0.111, SE = 0.037, p = 0.003). After controlling for potential confounding factors, including maternal age, race, education, home ownership, smoking status in the postpartum period, marital status, parenting stress, and happiness from becoming a parent, the associations between postpartum depressive symptoms and infant externalizing (β = 0.051, SE = 0.034, p = 0.138) and internalizing behaviors (β = 0.077, SE = 0.040, p = 0.057) were reduced and became non-significant. Furthermore, in these models the total amount of variance explained was 17.2% (p < 0.0001) for externalizing behaviors and 10.5% (p < 0.01) for internalizing behaviors; the only significant predictor of externalizing behaviors was maternal age (β = −0.074, SE = 0.030, p = 0.014), and of internalizing behaviors was white non-Hispanic ethnicity (β = −1.33, SE = 0.378, p = 0.0005). A combined effect of the confounding factors seems to explain the finding of no significant independent association between postpartum depressive symptoms and infant externalizing and internalizing behaviors.     

Weight-related actual and ideal self-states,discrepancies, and shame,guilt, and pride: Examining associations within the process model of self-conscious emotions

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between women's actual:ideal weight-related self-discrepancies and experiences of weight-related shame, guilt, and authentic pride using self-discrepancy (Higgins, 1987) and self-conscious emotion (Tracy & Robins, 2004) theories as guiding frameworks. Participants (N = 398) completed self-report questionnaires. Main analyses involved polynomial regressions, followed by the computation and evaluation of response surface values. Actual and ideal weight self-states were related to shame (R² = .35), guilt (R² = .25), and authentic pride (R² = .08). When the discrepancy between actual and ideal weights increased, shame and guilt also increased, while authentic pride decreased. Findings provide partial support for self-discrepancy theory and the process model of self-conscious emotions. Experiencing weight-related self-discrepancies may be important cognitive appraisals related to shame, guilt, and authentic pride. Further research is needed exploring the relations between self-discrepancies and a range of weight-related self-conscious emotions.