The Frequency Accrual Speed Test (FAST): psychometric intelligence and personality correlates

Performance on a putative psychophysical measure of information processing related to intelligence (Vickers' 1995 Frequency Accrual Speed Test, FAST) was assessed in relation to two psychometric measures of intelligence (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and the Mill Hill vocabulary test). Participants (N = 57) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire — Revised (EPQ‐R), and performed the FAST task under either low (70 dB) or high (90 dB) levels of white noise. FAST correlated with Raven's (r = 0.56) and Mill Hill (r = 0.28), as expected. FAST total scores were not affected by personality or personality‐by‐noise interactions. However, a measure of consistency of FAST performance (i.e. the standard deviation) was correlated negatively with total FAST scores (r = ?0.37) and positively with (EPQ‐R) extraversion (r = 0.34). The results are discussed in terms of the validity of the FAST to explicate the information processing variables in psychometric intelligence. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stimulated salivation: Correlations with personality and time of day effects

Several studies which report a negative correlation between extraversion and salivation stimulated by lemon juice or synthetic equivalents are reviewed. We report a replication of this finding together with a corroboration of the impression that the correlation holds in the morning (r = -0.74, P < 0.01) but not in the afternoon. We find that stimulated salivation also correlates with psychoticism (r = -0.58, P < 0.05) and sensation seeking (r = -0.58, P < 0.05). Extraversion correlated significantly with sensation seeking in the afternoon group and with psychoticism in the morning group. The salivation results suggest that extraversion and sensation seeking (and perhaps also psychoticism) share a physiological basis. The time of day effects reported for the personality variable correlations are novel but require further study in a larger population.     

Hardiness and health among women with rheumatoid arthritis

The relations among hardiness (and its components) and demographic variables, objective health, disability, and perceived health were investigated for 33 women with rheumatoid arthritis. Hardiness and demographic variables were measured once while objective health, disability, and perceived health were measured at three monthly intervals. Hardiness and/or component scores were significantly (P < 0.05) related to age and to employment status but were unrelated to education and to marital status. The control dimension of hardiness was positively correlated with the average percentage of circulating T-cells (r = 0.38, P < 0.05), and with average perceived health compared to one's same age peers (r = 0.53, P < 0.01). Hardiness appears to be a useful construct for understanding adaptation to rheumatoid arthritis, and studies of patients with chronic diseases can shed light on the precursors and consequences of hardiness.     

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.     

Conservatism,sensation-seeking and music preferences

Wilson-Patterson Conservatism (C) and Zuckerman's Sensation-seeking (SS) scores were investigated in relation to music preferences in a group of 43 students. High C scorers preferred familiar pieces of music relative to low C scorers (r = 0.30, P < 0.05). A tendency for conservatives to prefer simple music just failed to reach significance. Relationships between SS scores and music preferences were non-significant with the present sample, though SS scores were inversely related to C scores (r = –0.48, P < 0.01).     

Intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity: A meta-analysis

A meta-analytic review investigated the association between general intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity. The review involved 38 independent samples with 2988 total participants. There was a highly significant small-to-medium effect for intelligence measures to be correlated with decoding accuracy (r = .19, p < .001). Significant moderators included the type of decoding judgment (emotion vs. intended meaning judgments), decoding channel (audio-only vs. audio-plus-video channel), and target gender (both male-and-female targets vs. female-only targets). Interpersonal decoding accuracy requires some level of social sophistication and results of this meta-analysis suggest that part of that social sophistication involves the cognitive abilities comprising general intelligence.     

Serum calcium levels in Alzheimer's disease: A finding and an aetiological hypothesis

We report that lower serum Ca²⁺ levels are found in severely demented patients when compared with mildly affected individuals (P < 0.001) and we formulate an aetiological hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease based on the disruption of intraneuronal microtubular networks by low calcium levels and other forms of intraneuronal mechanical disruption. The findings are discussed in relation to Hendrickson's theory of the biological basis of psychometric intelligence.     

Social dissimulation,perceived competence and personality

The Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ) (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975) was completed by 129 boys (mean age 10 yr 10 months: SD = 4 months) and 119 girls (mean age 10 yr 11 months; SD = 3 months) from Belfast. Belfast boys' and girls' scores were significantly (P < 0.001) higher than the English standardisation data on psychoticism and extraversion, but their mean scores for neuroticism and the lie scale were remarkably similar. Belfast boys display significantly different intercorrelations in comparison with (i) the standardisation data—neuroticism/psychoticism (P < 0.01) and lie scale/neuroticism (P < 0.05)—and (ii) Belfast girls—neuroticism/psychoticism (P < 0.05). Psychoticism appears to play a highly salient role in Belfast boys' self-construals. Most of these pupils (n = 189) also completed the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (PCSC) (Harter, 1982). The PCSC minimises social dissimulation: the highest positive correlation with the lie scale being (r = 0.1). Correlations with the domains of the PCSC display the saliency of extraversion for girls' self-perceived physical competence and general competence, and for boys' self-perceived social competence, and the saliency of neuroticism for girls' self-perceived social competence.     

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 Psychometric Evaluation of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire in a Non-Clinical Sample of Israeli Children and Adolescents

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Hebrew version of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) in a non-clinical sample of Israeli children and adolescents. We produced a Hebrew translation of the BIQ and collected 227 responses to it from parents of children aged 4–15. Some respondents in the larger sample also completed the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire (n?=?91) and the Conners’ Abbreviated Parent-Teacher (CONNERS) questionnaire (n?=?39), in addition to the BIQ. Lastly, 21 children of BIQ respondents (aged 8–14) completed a self-report version of the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to assess how well the established six correlated factor model of the BIQ applied to the sample data. The Hebrew BIQ demonstrated good internal consistency (Chronbach’s α?=?.94, n?=?227) and 3 month test–retest reliability, (r?=?.95, p?<?.001, n?=?21). It also showed both convergent validity, as scores on the BIQ were correlated with the SCARED (r?=?.66, p?<?.01. n?=?91), and discriminant validity, as BIQ scores were not correlated with the CONNERS (r?=?.24, n?=?39). Finally, mother reports of BI were significantly correlated to child reports of BI via the BIQ (r?=?.60, p?<?.01, n?=?21). Thus, through this preliminary study we demonstrated that the Hebrew version of the BIQ is an effective tool for screening for BI among Israeli children, making it a useful instrument for future research.     

Acute Stress,Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms Among English and Spanish Speaking Children with Recent Trauma Exposure

A growing literature suggests the clinical importance of acute stress disorder symptoms in youth following potentially traumatic events. A multisite sample of English and Spanish speaking children and adolescents (N = 479) between the ages of 8–17, along with their caregivers completed interviews and self-report questionnaires between 2 days and 1 month following the event. The results indicate that children with greater total acute stress symptoms reported greater depressive (r = .41, p < .01) and anxiety symptoms (r = .53, p < .01). Examining specific acute stress subscales, reexperiencing was correlated with anxiety (r = .47, p < .01) and arousal was correlated with depression (r = .50, p < .01) and anxiety (r = .55, p < .01). Age was inversely associated with total acute stress symptoms (r = ?.24, p < .01), reexperiencing (r = ?.17, p < .01), avoidance (r = ?.27, p < .01), and arousal (r = ?.19, p < .01) and gender was related to total anxiety symptoms (Spearman’s ρ = .17, p < .01). The current study supports the importance of screening acute stress symptoms and other mental health outcomes following a potentially traumatic event in children and adolescents. Early screening may enable clinicians to identify and acutely intervene to support children’s psychological and physical recovery.     

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.     

Comparing two methods of visual abstraction to human data

The ability to “visually abstract” a given pattern with a neural network and abstract the same pattern by using a regression/correlation analysis was investigated. Both methods were compared with human subjects performing the same task. To visually abstract a particular shape, both quantitative methods broke the shape down into its linear, quadratic, and cubic components. Using an IBM-compatible personal computer, 10 test patterns were analyzed with a neural network (designed using Brainmaker Professional and trained with known linear, quadratic, and cubic shapes) and a regression/correlation model (designed using Lotus 1-2-3). The 10 test patterns were also analyzed by 22 human subjects. The neural network data were found to be highly correlated with the human data [r(8) = .90,p < .01]. The regression/correlation model’s data were also found to be significantly correlated with the human data [r(8) = .77,p < .01]. These findings demonstrate the successful modeling of Rumelhart’s (1991) regression/correlation approach to visual abstraction.     

Psychometric Properties of the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale in Treatment-Seeking Post-9/11 Veterans

Although evidence suggests deployment-related stress impacts parenting, few measures of parenting competency have been validated in returning post-9/11 veterans. As part of clinical care in a multidisciplinary clinic serving veterans and military families, 178 treatment-seeking OEF/OIF/OND veterans completed measures including the 16-item Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC), a widely-used measure of parental efficacy and satisfaction; the Family Assessment Device—general functioning subscale; and the depression, anxiety, and stress scale. Utilizing data from an IRB-approved de-identified data repository, we examined the psychometrics and factor structure of the PSOC. According to a proposed clinical cut-off, 10?% of our clinical sample of veterans exhibited low self-confidence in parenting. A confirmatory factor analysis of the 2-factor structure introducing correlated error terms between items 3 and 9, and between items 10 and 11, revealed to be a satisfactory fit to the data (Χ ² /df?=?1.57, RMSEA?=?0.056 [90?% CI 0.039–0.073]; CFI?=?0.928; TLI?=?0.914; SRMR?=?0.055). In addition, the PSOC exhibited good convergent validity with measures of parental distress (r?=??.22, p?<?0.01 with anxiety symptoms, and r?=??.33, p?<?.001 with depressive symptoms) and family functioning (r?=??.53, p?<?.0001), very good temporal stability (r?=?.81, p?<?.0.0001), and excellent internal consistency (α?=?.85). The PSOC exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties in treatment-seeking veterans and may be used by clinicians and researchers to assess parenting sense of competence, including satisfaction and sense of efficacy, in this population.     

Occult white matter damage contributes to intellectual disability in tuberous sclerosis complex

Whether patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) have brain normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) damage and whether such damage contributes to their intellectual disability were examined in 15 TSC patients and 15 gender- and age-matched healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Histogram and region of interest (ROI) analyses of the mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were performed in the NAWM. Correlations between diffusion indices and the full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and normalized lesion volume were also investigated. Compared with controls, both histogram and ROI analyses showed significant (P < .05) increased MD and decreased FA in the NAWM of TSC patients. In TSC patients, some of the histogram- and ROI-derived diffusion indices of the NAWM were correlated with FSIQ (P < .01), but none of them were correlated with the normalized lesion volume. These findings indicate that TSC patients have occult damage in the NAWM, which might be an important neural basis for intellectual disability in these patients.     

The Validity of a New,Self-report Measure of Multiple Intelligence

In all, 187 participants completed a new, self-report measure of eight multiple intelligences (Haselbauer 2005), a General Knowledge test (Irwing et al. Personality and Individual Differences 30:857–871, 2001), a measure of Approaches to Learning Styles (Biggs 1987), a measure of the Big Five personality traits (Costa and McCrae 1992), as well as gave their own estimated scores on the Gardner (1999) multiple intelligences. Alpha co-efficients were modest with only three of the eight test-derived, multiple intelligence scores being over .70. ‘Linguistic’ and Mathematical intelligence alone were correlated with General Knowledge. Five of the eight ‘intelligences’ were correlated both with Extraversion and Openness. Regressions indicated that ‘Intrapersonal intelligence’ was closely linked with Stability and Conscientiousness; ‘Interpersonal intelligence’ with Extraversion; ‘Linguistic intelligence’ with Openness; ‘Mathematical intelligence’ with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Correlations between self-estimated and test-derived emotional intelligence showed correlations ranging from r = .18 to r = .56 for similar type ‘intelligences’. This study provides modest evidence for the concurrent and construct validity of this measure. It requires more psychometric evidence of validity before it is used.     

The Relationship Between Parent and Child Dysfunctional Beliefs About Sleep and Child Sleep

Cognitive theories emphasise the role of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep in the development and maintenance of sleep-related problems (SRPs). The present research examines how parents’ dysfunctional beliefs about children’s sleep and child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep are related to each other and to children’s subjective and objective sleep. Participants were 45 children aged 11–12 years and their parents. Self-report measures of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep and child sleep were completed by children, mothers and fathers. Objective measures of child sleep were taken using actigraphy. The results showed that child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep were correlated with father (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) and mother (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) reported child SRPs, and with Sleep Onset Latency (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). Maternal dysfunctional beliefs about child sleep were related to child SRPs as reported by mothers (r = 0.44, p < 0.05), and to child dysfunctional beliefs about sleep (r = 0.37, p < 0.05). Some initial evidence was found for a mediation pathway in which child dyfunctional beliefs mediate the relationship between parent dysfunctional beliefs and child sleep. The results support the cognitive model of SRPs and contribute to the literature by providing the first evidence of familial aggregation of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep.     

Measuring a macho personality constellation

A Hypermasculinity Inventory was developed to measure a macho personality constellation consisting of three components: (a) calloused sex attitudes toward women, (b) violence as manly, and (c) danger as exciting. The 30 forced-choice items were selected by a two-stage internal consistency item analysis. Issues of substantive and structural validity were addressed by considering item content, test format, homogeneity of items, and the factor structure of items. The Cronbach α coefficient for the Hypermasculinity Inventory was .89 in the present sample of 135 college men. External validity was assessed by correlating scores of the Hypermasculinity Inventory with self-reported drug use, r(135) = .26, p < .01, aggressive behavior r(135) = .65, p < .001, and dangerous driving, r(136) = .47, p < .001, following alcohol consumption, and delinquent behavior during the high school years, r(135) = .38, p < .01. Construct validity was supported further by a pattern of theoretically meaningful correlations with the Personality Research Form (D. N. Jackson, 1974, Goshen, NY: Research Psychologists Press). The discussion considered further research that is needed to adduce additional evidence for the construct validity of the Hypermasculinity Inventory as a measure of the macho personality pattern.     

The Relationship between Performance in Near Match-to-Sample Tasks and Fluid Intelligence

Match-to-sample is a timed task in which a subject is presented with a visual stimulus (the probe) and must select a match to that stimulus (the target) from among an array of distractors. These tasks are frequently employed as tests of basic cognitive abilities and demonstrate consistent correlations with measures of intelligence. In the current study, a match-to-sample task was modified to produce near-match conditions (trials for which no exact match existed). Two factors were manipulated: type of discrepancy between the target and probe (additive or subtractive) and degree of discrepancy between target and probe (1 element or 2 elements). It was hypothesized that introducing near-match conditions would change the processing demands of the task, resulting in increased correlations between decision time and fluid intelligence. Degree and type of discrepancy affected decision times: participants required more time for 2 element discrepancies and additive type discrepancies. Contrary to expectations, increased decision time on a task did not correspond to higher correlations with fluid intelligence. For type, correlations were larger when participants needed to mentally subtract elements from the target in order to make it match the probe (mean r_additive = .399; mean r_subtractive = .451). For degree, correlations were larger for trials where the probe and target differed by one element (mean r = .470) than for trials where the probe and target differed by two elements (mean r = .380). These results seem to indicate that the relationship between the complexity of a task and general intelligence is not as straightforward as has been commonly believed.