The frequency accrual speed test (FAST): A new measure of ‘mental speed’?

This paper presents a rationale for a new measure of ‘mental speed’, based on a task in which subjects discriminate the relative frequency of flashes on one or the other of two lamps. In this ‘frequency accrual speed test’ (FAST), accuracy is interpreted as a measure of the rate at which flashes are registered. By assuming that sub-optimal performance is due to a random failure to register flashes, predictions are derived for a binomial and a hypergeometric version of the test. A procedure for estimating inspection time (IT) is given, and optimal values for the task parameters suggested. Results from eight studies are presented. These show that accuracy in the FAST procedure provides a stable, reliable, and robust measure, not obviously susceptible to different strategies or to practice. In four out of six studies, accuracy in this type of task showed a significant positive correlation with tests of intellectual performance, and in five out of five studies accuracy was negatively correlated with IT (significantly in two). These results show that accuracy in the FAST procedure may provide a useful measure of the speed with which sensory information is sampled. A programme for further testing is outlined.     

Visual information processing and intelligence

Measures of inspection time (IT) have robust, moderately-sized correlations with IQ-type test scores. However, the reason for the IT-IQ correlation is not understood. Although the original theory asserted that IT performance was based on a single parameter—essentially speed of visual processing—peculiarities of the task have afforded other interpretations of IT differences and the IT-IQ association. In the present report two new visual processing tasks, visual change detection (VCD) and visual movement detection (VMD) are found to be correlated at or above .4 with IT and with non-verbal scores from the Alice Heim 4 test of general intelligence. VCD and VMD, in common with IT, assess the stimulus duration that is required by subjects in order to make an accurate discrimination. VCD and VMD, however, require a broader attentional focus than IT and do not involve backward masking. Measures of contrast sensitivity, a difficult discrimination task in which stimuli are not time-limited, had near-to-zero correlations with other visual processing tasks and with IQ-type test scores. We tested the hypothesis that only the latent trait derived from the speeded visual processing tasks (rather than task-specific features) would correlate with cognitive ability, and this was supported. The present study adds weight to the view that it is the ability to make accurate discriminations in the face of limited stimulus time that causes IT to correlate with psychometric intelligence. The psychological correlates of VCD, in terms of neural circuits that detect “difference” suggest a new line of investigation into the psychobiological bases of human intelligence.     

A measure of inspection time in 4‐year‐old children: The Benny Bee IT task

Inspection time (IT) measures speed of information processing without the confounding influence of motor speed. While IT has been found to relate to cognitive abilities in adults and older children, no measure of IT has been validated for use with children younger than 6 years. This study examined the validity of a new measure of IT for preschool children. N=71 4‐year‐old children completed the new IT task and standardized measures of fluid ability, visuospatial ability, and speed of processing. N=50 adults completed the same tasks and, additionally, a standard IT task. Results showed that the new IT task is a stable, reliable measure of IT in 4‐year‐old children. The new task had reasonable concurrent validity with the standard IT task in adults and the relationships between cognitive abilities, particularly general cognitive ability, and IT are sufficiently similar in young children and adults to suggest that the new IT task may be a useful tool for research in populations where IT was previously not measurable.     

Reversing the speed–IQ correlation: Intra-individual variability and attentional control in the inspection time paradigm

Elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs) are simple tasks involving basic cognitive processes for which speed of performance typically correlates with IQ. Inspection time (IT) has the strongest IQ correlations and is considered critical evidence for neural speed underlying individual differences in intelligence. However, results from Bors et al. [Bors, D.A., Stokes, T.L., Forrin, B. & Hodder, S.L., (1999). Inspection Time and Intelligence: Practice, strategies, and attention. Intelligence, 27, 111–129.] suggest task consistency may underlie this shared variance. One possibility is that performance consistency reflects attentional mechanisms, as previous research has shown relationships between attentional control and cognitive performance. In study 1, participants were administered the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and performed an alternative version of the IT task to measure individual trial-by-trial consistency expressed as the standard deviation of IT (ITSD). The alternative procedure yielded IT–IQ correlations similar to those obtained in previous studies and ITSD accounted for the IT–IQ variance. A second experiment tested whether ITSD measures attentional control, as participants simultaneously performed the IT task and an attention-demanding verbalization task. Under these conditions, high IQ participants performed worse on IT. These results suggest IT performance may reflect individual differences in attentional control and that this variable may account for the variance shared between IT and IQ.     

Perceptual learning on inspection time and motion perception

Perceptual learning on simple perceptual tasks is interpreted as plasticity of neuronal populations in the sensory cortex (M. Fahle & T. Poggio, 2002). The authors examined individual differences on perceptual learning for 2 tasks-inspection time (IT) and a motion direction discrimination task that was instantiated as random dot kinematograms. The authors' main questions were whether individual differences in perceptual learning were consistent across the 2 tasks and whether perceptual learning correlated with cognitive abilities test scores. In all, 56 young adults completed 16 threshold estimations on 1 of 2 orthogonal versions of each task. Then, the authors made 2 further threshold estimations for the untrained, orthogonal version. Participants also completed a battery of 6 cognitive abilities tests that measured fluid ability (Gf) and perceptual speed (Gs). Perceptual learning was demonstrated for both tasks, but the degree of learning across tasks was not characteristic of the individual. Learning on IT correlated with Gs (r = .35), but learning on the motion direction discrimination task was unrelated to cognitive ability. Correlations of IT with cognitive measures were stable over the training period. IT was correlated with both the motion direction discrimination task (r = -.39) and an unmasked line length judgment task (r = -.31). The authors concluded that perceptual learning on IT correlates with cognitive abilities test scores, that correlations of IT with cognitive abilities test scores are stable as task performance improves with practice, and that the IT task is psychologically complex.     

Inspection time and IQ in young children

Three studies investigating the relationship between IQ, mental age (MA), chronological age (CA) and inspection time (IT) are reported. Forty-seven children participated: three age groups, 6, 8 and 10 yr, attending a London primary school and with IQs ranging from 75 to 141. The IT task was incorporated into a microcomputer-controlled video game and two measures of IT were obtained from two psychophysical procedures: method of limits and method of constant stimuli. All three studies found that a significant relationship was maintained for Ss over the full age range. Although, in general, IT decreased with increasing CA, bright 6-yr-olds had similar ITs to dull 10-yr-olds. Given that the latter have higher MA than the former and they have had more years experience of school, it is concluded that the IT/IQ relationship is primarily based on fundamental aspects of information processing, such as processing speed, rather than on task sophistication. The two psychophysical procedures produced different estimates of IT. However, it is concluded that using two methods can reduce the noisy effects of variability in responding of children. Reliabilities in the order of r = 0.45 are reported for the task.     

The relationship between speed of information processing and cognitive ability

Speed of information processing as measured by various reaction time and inspection tasks has been shown to correlate with psychometric intelligence, and it has been suggested that general intelligence (g) is determined to some degree by the speed that information is processed. If this is so, then various measures of speed of information processing should correlate substantially with each other, and each should also correlate with a wide range of psychometric tests that load on g. Alternatively, intelligence may be considered to be a multi-faceted complex of partially related abilities with specific abilities being dependent upon specific cognitive processes. If this is the case, it should be possible to discover independent cognitive processes, some of which correlate with one facet or broad ability and some with another. This paper presents three experiments in which the relationship between intellectual ability and four speed of information processing measures was examined. These were rate of memory scanning, rate of retrieval of information from long term memory, speed of stimulus-response mapping and inspection time (IT). Results showed that correlations between IT and most reaction time measures of speed of information processing were low, and that correlations between different versions of IT were negligible. In addition, some cognitive tasks with verbal material (memory scanning rate for digits and Posner letter matching IT) correlated most substantially with Verbal Reasoning whereas non-verbal (two-line) IT consistently correlated with tests loading on g. It was thus suggested that while non-verbal IT may be a measure of a perceptual speed attribute that contributes to mental functioning, other “speed of information processing” parameters may be more specific to a subset of abilities.     

An investigation of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and emotional task performance

This study examined the relationships between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and tasks involving the recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Two facial expression recognition tasks using the inspection time (IT) paradigm assessed speed of emotional information processing. An unspeeded emotion recognition task was also included, and a symbol IT task was used to assess speed of processing of non-emotional information. It was found that scores on all three emotion-related tasks were strongly intercorrelated, as were scores on the three IT tasks. The two emotional IT scores remained significantly correlated when symbol IT performance was partialled out. This finding, together with the associations between the speeded (IT) and unspeeded face tasks suggests that the association between the emotional IT tasks is not entirely accounted for by general processing speed, and that a general emotion-processing ability also contributes to performance on these tasks. An EI subscale assessing Appraisal of Emotions was significantly correlated with performance on the emotional IT tasks, suggesting that self-reports of emotional perception ability do relate to performance measures.     

Ability EI as an intelligence? Associations of the MSCEIT with performance on emotion processing and social tasks and with cognitive ability

Associations among the MSCEIT, a broad-bandwidth measure of ability emotional intelligence (EI), self-report EI, social perception ability, psychometric intelligence and performance on inspection time (IT) tasks, which assessed the speed of processing of emotional and non-emotional information were investigated in two student samples (N=99, 199). The main findings were that MSCEIT scores were unrelated to fluid ability or speed of non-emotional information processing as assessed by IT, but evidence for associations of MSCEIT scores with crystallised ability was found. Positive associations were found between MSCEIT scores, self-report EI and some emotion/social task scores. The results suggest that EI as assessed by the MSCEIT has some properties of an intelligence and is more closely related to crystallised than to fluid ability. The relatively small MSCEIT/g _c correlations suggest that the MSCEIT is not a pure ability measure, although restriction of range in the samples used may also be relevant. More work, and the development of new measures, is required to determine whether performance EI has a fluid component.     

智力与心理速度的关系研究述评

目前在智力研究领域出现了一种新的研究趋势,研究者开始关注心理计量学智力与认知或生理心理学变量的相关,考察的重点是心理速度,相应的测量指标主要有检测时（IT）、反应时、ERP或神经传导速度,等等。在运用IT任务进行的ERP研究中发现,ERP波幅和潜伏期的不同往往能够反映出智力上的差异。信息加工速度和神经传导速度均与一般智力因素（g因素）存在较高的相关。上述研究发现促进了智力与心理速度关系的跨学科研究,成为智力研究领域中的热点     

Advances in the assessment of cognitive skills using computer-based measurement

The impact of technology in the field of intellectual assessment has, for the most part, been limited to computerized administration and scoring. Anderson’s (2001) theory of intelligence suggests that performance on traditional IQ measures is acquired via two main routes, thinking and dedicated processing systems known as modules. Empirical data used to support this relationship between the speed of basic processing and intellectual functioning have been evidenced primarily by correlations between measures of general intelligence and measures of inspection time (IT). These IT measures allow individuals to make a forced choice discrimination task without a motor component. Because only the time used to cognitively solve the problem is recorded, these responses typically occur in milliseconds. Many theorists (e.g., Burns & Nettelbeck, 2002; Deary, 2000; Jensen, 2006) consider IT to be a more “pure” measure of intelligence, because the influences of verbal skills, memory, and socialization are minimized and results are therefore considered to be more culture-fair. Until relatively recently, IT measurement was restricted to complex and expensive specialized laboratory equipment. This article describes the theoretical background and developmental process of a computer-based IT measure that is easily adaptable to accommodate the needs of the researcher.     

Accounting for Cognitive Aging: Context Processing,Inhibition or Processing Speed?

ABSTRACT

Age-related deficits in context processing were examined in relationship to two predominant theories of cognitive aging (the Inhibitory Deficit and Processing Speed Models). Older and younger adults completed a measure of context processing (AX Continuous Performance Test (CPT) task) as well as a computerized battery of inhibitory tasks: Stroop, garden path sentences, go no-go, and the stop-signal paradigm. Participants also completed a simple processing speed task. After controlling for baseline differences in processing speed, age effects were detected on the AX-CPT. Smaller, but significant age effects were noted on the Stroop and stop-signal tasks, but no significant age effects were found on the garden path sentence and go no-go tasks. Intertask correlations were weak, providing little evidence for a homogenous or uniform construct of inhibition. The sensitivity of the AX-CPT to cognitive aging is discussed in the context of existing theories of cognitive aging. The authors suggest that deficits in context processing and utilization may underlie cognitive aging phenomena.     

Accounting for cognitive aging: context processing, inhibition or processing speed?

Age-related deficits in context processing were examined in relationship to two predominant theories of cognitive aging (the Inhibitory Deficit and Processing Speed Models). Older and younger adults completed a measure of context processing (AX Continuous Performance Test (CPT) task) as well as a computerized battery of inhibitory tasks: Stroop, garden path sentences, go no-go, and the stop-signal paradigm. Participants also completed a simple processing speed task. After controlling for baseline differences in processing speed, age effects were detected on the AX-CPT. Smaller, but significant age effects were noted on the Stroop and stop-signal tasks, but no significant age effects were found on the garden path sentence and go no-go tasks. Intertask correlations were weak, providing little evidence for a homogenous or uniform construct of inhibition. The sensitivity of the AX-CPT to cognitive aging is discussed in the context of existing theories of cognitive aging. The authors suggest that deficits in context processing and utilization may underlie cognitive aging phenomena.     

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.     

Inspection time: Does it measure intelligence?

The relationship between inspection time (IT) and intelligence id discussed in the context of the more general relationship between measures of mental speed and mental ability. Six issues are raised concerning IT, mental speed and intelligence: the size of the sample that have been studied; the inclusion of mentally-retarded Ss in these samples; the generality of IT; reaction time (RT) correlations with intelligence; IT and timed vs untimed IQ tests; and theoritical implications of the IT/IQ relationship. In the latter section, it is concluded that IT does not fit neatly into models accounting for RT/IQ correlates and that additional research will be required to obtain a better understanding of the nature of its relationship with intelligence.     

Intelligence and changes in regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate following learning

Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of brain glucose metabolic rate (GMR) in normal volunteers report inverse correlations between GMR and scores on the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and verbal fluency. A new study in eight normal men reports widespread significant GMR decreases following learning a complex task (the computer game “Tetris”). The purpose of this study is to ascertain the correlations between GMR changes following learning “Tetris” and psychometric intelligence scores (RAPM and WAIS-R) to determine whether high-ability subjects show the largest GMR decreases, as predicted by a brain efficiency hypothesis. This hypothesis is supported with significant correlations between the magnitude of GMR change and intelligence scores in many brain areas that changed with learning. Some implications for the role of attention, memory, and speed of processing are discussed in view of the specific brain areas involved.     

Are age-related changes in cognitive function driven by age-related changes in sensory processing?

Although there has been keen interest in the association among measures of sensory function and cognitive function for many years, in general, measures of sensory function have been confined to one or two senses and measures of threshold sensitivity (acuity). In this study, rigorous psychophysical measures of threshold sensitivity, temporal gap detection, temporal order identification, and temporal masking have been obtained, in hearing, vision, and touch. In addition, all subjects completed 15 subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd edition (WAIS–III). Data were obtained from 245 adults (18–87 years old) for the WAIS–III and for 40 measures of threshold sensitivity and temporal processing. The focus in this report is on individual differences in performance for the entire data set. Principal-components (PC) factor analysis reduced the 40 psychophysical measures to eight correlated factors, which were reduced further to a single global sensory processing factor. Similarly, PC factor analysis of the 15 WAIS–III scores resulted in three correlated factors that were further reduced to a single global cognitive function factor. Age, global sensory processing, and global cognitive function were all moderately and significantly correlated with one another. However, paired partial correlations, controlling for the third of these three measures, revealed that the moderate correlation between age and global cognitive function went to zero when global sensory processing was controlled for; the other two partial correlations remained intact. Structural models confirmed this result. These analyses suggest that the long-standing observation of age-related changes in cognitive function may be mediated by age-related changes in global sensory processing.     

Inhibitory tagging in inhibition of return: Evidence from flanker interference with multiple distractor features

Fuentes, Vivas, and Humphreys (1999) proposed a distinction betweeninhibition of return (IOR) and inhibitory processing taking place at a location subject to IOR. This latter mechanism,inhibitory tagging (IT), would act at a late level of processing related to response selection. In the present study, we examined whether IT was applied only to the target-relevant properties of the stimuli (e.g., to its color) or whether it was applied to other features of the stimulus as well (e.g., to its shape). Both when the task was to respond to the target’s color (Experiment 1) as well as when it was to respond to the target’s shape (Experiment 2), there was evidence of IT (reversal of the typical flanker effect at the cued location, relative to the uncued location) only to task-relevant features of the target. These findings suggest that IT is a central process of control constrained by task demands and current goals.     

Age and skilled performance: contributions of working memory and processing speed

In this study, we examined the interrelationships among age, working memory (WM), processing speed, and the development of skilled performance. Younger (M=20.5) and older (M=68.9) adults were trained on an alphabet arithmetic task (Haider & Frensch, 1996) administered across three consecutive days. Although older adults were slower than younger adults, both age groups' response latencies decreased as a result of practice. Contrary to expectations, WM and processing speed were significantly correlated with performance late in training. Partial correlations suggested that age differences in performance at the end of training were mediated by individual differences in cognitive processing speed.     

Promoting systematic processing in low-motivation settings: effect of incongruent information on processing and judgment

Ss received consensus information that was either congruent or incongruent with the valence of persuasive message content. In Experiment 1 Ss believed that their processing task was either important or unimportant whereas in Experiment 2 all Ss believed that their task was unimportant. In accord with the heuristic-systematic model's sufficiency principle, high-task-importance Ss exhibited a great deal of systematic processing regardless of congruency, whereas low-importance Ss processed systematically only when they received incongruent messages; in the congruent conditions heuristic processing dominated. Attitude data generally reflected these processing differences and confirmed the additivity and attenuation assumptions of the model. The utility of the sufficiency principle for understanding motivation for elaborative processing and the relevance of the findings to understanding the processing and judgmental effects of expectancy disconfirmation are discussed.