Working memory involvement in reaction time and its contribution to fluid intelligence: An examination of individual differences in reaction-time distributions

Nachshon Meiran and Nitzan Shahar

Intelligence, 2018, vol. 69, issue C, 176-185

Abstract: Reaction-Time (RT) and Working-Memory (WM) are both correlated with fluid intelligence (GF). Prior work exploring the within-participant RT distributions shows (a) that the rate of exceptionally slow responses (indexed by the Tau parameter of the ex-Gaussian distribution) increases with WM-load, and (b) that individual differences in Tau are correlated with individual differences in WM. In the present individual-differences examination, we show that the correlation between Tau and GF was higher for tasks with an increased WM-load, i.e., with arbitrary (hence, novel) stimulus-response mapping. The results suggest that, when low-GF individuals perform reaction-time tasks with multiple novel and arbitrary stimulus-response rules, their reaction-time distribution is characterized by relatively frequent exceptionally slow responses.

Keywords: Ex-Gaussian distribution; Arbitrary stimulus-response mapping; Fluid intelligence; Reaction-time; Working-memory; Worst-performance rule (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:intell:v:69:y:2018:i:c:p:176-185

DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2018.06.004

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