Research bytes 4-24-10: Broad factor 1.0 g loadings power issue; domain general mental resource mechanism

Matzke, D. Dolan, C., & Molenaar, D. (in press). The issue of power in the identification of “g” with lower-order factors.  Intelligence.

Abstract

In higher order factor models, general intelligence (g) is often found to correlate perfectly with lower-order common factors, suggesting that g and some well-defined cognitive ability, such as working memory, may be identical. However, the results of studies that addressed the equivalence of g and lower-order factors are inconsistent. We suggest that this inconsistency may partly be attributable to the lack of statistical power to detect the distinctiveness of the two factors. The present study therefore investigated the power to reject the hypothesis that g and a lower-order factor are perfectly correlated using artificial datasets, based on realistic parameter values and on the results of selected publications. The results of the power analyses indicated that power was substantially influenced by the effect size and the number and the reliability of the indicators. The examination of published studies revealed that most case studies that reported a perfect correlation between g and a lower-order factor were underpowered, with power coefficients rarely exceeding 0.30. We conclude the paper by emphasizing the importance of considering power in the context of identifying g with lower-order factors.

Vergauwe, E., Barrouillet, P., & Camos, V. (2010). Do Mental Processes Share a Domain-General Resource? Psychological Science, 21(3), 384-390.

Abstract

What determines success and failure in dual-task situations? Many theories propose that the extent to which two activities can be performed concurrently depends on the nature of the information involved in the activities. In particular, verbal and visuospatial activities are thought to be fueled by distinct resources, so that interference occurs between two verbal activities or two visuospatial activities, but little or no interference occurs between verbal and visuospatial activities. The current study examined trade-offs in four dual-task situations in which participants maintained verbal or visuospatial information while concurrently processing either verbal or visuospatial information. We manipulated the cognitive load of concurrent processing and assessed recall performance in each condition. Results revealed that both verbal and visuospatial recall performance decreased as a direct function of increasing cognitive load, regardless of the nature of the information concurrently processed. The observed trade-offs suggest strongly that verbal and visuospatial activities compete for a common domain-general pool of resources.

Technorati Tags: Psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, cognition, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, intelligence, general intelligence, g, domain general, domain general cognitive mechanism, working memory, shared mental resources, IQs Corner