Short-term memory for faces relates to general intelligence moderately ☆
Highlights
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- Short-term memory for faces correlated positively with several stratum II factors.
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- Short-term memory for faces was associated with general intelligence at .34.
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- Short-term memory for faces should not be considered “special” (i.e., independent of g).
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- Prosopagnosia may be best characterised as a learning disability.
Abstract
The
results associated with a small number of investigations suggest that
individual differences in memory for faces, as measured by the Cambridge
Face Memory Test (CFMT), are independent of intelligence. Consequently,
memory for faces has been suggested to be a special construct, unlike
other cognitive abilities. However, previous investigations have
measured intelligence with only one or two subtests. Additionally, the
sample sizes upon which previous investigations were based were
relatively small (N = 45 to 80). Consequently, in this
investigation, a battery of eight cognitive ability tests and the CFMT
were administered to a relatively large number of participants (N = 211).
Based on a correlated-factor model, memory for faces was found to be
correlated positively with fluid intelligence (.29), short-term memory
(.23) and lexical knowledge ability (.19). Additionally, based on a
higher-order model, memory for faces was found to be associated with g
at .34. The results are interpreted to suggest that memory for faces,
as measured by the CFMT, may be characterised as a relatively typical
narrow cognitive ability within the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) model of
intelligence, rather than a special ability (i.e., independent of other
abilities). Future research with a greater diversity in the measurement
of face recognition ability is encouraged (e.g., long-term memory), as
the CFMT is a measure of short-term face memory ability.
Keywords
- Intelligence;
- CHC theory;
- Face identity recognition;
- Prosopagnosia
