Irene Rebollo

Complex span tasks, simple span tasks, and cognitive abilities: A reanalysis of key studies

There is great interest in the relationships between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities. However, the causes underlying their correlation remain unknown. In the present article, five key data sets were reanalyzed according to two criteria: They must consider complex span tasks (so-called working memory [WM] tasks) and simple span tasks (so-called short-term memory [STM] tasks), and they must comprise cognitive ability measures. The obtained results offer several points of interest. First, memory span tasks should be conceived from a hierarchical perspective: They comprise both general and specific components. Second, the general component explains about four times the variance explained by the specific components. Third, STM and WM measures are closely related. Fourth, STM and WM measures share the same common variance with cognitive abilities. Finally, the strong relationship usually found between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities could be tentatively interpreted by the component shared by STM and WM—namely, the capacity for temporarily preserving a reliable memory representation of any given information.

Working memory and intelligence

Abstract The correlation perspective shows that working memory (WM) is strongly related to psychometric intelligence. Although there are numerous psychometric abilities, there is a powerful single source of variance, namely, g . g Is evidenced by the positive correlation between all psychometric cognitive abilities. The construct of WM distinguishes contents (verbal, numerical, spatial) and operations (storage and processing). However, some studies found a high correlation between several diverse WM tasks, which supports the construct validity of the concept of WM as one general cognitive resource. This study explores the structure of WM drawing on the methodology of intelligence structure research. Then, WM is related to intelligence. One hundred and eighty-seven participants took part in the study. WM was assessed through eight computerized tasks, while intelligence was assessed through the Raven Matrices or the PMA-R. The results show that WM can be considered as one general cognitive resource and that this resource is strongly related with intelligence ( r =+0.7). The statement that there is something underlying WM and intelligence is discussed.

Age dedifferentiation hypothesis: Evidence from the WAIS III

There is a renewed interest in the so-called age differentiation hypothesis—and the related age dedifferentiation hypothesis. The former states a reduction in the size of g at the first stage of life until early maturity. The latter hypothesized an increase in the importance of g at late adulthood and a decrease in the number of factors. The Spanish standardization of the WAIS-III (N=1369) was used in the present study to test the age dedifferentiation hypothesis. The results show no changes in the percentage of variance accounted for by g and four group factors (Verbal, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, and Processing Speed) when the restriction of range is controlled. The ageindifferentiation hypothesis, as well as the anatomical metaphor, is proposed as a more fine-grained perspective to look at the development of the structure of cognitive abilities along the life span. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex differential item functioning in the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices: evidence for bias

There are no sex differences in general intelligence or g. The Progressive Matrices (PM) Test is one of the best estimates of g. Males outperform females in the PM Test. Colom and Garcia-Lopez (2002) demonstrated that the information content has a role in the estimates of sex differences in general intelligence. The PM test is based on abstract figures and males outperform females in spatial tests. The present study administered the Advanced Progressive Matrices Test (APM) to a sample of 1970 applicants to a private University (1069 males and 901 females). It is predicted that there are several items biased against female performance, by virtue of their visuo-spatial nature. A double methodology is used. First, confirmatory factor analysis techniques are used to contrast one and two factor solutions. Second, Differential Item Functioning (DIF) methods are used to investigate sex DIF in the APM. The results show that although there are several biased items, the male advantage still remains. However, the assumptions of the DIF analysis could help to explain the observed results.

Adaptación y validación del Health Utilities Index Mark 3 al castellano y baremos de corrección en la población española

Fundamento y objetivo El Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI-3) es un instrumento que permiteatribuir utilidades a los estados de salud. Se presenta la adaptacion y validacion al castellano, asicomo la estimacion de las utilidades en la poblacion espanola comparandola con la canadiense. Pacientes y metodo El proceso de adaptacion se ha realizado siguiendo el protocolo de Furlong.Se selecciono un panel de expertos para garantizar el proceso, la traduccion del cuestionario y elentrenamiento de los entrevistadores. Se han utilizado dos muestras: una de modelado destinadaa desarrollar la funcion de utilidad multiatributo (MAUF) y una de medicion directa para validarla MAUF. Ambas muestras son representativas de la poblacion espanola. Para estimar lasutilidades asociadas a cada estado de salud se han utilizado: la Escala Visual Analogica y laApuesta Normalizada o Juego Estandar. La dimensionalidad del instrumento se ha analizado medianteanalisis factorial y la validez convergente se ha comprobado con el EuroQoL. Resultados La version espanola del HUI-3 es factible ( Conclusiones El cuestionario puede aplicarse de forma individual o colectiva y de forma autoadministradao mediante entrevista. Los indices psicometricos obtenidos son buenos. Las diferenciasencontradas entre las funciones de utilidad espanola y canadiense hacen necesario utilizarcomo referente las funciones especificas de cada poblacion.

Does g variance change in adulthood? Testing the age de-differentiation hypothesis across sex

In the last decade, changes in the structure of intelligence across the life-span has become a central topic in the research on human intelligence. One of the main hypotheses that has arisen to account for such changes has been the age de-differentiation hypothesis [Balinsky, Genetic Psychology Monographs 23 1941, 191]. It predicts an increase in the importance of g, and a decrease in the number and importance of the lower-order abilities from early maturity to senescence. Despite of the research effort to test this hypothesis, no study has ever been conducted controlling by sex. For that purpose, males and females of the Spanish standardisation sample of the WAIS-III were analysed separately. Results show that the importance of g does not change with age irrespective of sex. Thus, the age de-differentiation hypothesis is rejected for both males and females. The indifferentiation hypothesis is supported as a more appropriate view of the changes in the structure of intelligence across adulthood.