Processing Speed Mediates the Development of General Intelligence (g) in Adolescence

Processing Speed Mediates the Development of General Intelligence (g) in Adolescence
Thomas R. Coyle, David R. Pillow, Anissa C. Snyder, and Peter Kochunov; 2011
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3725745/


Abstract

In the research reported here, we examined whether processing speed mediates the development of general intelligence (g) in adolescence. Using the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a battery of 12 diverse cognitive tests, we assessed processing speed and g in a large sample of 13- to 17-year-olds obtained from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 6,969). The direct effect of age on g was small compared with the total effect of age on g, which was almost fully mediated through speed. The results suggest that increases in g in adolescence can be attributed to increases in mental speed.


See also: 
Clocking the mind: Mental chronometry and individual differences; A. R. Jensen; 2006