Do processing speed and short-term storage exhaust the relation between working memory capacity and intelligence?

Do processing speed and short-term storage exhaust the relation between working memory capacity and intelligence?
Cai-Ping Dang, Johan Braeken, Roberto Colom, Emilio Ferrer, Chang Liu
Personality & Individual Differences (Feb 2015)


Highlights

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The roles of processing speed (PS) and short-term storage (STM) were analyzed.

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PS accounts for the relation between WMC and Fluid intelligence (Gf).

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STM and PS exhaust the correlation between WM and crystallized intelligence (Gc).

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PS underlies the correlation between WMC and intelligence.

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PS’ relevance decreases when cognitive tasks rely on more acquired crystallized knowledge.

Abstract

The roles of processing speed (PS) and short-term storage (STM) for explaining the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and intelligence are analyzed at the latent variable level. 253 Chinese college students completed thirty-two measures from different content domains tapping the cognitive constructs of interest. The key findings showed that (a) PS accounts for the relationship between WMC and fluid intelligence, (b) STM and PS are required for explaining the correlation between crystallized intelligence and WMC. Therefore, this study provides support for the view that PS underlies the correlation between WMC and intelligence, yet with the nuance that its relevance decreases when cognitive tasks rely on crystallized knowledge and skill.

Error Management and the Evolution of Cognitive Bias

Error Management and the Evolution of Cognitive Bias
Martie G. Haselton and Andrew Galperin (2011)


Abstract

Error management theory (EMT) proposes that when the costs of different types of errors are asymmetrical in their fitness consequences, natural selection will create biased cognitive mechanisms that maximize the least costly error (Haselton & Buss, 2000; Haselton & Nettle, 2006). Since the time of its initial publication, EMT has produced dozens of new hypotheses and empirical results characterizing human cognition. With a focus on the last decade of research developments, we summarize evidence of error management biases across a variety of social psychological domains, ranging from perceptions of romantic attraction to social prejudices, cooperative behaviors, and the judgment of personality traits. We then cover emerging theoretical developments, such as the role of context in affecting the magnitude of biases predicted by EMT. We conclude by addressing a recent challenge to the theory – the notion that selection should preserve true beliefs, and therefore is expected only to bias behavior, and not underlying beliefs (cognition), in order to manage error costs (McKay & Dennett, 2009; McKay & Efferson, 2010). We discuss several hypotheses about why, in order to manage error costs, selection targets beliefs.

Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgment, and Social Cognition

Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgment, and Social Cognition
Jonathan Evans (2008)


Abstract

This article reviews a diverse set of proposals for dual processing in higher cognition within largely disconnected literatures in cognitive and social psychology. All these theories have in common the distinction between cognitive processes that are fast, automatic, and unconscious and those that are slow, deliberative, and conscious. A number of authors have recently suggested that there may be two architecturally (and evolutionarily) distinct cognitive systems underlying these dual-process accounts. However, it emerges that (a) there are multiple kinds of implicit processes described by different theorists and (b) not all of the proposed attributes of the two kinds of processing can be sensibly mapped on to two systems as currently conceived. It is suggested that while some dual-process theories are concerned with parallel competing processes involving explicit and implicit knowledge systems, others are concerned with the influence of preconscious processes that contextualize and shape deliberative reasoning and decision-making.

Identifying and explaining apparent universal sex differences in cognition and behavior

Identifying and explaining apparent universal sex differences in cognition and behavior
Lee Ellis; October 2011
Personality and Individual Differences


Abstract

With growing recognition that there are universal sex differences in cognition and behavior, four theories have been proposed to account for these differences: the founder effect theory, the social structuralist theory, the evolutionary theory, and the evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory. The latter of these theories is described in considerable detail as offering an explanation for most of 65 recently identifiedapparent universal sex differences (AUSDs) in cognition and behavior. Regarding “ultimate causes” (why), ENA theory asserts that (a) evolutionary-genetic factors incline females to bias their mate choices toward males who are loyal and competent provisioners of resources and (b) males are merely a genetic variant on the female sex selected for responding to female mating biases. In terms of “proximate causes” (how), the theory maintains that high exposure to androgens has evolved to alter the male brain functioning in two specific ways relative to most female brains: (a) suboptimal arousal and (b) a rightward shift in neocortical functioning. These two functional patterns are described and hypothesized to incline males and females to learn differently in many respects. The most fundamental differences involve males learning ways of either complying with or circumventing female mate preferences. Numerous universal sex differences in cognition and behavior are hypothesized to result from these evolved neurohormonal factors, including most of the 65 AUSDs herein summarized in seven categorical tables.

The cognitive niche: Coevolution of intelligence, sociality, and language

The cognitive niche: Coevolution of intelligence, sociality, and language
Steven Pinker; 2010


Abstract

Although Darwin insisted that human intelligence could be fully explained by the theory of evolution, the codiscoverer of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace, claimed that abstract intelligence was of no use to ancestral humans and could only be explained by intelligent design. Wallace’s apparent paradox can be dissolved with two hypotheses about human cognition. One is that intelligence is an adaptation to a knowledge-using, socially interdependent lifestyle, the “cognitive niche.” This embraces the ability to overcome the evolutionary fixed defenses of plants and animals by applications of reasoning, including weapons, traps, coordinated driving of game, and detoxification of plants. Such reasoning exploits intuitive theories about different aspects of the world, such as objects, forces, paths, places, states, substances, and other people’s beliefs and desires. The theory explains many zoologically unusual traits in Homo sapiens, including our complex toolkit, wide range of habitats and diets, extended childhoods and long lives, hypersociality, complex mating, division into cultures, and language (which multiplies the benefit of knowledge because know-how is useful not only for its practical benefits but as a trade good with others, enhancing the evolution of cooperation). The second hypothesis is that humans possess an  ability of metaphorical abstraction, which allows them to coopt faculties that originally evolved for physical problem-solving and social coordination, apply them to abstract subject matter, and combine them productively. These abilities can help explain the emergence of abstract cognition without supernatural or exotic evolutionary forces and are in principle testable by analyses of statistical signs of selection in the human genome.

Sexually Selective Cognition: Beauty Captures the Mind of the Beholder

Sexually Selective Cognition: Beauty Captures the Mind of the Beholder
Jon K Maner et al.; 2003


Abstract

Across 5 experimental studies, the authors explore selective processing biases for physically attractive others. The findings suggest that (a) both male and female observers selectively attend to physically attractive female targets, (b) limiting the attentional capacity of either gender results in biased frequency estimates of attractive females, (c) although females selectively attend to attractive males, limiting females’ attentional capacity does not lead to biased estimates of attractive males, (d) observers of both genders exhibit enhanced recognition memory for attractive females but attenuated recognition for attractive males. Results suggest that different mating-related motives may guide the selective processing of attractive men and women.

Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate

Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate
Perspectives on Psychological Science, May 2013
Jonathan Evans & Keith Stanovich


Abstract

Dual-process and dual-system theories in both cognitive and social psychology have been subjected to a number of recently published criticisms. However, they have been attacked as a category, incorrectly assuming there is a generic version that applies to all. We identify and respond to 5 main lines of argument made by such critics. We agree that some of these arguments have force against some of the theories in the literature but believe them to be overstated. We argue that the dual-processing distinction is supported by much recent evidence in cognitive science. Our preferred theoretical approach is one in which rapid autonomous processes (Type 1) are assumed to yield default responses unless intervened on by distinctive higher order reasoning processes (Type 2). What defines the difference is that Type 2 processing supports hypothetical thinking and load heavily on working memory.

Intellect as distinct from Openness: differences revealed by fMRI of working memory.

Intellect as distinct from Openness: differences revealed by fMRI of working memory.
CG DeYoung et al.; Nov, 2009
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805551/


Abstract

Relatively little is known about the neural bases of the Big Five personality trait Openness/Intellect. This trait is composed of 2 related but separable aspects, Openness to Experience and Intellect. On the basis of previous behavioral research (C. G. DeYoung, J. B. Peterson, & D. M. Higgins, 2005), the authors hypothesized that brain activity supporting working memory (WM) would be related to Intellect but not to Openness. To test this hypothesis, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan a sample of 104 healthy adults as they performed a difficult WM task. Intellect (and not Openness) was found to correlate with WM accuracy and with accuracy-related brain activity, in left lateral anterior prefrontal cortex and posterior medial frontal cortex. Neural activity in these regions mediated the association between Intellect and WM performance, implicating these regions in the neural substrate of Intellect. Intellect was also correlated significantly with scores on tests of intelligence and WM capacity, but the association of Intellect with brain activity could not be entirely explained by cognitive ability.

Gender differences in rumination: A meta-analysis

Gender differences in rumination: A meta-analysis
Daniel P Johnson, Mark a Whisman; 2013
Personality and Individual Differences, Article in Press


Abstract

Starting in adolescence and continuing through adulthood, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. According to the response styles theory (RST), gender differences in depression result, in part, from women’s tendency to ruminate more than men. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate gender differences in rumination in adults (k = 59; N = 14,321); additionally, an analysis of subtypes of rumination – brooding and reflection – was conducted (k = 23). Fixed effects analyses indicated that women scored higher than men in rumination (d = .24, p < .01, SEd = .02), brooding (d = .19, p < .01, SEd = .03) and reflection (d = .17, p < .01, SEd = .03); there was no evidence of heterogeneity or publication bias across studies for these effect sizes. Although statistically significant, the effect sizes for gender differences in rumination were small in magnitude. Results are discussed with respect to the RST and gender differences in depression.

Efficiency of Functional Brain Networks and Intellectual Performance

Efficiency of Functional Brain Networks and Intellectual Performance
Martijn P van den Heuvel et al.; 2009
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/23/7619.full


Abstract

Our brain is a complex network in which information is continuously processed and transported between spatially distributed but functionally linked regions. Recent studies have shown that the functional connections of the brain network are organized in a highly efficient small-world manner, indicating a high level of local neighborhood clustering, together with the existence of more long-distance connections that ensure a high level of global communication efficiency within the overall network. Such an efficient network architecture of our functional brain raises the question of a possible association between how efficiently the regions of our brain are functionally connected and our level of intelligence. Examining the overall organization of the brain network using graph analysis, we show a strong negative association between the normalized characteristic path length λ of the resting-state brain network and intelligence quotient (IQ). This suggests that human intellectual performance is likely to be related to how efficiently our brain integrates information between multiple brain regions. Most pronounced effects between normalized path length and IQ were found in frontal and parietal regions. Our findings indicate a strong positive association between the global efficiency of functional brain networks and intellectual performance.

Social Perception of Facial Resemblance in Humans

Social Perception of Facial Resemblance in Humans
Lisa M De Bruine et al.; 2008
http://facelab.org/debruine/Teaching/EvPsych/files/DeBruine_2008.pdf


Abstract

Two lines of reasoning predict that highly social species will have mechanisms to influence behavior toward individuals depending on their degree of relatedness. First, inclusive fitness theory leads to the prediction that organisms will preferentially help closely related kin over more distantly related individuals. Second, evaluation of the relative costs and potential benefits of inbreeding suggests that the degree of kinship should also be considered when choosing a mate. In order to behaviorally discriminate between individuals with different levels of relatedness, organisms must be able to discriminate cues of kinship. Facial resemblance is one such potential cue in humans. Computer-graphic manipulation of face images has made it possible to experimentally test hypotheses about human kin recognition by facial phenotype matching. We review recent experimental evidence that humans respond to facial resemblance in ways consistent with inclusive fitness theory and considerations of the costs of inbreeding, namely by increasing prosocial behavior and positive attributions toward self-resembling images and selectively tempering attributions of attractiveness to other-sex faces in the context of a sexual relationship.

Systematic cognitive biases in courtship context: women's commitment–skepticism as a life-history strategy?

Systematic cognitive biases in courtship context: women's commitment–skepticism as a life-history strategy?
Kerstin Cyrus et al.; 2011


Abstract

According to error management theory (EMT) [Haselton M.G., & Buss D.M. (2000). Error management theory: a new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 81–91], evolved psychological mechanisms can lead to systematic cognitive errors whenever costs of false-positive and false-negative decisions have been asymmetrical over evolutionary history. In a courtship context, sex differences in reading commitment intent in a potential partner seem to be a result of these psychological mechanisms. EMT predicts a bias in women toward underperception of men's commitment intentions. Haselton and Buss found evidence for a commitment–skepticism bias in studies testing young women. These findings have not been replicated yet in the published literature. The present two studies compared postmenopausal women with fertile women in a German sample, extending EMT with a life-history perspective. According to the original commitment–skepticism hypothesis, women err on the side of underestimating prospective mates' commitment to avoid the high costs of pregnancy without support. We hypothesize that for postmenopausal women the costs of errors would be more equal or possibly reversed, such that these women face greater costs of missed opportunities with investing partners who could assist them in caring for extant offspring and grand offspring than from falsely assuming that a partner was committed. Therefore, we hypothesize that commitment–skepticism will not occur in postmenopausal women. Confirming our predictions, whereas we replicated the commitment–skepticism in the younger sample, postmenopausal women did not show a bias toward underinferring men's commitment intentions.

Kin recognition: evidence that humans can perceive both positive and negative relatedness

Kin recognition: evidence that humans can perceive both positive and negative relatedness
D B Krupp et al.; 2012
http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~dbkrupp/papers/krupp_etal_jeb.pdf


Abstract

The evolution of spite entails actors imposing costs on ‘negative’ relatives: those who are less likely than chance to share the actor’s alleles and therefore more likely to bear rival alleles. Yet, despite a considerable body of research confirming that organisms can recognize positive relatives, little research has shown that organisms can recognize negative relatives. Here, we extend previous work on human phenotype matching by introducing a cue to negative relatedness: negative self-resembling faces, which differ from an average face in the opposite direction to the way an individual’s own face differs from the average. Participants made trustworthiness and attractiveness judgements of pairs of opposite-sex positive and negative self-resembling faces. Analyses revealed opposing effects of positive and negative self-resembling faces on trustworthiness and attractiveness judgements. This is the first clear  evidence that humans are sensitive to negative relatedness cues, and suggests the potential for the adaptive allocation of spiteful behaviour.

Oxytocin facilitates accurate perception of competition in men and kinship in women

Oxytocin facilitates accurate perception of competition in men and kinship in women
Meytal Fischer-Shofty et al.; 2013
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience


Abstract

Despite the dominant role of the hormone oxytocin (OT) in social behavior, little is known about the role of OT in the perception of social relationships. Furthermore, it is unclear whether there are sex differences in the way that OT affects social perception. Here, we employed a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design to investigate the effect of OT on accurate social perception. Following treatment, 62 participants completed the Interpersonal Perception Task, a method of assessing the accuracy of social judgments that requires identification of the relationship between people interacting in real life video clips divided into three categories: kinship, intimacy and competition. The findings suggest that OT had a general effect on improving accurate perception of social interactions. Furthermore, we show that OT also involves sex-specific characteristics. An interaction between treatment, task category and sex indicated that OT had a selective effect on improving kinship recognition in women, but not in men, whereas men's performance was improved following OT only for competition recognition. It is concluded that the gender-specific findings reported here may point to some biosocial differences in the effect of OT which may be expressed in women's tendency for communal and familial social behavior as opposed to men's tendency for competitive social behavior.

Adaptive attentional attunement: evidence for mating-related perceptual bias

Adaptive attentional attunement: evidence for mating-related perceptual bias
Jon K Maner et al.; 2007
http://psych.mcmaster.ca/psyweb/3f3e/reading12.pdf


Abstract

Substantial evidence suggests that physical attractiveness plays an important role in shaping overt mating preferences, judgments, and choices. Relatively few studies, however, have investigated the hypothesis that perceivers are attuned to signs of attractiveness at early, lower-order stages of social perception. In the current research, a visual cueing task was used to assess biases in attentional disengagement—the extent to which people’s attention becomes stuck on particular social stimuli. Findings indicate that, consistent with some evolutionary theories, perceivers of both sexes exhibited attentional attunement to attractive women, but not attractive men. Additional findings suggest that this bias was pronounced in sexually unrestricted men and in women who felt insecure about a current romantic relationship. This research provides novel evidence for adaptive, lower-order perceptual attunements in the domain of human mating.

Consequences of Age-Related Cognitive Declines

Consequences of Age-Related Cognitive Declines
Timothy Salthouse; 2011
http://faculty.virginia.edu/cogage/publications2/Salthouse%20(in%20press)%20Consequences%20of%20age-related%20cognitive%20declines.pdf


Abstract

Adult age differences in a variety of cognitive abilities are well documented, and many of those abilities have been found to be related to success in the workplace and in everyday life. However, increased age is seldom associated with lower levels of real-world functioning, and the reasons for this lab-life discrepancy are not well understood. This article briefly reviews research concerned with relations of age to cognition, relations of cognition to successful functioning outside the laboratory, and relations of age to measures of work performance and achievement. The final section discusses several possible explanations for why there are often little or no consequences of age-related cognitive declines in everyday functioning.

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"The preceding review indicates that with only a few exceptions, there is little evidence of a negative relation of age (at least within the range of 20 to 75 years of age) and indices of overall level of functioning in society. Assuming that the age-cognition and cognition-functioning relations reviewed above are valid estimates of the true population relations, the positive cognition-functioning relation and negative age-cognition relation lead to expectations of negative relations between age and functioning that are rarely observed."

Openness to Experience and Activity Engagement Facilitate the Maintenance of Verbal Ability in Older Adults

Openness to Experience and Activity Engagement Facilitate the Maintenance of Verbal Ability in Older Adults
Michael J Hogan et al.; 2012
http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hogan-et-al.-2012.pdf



Abstract

The current study used data from the Aberdeen Birth Cohort, 1936, to investigate the hypothesis that the positive effects of the personality trait Openness on cognitive ability are mediated by activity levels. Results of latent growth modeling analysis revealed that higher Openness predicted better reading ability, inductive reasoning, and memory performance across three testing occasions when participants were aged 64 – 68 years. Higher Openness predicted higher activity levels, and higher activity levels in turn predicted higher reading ability, but not higher performance on measures of inductive reasoning, memory, and speed of processing. Overall, Openness and activity engagement appear related to preserved higher cognitive ability in older adults, with Openness having a direct effect on marker tests of fluid ability and with the combined influence of Openness and activity being particularly important for marker tests of crystallized intelligence.

Are Old Adults Just Like Low Working Memory Young Adults? Filtering Efficiency and Age Differences in Visual Working Memory

Are Old Adults Just Like Low Working Memory Young Adults? Filtering Efficiency and Age Differences in Visual Working Memory
Kerstin Jost et al.; 2011
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/5/1147.full


Abstract

While it is well known that working memory functions decline with age, the functional reasons for this decline are not well understood. A factor that has proven critical for general individual differences in visual working memory capacity is the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information. Here, we examine to what degree this factor is also responsible for age differences in working memory. Young and old participants performed a change-detection task where some items in the encoding display were marked as irrelevant. The contralateral delay activity of the electroencephalogram was used to assess individual participants' filtering efficiency (see Vogel EK, McCollough AW, Machizawa MG. 2005. Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory. Nature. 438:500–503.). Older adults showed smaller filtering scores than young adults, but only early in the retention interval, suggesting that efficient filtering was delayed. In contrast, age-independent individual differences in filtering were reflected primarily later in the retention interval. Thus, age and individual differences in filtering are reflected in different ways showing that old adults are not simply like less efficiently performing young adults.

Global Connectivity of Prefrontal Cortex Predicts Cognitive Control and Intelligence

Global Connectivity of Prefrontal Cortex Predicts Cognitive Control and Intelligence
Michael W Cole et al.; 2010
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/26/8988.full


Abstract

Control of thought and behavior is fundamental to human intelligence. Evidence suggests a frontoparietal brain network implements such cognitive control across diverse contexts. We identify a mechanism—global connectivity—by which components of this network might coordinate control of other networks. A lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) region's activity was found to predict performance in a high control demand working memory task and also to exhibit high global connectivity. Critically, global connectivity in this LPFC region, involving connections both within and outside the frontoparietal network, showed a highly selective relationship with individual differences in fluid intelligence. These findings suggest LPFC is a global hub with a brainwide influence that facilitates the ability to implement control processes central to human intelligence.

Bottom-up and top-down emotion generation: implications for emotion regulation

Bottom-up and top-down emotion generation: implications for emotion regulation
Kateri Mc Rae et al., 2012
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3304475/


Abstract

Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in adaptive functioning and mounting evidence suggests that some emotion regulation strategies are often more effective than others. However, little attention has been paid to the different ways emotions can be generated: from the ‘bottom-up’ (in response to inherently emotional perceptual properties of the stimulus) or ‘top-down’ (in response to cognitive evaluations). Based on a process priming principle, we hypothesized that mode of emotion generation would interact with subsequent emotion regulation. Specifically, we predicted that top-down emotions would be more successfully regulated by a top-down regulation strategy than bottom-up emotions. To test this hypothesis, we induced bottom-up and top-down emotions, and asked participants to decrease the negative impact of these emotions using cognitive reappraisal. We observed the predicted interaction between generation and regulation in two measures of emotional responding. As measured by self-reported affect, cognitive reappraisal was more successful on top-down generated emotions than bottom-up generated emotions. Neurally, reappraisal of bottom-up generated emotions resulted in a paradoxical increase of amygdala activity. This interaction between mode of emotion generation and subsequent regulation should be taken into account when comparing of the efficacy of different types of emotion regulation, as well as when reappraisal is used to treat different types of clinical disorders.