Simple Memory Test Predicts Intelligence
Simple Memory Test Predicts Intelligence
The key to intelligence may be the ability to juggle multiple thoughts or memories at one time.
Researchers have found that a simple test of working memory capacity strongly predicts a person's performance on a battery of intelligence tests that measure everything from abstract problem-solving to social intelligence.
Working memory is a way of temporarily storing information used for some mental task.
Predict an individual's overall intellectual ability essentially with 79-percent accuracy if you tell me what their working memory capacity is," said study researcher Steven Luck of the University of California, Davis.
Prior research suggests that since working memory can be improved, so can a person's intelligence.
Flashing colored squares
Luck and his colleagues used a working memory test they developed that asks subjects to recall the color of one of several colored squares flashed on a computer screen a few seconds before. By increasing the number of squares flashed onscreen, researchers can assess a person's ability to mentally store multiple visual objects – in this case, colors.
The purpose of the study, to be published in the June issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, was to examine working memory deficits in people suffering from schizophrenia. Although the mental disorder is most well-known for its delusions and hallucinations, problems with thinking might ultimately be more important to understanding and treating the condition.
The researchers gave the working memory test to 31 schizophrenia sufferers and 26 control subjects of similar socioeconomic status, age and race. They also had subjects complete a series of intelligence tests known as the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) battery.
"[MATRICS] was designed to be used in testing the effects of new pharmacological treatments on cognition in schizophrenia, but it provides a broad measure
The key to intelligence may be the ability to juggle multiple thoughts or memories at one time.
Researchers have found that a simple test of working memory capacity strongly predicts a person's performance on a battery of intelligence tests that measure everything from abstract problem-solving to social intelligence.
Working memory is a way of temporarily storing information used for some mental task.
Predict an individual's overall intellectual ability essentially with 79-percent accuracy if you tell me what their working memory capacity is," said study researcher Steven Luck of the University of California, Davis.
Prior research suggests that since working memory can be improved, so can a person's intelligence.
Flashing colored squares
Luck and his colleagues used a working memory test they developed that asks subjects to recall the color of one of several colored squares flashed on a computer screen a few seconds before. By increasing the number of squares flashed onscreen, researchers can assess a person's ability to mentally store multiple visual objects – in this case, colors.
The purpose of the study, to be published in the June issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, was to examine working memory deficits in people suffering from schizophrenia. Although the mental disorder is most well-known for its delusions and hallucinations, problems with thinking might ultimately be more important to understanding and treating the condition.
The researchers gave the working memory test to 31 schizophrenia sufferers and 26 control subjects of similar socioeconomic status, age and race. They also had subjects complete a series of intelligence tests known as the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) battery.
"[MATRICS] was designed to be used in testing the effects of new pharmacological treatments on cognition in schizophrenia, but it provides a broad measure