Although a verbal intelligence test is directly a measure of what people know, it is indirectly a way of identifying people who can code and manipulate verbal stimuli rapidly in situations in which knowledge per se is not a major factor. (Author/BJG)

The major thesis of this research is that there are two types of processes underlying verbal performance. First, there are processes based on knowledge. Second, verbal performance requires the exercise of certain information-free, mechanistic processes, i.e., those that are conducted on the physical representation of a symbol (including whatever…

By reviewing studies relating memory to verbal comprehension and describing a sentence verification task study, the author examines the relationship, in normal subjects, between information processing capacities and intelligence. He proposes three sources of individual differences in information processing: basic functions, choice of problem…

This report summarizes the research results and provides a reference. The basic question addressed was, "Is performance on multi-component tasks predicted by performance on the individual components performed separately?" In the first series of experiments, a dual task involving memory and verbal processing components to predict a…

If microcomputers are used as automated testing stations, for use in psychometric assessment, there are economic advantages. Discussion follows, however, on whether it is possible to improve the quality of cognitive assessment by extending the range of cognitive abilities to be assessed. Two types of extension are considered: modifying and…

It is difficult to account for the real and easily measured differences in verbal competence. Differential psychologists investigate basic traits from which observed behavior is thought to be generated, but if thinking is viewed as a problem in information handling, research will more profitably focus on the relationship between behavior in…

Recent literature on individual differences in verbal ability indicates that people demonstrating high verbal comprehension are quicker and more accurate in identifying lexical items, as well as more rapid in parsing sentences. They are not, however, more sensitive to the general gist of a passage, and thus do not respond to priming from context…