The mental representations and processes used in verbal comprehension were studied in 2 preliminary studies and 2 experiments involving a total of 158 college students solving synonym or sentence completion tasks. Response choices and latencies could be predicted with explicit information-processing models. Implications for theories of…

Using 49 undergraduates, short-term memory (STM) spans, STM probe-recall tasks, and complex working memory (WM) spans were studied to assess the relationships among STM, WM, and verbal ability. Results indicate that STM and WM are separate cognitive constructs, and that both STM and WM are important to verbal abilities. (SLD)

Three of Guilford's measures of ideational fluency, and the Concept Mastery Test, a traditional verbal intelligence test, were correlated with a creative activities inventory. There were no significant differences between the predictive ability of ideational fluency and verbal intelligence measures. (Author/CP)

Adult performance on verbal analogy and classification problems was assessed in terms of outcomes of process execution. Process-outcomes measures accounted for overall performance and were related to ability. Problem forms differed in terms of which measures predicted individual differences. Common process-outcome measures showed highest…

Three forms of a symbol-digit substitution task were administered to 62 female and 96 male college students. Results support the theory that the superior performance of women over men on the Digit-Symbol Substituion subtest of the Wechsler scales is due to their greater ability to encode symbols verbally. (Author/JAC)

Two experiments were conducted to study one facet of verbal intelligence--the ability of adolescents and adults to use a lexical decomposition strategy to define prefixed words. Subjects in grades 8, 10, 11, and college were given a multiple-choice vocabulary test. Results provided partial support for a theory of internal context use. (Author/LMO)

The relation between individual differences in verbal ability and memory for order was investigated. Results indicated that (1) order and item information may be retained separately; (2) verbal ability is related to short-term recall but not recognition of order; and (3) transformation of order at output increases the relation. (Author/RD)

Field dependence and spatial ability are examined as different labels for a common underlying dimension. Sixty college students completed two tests of field dependence and two tests of spatial ability. Results of an analysis of covariance found no evidence to view the two traits as distinct from each other. (Author/LMO)

Measures of verbal intelligence and abstract reasoning were taken on a group of 31 college-aged and 32 elderly adults, together with mental-processing rates associated with choice reaction time, primary memory scanning, and lexical decoding. Group means showed that verbal IQ and lexical decoding were intact in the elderly subjects. (Author/LMO)

Sex differences in spatial visualization ability accounted for sex differences in mathematical ability for a group of college students. With spatial visualization statistically controlled, no significant sex differences in Quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Test scores were found. Males were more predictable than females due to higher spatial…

A conceptual theory for predicting the relations between intellectual abilities and performance during task practice is proposed and is evaluated through an experiment with high school and college students. This macro-theory integrates hierarchical theories of intellectual abilities with information-processing theories of automatic and controlled…

The Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of 86 left-handed undergraduates were examined as a function of familial sinistrality, strength of left-handedness, and sex. An interaction was found between familial sinistrality and strength of handedness in terms of aptitude. (Author/BS)

An auditory inspection time (AIT) test, pitch discrimination tests, and verbal and non-verbal mental ability tests were administered to 59 undergraduates and 119 12-year-old school children. Results indicate that AIT correlations with intelligence are due to AIT being an index of information intake speeds. (TJH)

The verbal overshadowing paradigm was used with 167 undergraduates to determine whether performance across all items on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices was dependent on the same cognitive processes. Results clearly indicated that a subset of items was dependent on visuospatial processes, while another subset required verbal-analytic…

In a computerized video-game-like spatial ability measure administered to 94 university students, the number of target hits was correlated with verbal intelligence quotient. The dynamic spatial measure does not load substantially on a general intellectual ability factor, but it does provide additional evidence that dynamic spatial ability is…