Studies involving groups administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the WAIS-Revised were examined to determine the validity of J. R. Flynn's (1987) findings of massive intelligence quotient gains in a single generation in many nations. Results for sampled adults support Flynn for the average intelligence range only. (TJH)

Letter series and number series tests of items based on identical rules were administered to 160 male and 160 female undergraduates to determine comparability by testing equality of means, variances, and validity coefficients. Results indicate that letter and number series tests are not equivalent. Number series tests are easier, probably because…

The sustained attention of 16 mildly retarded and 16 nonretarded adults was assessed during 2 60-minute vigilance tests differing in memory demand. Performance of retarded subjects declined more rapidly in later stages than did that of the nonretarded subjects. Implications for the study of memory load are discussed. (SLD)

The relationship between speed of information processing (SIP) and psychometric intelligence was investigated by giving 60 college students (22 males and 38 females) 2 choice reaction time (RT) tests (modified Hick paradigm) and Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices. Results support an association between intelligence and SIP. (SLD)

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)

Items showing sex differences on the revised Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) were studied. In a sample of 206 young adults (110 males and 96 females), 15 items demonstrated significant sex differences, but there was no relationship of item-specific gender content to sex differences in item performance. (SLD)

Using a modified Posner "encoding function" methodology, group differences in semantic encoding speed were assessed under conditions in which subjects encoded pictures of common objects to determine physical identity matches, name identity matches, and superordinate identity matches. Results of primary interest revealed group differences in basic…

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)

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to demonstrate that larger brain size (corrected for body size) was associated with higher intelligence quotient (IQ) for 40 right-handed college students grouped by high and average IQ and sex. Results suggest the relevance of brain size to intelligence test performance. (SLD)

Individual differences in performance on 4 computer-controlled visual memory and recognition tasks as a function of performance on 5 paper-and-pencil spatial tests were studied for 90 psychology students attending the University of Rennes (France). Results show that spatial thinking is partially supported by visual memory. (SLD)

Two studies involving 274 Air Force recruits and 163 college students, respectively, investigated the relationship between priming effects and declarative knowledge acquisition within repetitive practice models. Individual differences in repetition-priming effects uniquely predicted learning differences relative to other cognitive measures.…

This study evaluated the diagnostic validity of a task measuring abstract categorization ability in learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children. Data showed that the component of abstract category knowledge that best disciminates LD children from non-LD, is the knowledge of how members of abstract categories differ from each other. (Author/JAZ)

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Wechsler Intelligence for Children-Revised (WISC-R) were compared with respect to the magnitudes of the average White-Black differences in standardized scaled scores and in raw scores. Subjects were 172 fourth- and fifth-grade children matched in Black-White pairs. (Author/LMO)

Sources of continuity among nine measures of infant cognitive processing and later childhood intelligence quotient were examined through developmental structural equation models applied to a sample of 208 twin pairs measured from 7 to 36 months. Skills assessed appear related to general cognitive ability in a relatively unstable manner. (SLD)

Intellectual abilities were measured for 217 German and 205 American college students using tests (in the subjects' native languages) in which equivalence was established by an item-response theory-based differential-item-functioning (DIF) analysis. Comparisons between groups were not the same before and after removal of DIF items. (SLD)