Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin: Clerical Speed and Elementary Cognitive Speed are Different by Virtue of Test Mode Only

How Speededness of a Reasoning Test and the Complexity of Mental Speed Tasks Influence the Relation between Mental Speed and Reasoning Ability

Although previous research has consistently reported a positive association between mental speed and reasoning ability, it remains unclear whether the magnitude of this association depends on whether the reasoning test is administered with or without a time limit. In addition, it is unknown how mental speed task complexity affects the mental speed-reasoning association when the effects of time limitations in the reasoning test (labeled "speededness") are controlled for. The present study examined these questions in a sample of 200 participants who completed the time-limited Culture Fair Test (CFT) and a Hick task with three levels of complexity to measure mental speed. Results showed that the latent correlation between mental speed and reasoning was slightly lower when the effect of speededness in reasoning was statistically controlled for. However, for both controlled and uncontrolled reasoning, the correlation with mental speed was of medium size and statistically significant. When reasoning was controlled for the effects of speededness, only complexity-related mental speed aspects were correlated with reasoning, whereas basic mental speed aspects were correlated with the speededness factor and unrelated to reasoning. These findings demonstrate that time limitations in reasoning tests and complexity in mental speed tasks affect the magnitude of the mental speed-reasoning association.

The Web-Based Assessment of Mental Speed

Abstract. Although web-based cognitive assessments have gained increasing attention in recent decades, it is still debated whether unstandardized test settings allow for comparable measurements as compared to proctored testing, particularly for speeded cognitive tests. Therefore, two within-subject experiments ( N = 73 and N = 72) compared differences in means, criterion correlations with measures of intelligence, and subjective test quality perceptions of a trail-making test between a proctored paper-based, a proctored computerized, and an unproctored web-based administration mode. The results in both samples showed equivalent means between the two computerized modes, equivalent criterion correlations between the three modes, and no differential item functioning. However, the web-based tests were rated as having an inferior measurement quality as compared to the proctored assessments. Thus, web-based testing allows for comparable measurements of mental speed as compared to traditional computerized tests, although it is still regarded as a lower quality medium by test takers.

Binding Costs in Processing Efficiency as Determinants of Cognitive Ability

Performance in elementary cognitive tasks is moderately correlated with fluid intelligence and working memory capacity. These correlations are higher for more complex tasks, presumably due to increased demands on working memory capacity. In accordance with the binding hypothesis, which states that working memory capacity reflects the limit of a person's ability to establish and maintain temporary bindings (e.g., relations between items or relations between items and their context), we manipulated binding requirements (i.e., 2, 4, and 6 relations) in three choice reaction time paradigms (i.e., two comparison tasks, two change detection tasks, and two substitution tasks) measuring mental speed. Response time distributions of 115 participants were analyzed with the diffusion model. Higher binding requirements resulted in generally reduced efficiency of information processing, as indicated by lower drift rates. Additionally, we fitted bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis to the elementary cognitive tasks to separate basal speed and binding requirements of the employed tasks to quantify their specific contributions to working memory capacity, as measured by Recall-1-Back tasks. A latent factor capturing individual differences in binding was incrementally predictive of working memory capacity, over and above a general factor capturing speed. These results indicate that the relation between reaction time tasks and working memory capacity hinges on the complexity of the reaction time tasks. We conclude that binding requirements and, therefore, demands on working memory capacity offer a satisfactory account of task complexity that accounts for a large portion of individual differences in ability.