Lecture 6

Question 1

Name 2 ways that mental speed is measured

Answer 1

• Hick paradigm (reaction time)

- Inspection time

Question 2

What is the Hick paradigm?

Answer 2

Simple and choice reaction time (RT) task

Question 3

What is inspection time to measure mental speed?

Answer 3

A visual discrimination task with tachistoscopically presented stimuli where the researcher controls the measurement time

Question 4

Describe the procedure that is used in the Hick paradigm?

Answer 4

• Subject starts with their finger on the “home button”

- When one of the n lights come on, subject releases the home button and presses the response button

Question 5

Describe the procedure that is used in inspection time tasks?

Answer 5

• Use of orienting stimuli (“+”)
• Backwards mask (presenting one stimulus (“mask”) immediately after another brief (≤ 50ms) “target” stimulus)
• Range of times employed between stimuli
  o Demo: 50-200 msec
  o Typical range: 6-200msec

Question 6

What is “reaction time” in a Hick paradigm?

Answer 6

Time before releasing the home button

Question 7

What is “movement time” in a Hick paradigm?

Answer 7

Time from releasing the home button to pressing the response button

Question 8

What is Hick’s Law (in a Hick paradigm)?

Answer 8

Reaction time (RT) is a function of the number of alternatives
        -       Reaction time increases linearly with each bit (number of choices) of information

Question 9

What is the role of strategies in a Hick paradigm?

Answer 9

Use of primitive strategies could influence reaction/movement time

Question 10

What are the 5 possible measures of mental speed in a Hick paradigm?

Answer 10

1. Overall mean response time
2. Mean response time at each number of alternatives
3. Intercept of Hick function (i.e. reaction time to a single light)
4. Slope/gradient of the Hick function
   ♣ Supposed to be theoretically meaningful – measures an individual’s rate of gain of information
5. Variability of response time from trial to trial

Question 11

What did Jensen (1982) say IQ should relate more strongly to: choice reaction time (RT) or simple reaction time (RT)?

Answer 11

IQ should relate more strongly to choice RT than to simple RT
o As the number of choices increases, should see stronger correlations with intelligence
♣ Supported

Question 12

What is the correlation between ‘g’ and reaction time in a Hick paradigm?

Answer 12

• Correlation between g and reaction time for different amount of alternatives
  o Regular, but very small increase with number of choices
  ♣ Fluid intelligence
  o Slow people have higher reaction times and lower scores
  o Effect size is very small

Question 13

What does to use of a ‘backwards mask’ in an inspection time task do?

Answer 13

Leads to failure to consciously perceive the first stimulus

Question 14

How does inspection time relate to IQ?

Answer 14

Significant correlation between inspection time (visual and auditory) and IQ (which was operationalised as most Gf tasks, i.e. Raven’s and matrices tasks)

• Very significant results for ‘strategy use’ and ‘no strategy use’ - higher correlation when no strategy was used

Question 15

How is mental speed thought to relate to intelligence?

Answer 15

Speed of mental processing thought by Galton to be a key component of intelligence

Question 16

What is the logic of a lagged panel model?

Answer 16

IF: correlation (inspection time T1 with intelligence T2) > correlation (intelligence T1 with inspection T2)

THEN: inspection time CAUSES intelligence

Question 17

What is a cross-lagged panel design?

Answer 17

A longitudinal trial and error model employed to escalate the likelihood of causal impact wherein two factors, both B and A, are measured at two separate times

• Infer causality from a series of correlations

Question 18

What is the direction of causation?

Answer 18

Inspection time causes LATER intelligence (intelligence later in life)

Question 19

Describe Deary’s (1995) study that determined the causal direction of inspection time and intelligence

Answer 19

o	108 school children (13yr-olds)
o	Tested twice, 2 years apart
o	At each point, participants completed:
        ♣	Raven’s Progressive Matrices
        ♣	Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale
        ♣	Auditory Inspection Time (AIT)
o	Inspection time causes later intelligence