MOTIVATION - CAUSE OR CONFOUND IN INFORMATION-PROCESSING INTELLIGENCECORRELATIONS

The goal of the present study was to determine whether correlations be tween information processing scores and intelligence can be explained in terms of between-subject motivational differences. One hundred and nine male and female volunteer college students were tested on a batte ry of microcomputerized cognitive tests. One hundred of these subjects returned for a second session in which they were randomly assigned to an incentive or no-incentive condition and then retested. The effort expended on the tests was measured via heart rate, skin conductance, a nd a self-report questionnaire. Criterion measures, including the Adva nced Otis-Lennon Test of Mental Abilities and Advanced Raven Progressi ve Matrices were also taken. The findings revealed that incentives had relatively modest effects on performance. In no case, however, did in centives affect the overall IQ-performance correlation for the tests u sed in the battery. These results support the view that correlations b etween information processing scores and intelligence reflect common m ental capacities, rather than some affective variable such as motivati on.