ELIMINATING THE IQ-RT CORRELATION BY ELIMINATING AN EXPERIMENTAL CONFOUND

Three experiments investigated the relation between visual scanning de mands, reaction time (RT), and psychometrically defined intelligence ( IQ). Prior studies have shown reliable correlations between RT and IQ in the range of -.20 to -.80. However, these studies have confounded t he number of possible stimuli (stimulus uncertainty) with the size of the area in which the stimuli may appear (visual angle). Experiment 1 replicated these studies retaining this confound. As the number of sti muli increased from one to eight, the visual angle was permitted to in crease as well (from 0-degrees to 30-degrees). The results showed that RT varied in accord with Hick's (1952) law, and a median correlation between IQ and six RT parameters (subjects' mean RTs and standard devi ations at three levels of stimulus uncertainty) of -.47 was observed. Experiment 2 removed the confound, varying only stimulus uncertainty, and the median IQ-RT correlation declined to -.02. Experiment 3 held s timulus uncertainty constant at 1 bit (two stimuli) and varied visual angle; a median correlation of -.19 was observed. It was concluded tha t many of the previously reported correlations may not have hinged on speed of information processing alone, but at least in part on subject s' abilities to scan the display across which the stimuli appeared.