REACTION-TIMES AND INTELLIGENCE - A COMPARISON OF CHINESE-AMERICAN AND ANGLO-AMERICAN CHILDREN

Chinese-American and Anglo-American school children were compared on a nonverbal test of intelligence (Raven's Progressive Matrices) and on twelve chronometric variables which measure the speed with which basic information processes (e.g. stimulus apprehension, decision, and disc rimination) can be carried out. All of these tasks are correlated with psychometric intelligence. The two groups differed significantly on m ost of the variables, but the differences appear to be multidimensiona l and are not simply due to a group difference in psychometric intelli gence, equivalent to about 5 IQ points in favour of the Chinese-Americ ans. The results are compared with those of Lynn and his colleagues on British, Japanese, and Hong Kong children, and both consistencies and inconsistencies are found.