THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAIS-R ABILITIES AND SPEED OF PROCESSING IN A WORD IDENTIFICATION TASK

Matched to the proportions found in the U.K. census data for a range o f demographic variables (age, sex, and socioeconomic status) 123 parti cipants were tested on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised ( WAIS-R) and a test of the minimum presentation time required to identi fy tachistoscopically presented words. The correlations between the su m of the scaled scores for Full, Verbal, and Performance subtests and the log of the identification measures were -0.40, -0.22, and -0.51, r espectively. These results are in line with those observed between the WAIS-R measures and standard visual inspection time (IT). Confirmator y factor analysis indicated that a three-factor model of intelligence with Verbal, Performance, and Attention/Concentration factors, and wit h the identification threshold loaded on the Performance factor alone, represented a better fit to the data than either a single general fac tor model or a two-factor model with Verbal end Performance factors. T hese results are in line with findings in the IT literature (Deary, 19 93) that speed of information processing is significantly related to p erformance IQ but not to verbal IQ.