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- Title
INSPECTION TIME FOR VERBAL STIMULI: LETTER DETECTION, IDENTIFICATION AND DISCRIMINATION SPEED.
- Authors
Payne, Tabitha W.; Smith, Gaither
- Abstract
Mental speed is defined as the speed at which neural processes are completed and it has been found that individual performance on speed measures significantly correlates with fluid intelligence scores. Given that tradition measures of mental speed use a discrimination judgment, the goal of this research was to expand upon the design of inspection time tasks, in which the exposure time for sensory stimuli is manipulated. In this study, mental speed was assessed using several novel inspection time measures that involved speeded letter detection and identification, along with letter-pair comparisons. The letter detection time task was considered to be the most basic measure of time needed to accurately perceive the presence of the stimulus, whereas letter identification requires the addition of verbal processes to label the stimulus. For each measure the time for the presentation duration of the target stimuli was varied from 80 to 16 milliseconds. In addition to the 3 inspection time tests, both fluid intelligence and working memory capacity were assessed. Fluid intelligence was assessed using a standardized visual reasoning test (Ravens), while working memory capacity was observed using a computerized complex span measure (Counting Span). Performance data for the inspection time tasks indicate that detection task was significantly easier, even under extreme time constraints for stimulus processing (16ms) in comparison to the letter identification and discrimination versions, in which accuracy dropped more drastically with decreasing inspection time. Correlational data revealed that all 3 speed measures predicted intelligence, however, only identification was related to working memory. Both mental speed and working memory capacity are significantly correlated with fluid intelligence, but each process makes a unique contribution to intelligence.
- Publication
Journal of Communications Research, 2014, Vol 6, Issue 1, p59
- ISSN
1935-3537
- Publication type
Academic Journal