Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2021 Aug;28(4):1423-1432. doi: 10.3758/s13423-021-01909-w. Epub 2021 Apr 13.
There is a strong relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity (WMC). Yet, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The capacity hypothesis states that this relationship is due to limitations in the amount of information that can be stored and held active in working memory. Previous research aimed at testing the capacity hypothesis assumed that it implies stronger relationships of intelligence test performance with WMC for test items with higher capacity demands. The present article addresses this assumption through simulations of three theoretical models implementing the capacity hypothesis while systematically varying different psychometric variables. The results show that almost any relation between the capacity demands of items and their correlation with WMC can be obtained. Therefore, the assumption made by previous studies does not hold: The capacity hypothesis does not imply stronger correlations of WMC and intelligence test items with higher capacity demands. Items varying in capacity demands cannot be used to test the causality of WMC (or any other latent variable) for fluid intelligence.
流体智力与工作记忆容量（WMC）之间存在很强的关系。然而，这种关系背后的认知机制仍然难以捉摸。容量假说认为，这种关系是由于工作记忆中可以存储和保持活跃的信息量有限所致。之前旨在检验容量假说的研究假设，它意味着对于具有更高容量需求的测试项目，智力测试表现与 WMC 的关系更强。本文通过模拟三个理论模型来解决这个假设，这些模型在系统地改变不同心理测量变量的同时实施容量假说。结果表明，几乎可以获得项目的容量需求与其与 WMC 的相关性之间的任何关系。因此，之前研究中所做的假设并不成立：容量假说并不意味着 WMC 与具有更高容量需求的智力测试项目之间的相关性更强。具有不同容量需求的项目不能用于测试 WMC（或任何其他潜在变量）对流体智力的因果关系。
