Jungeblut Henrike M, Hagemann Dirk, Löffler Christoph, Schubert Anna-Lena
Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
J Cogn. 2021 Apr 29;4(1):26. doi: 10.5334/joc.158.
The speed of short-term memory scanning is thought to be captured in the slope of the linear function of mean reaction times (RTs) regressed on set size in the Sternberg memory scanning task (SMST). Individual differences in the slope parameter have been hypothesized to correlate with general intelligence (). However, this correlation can usually not be found. This present study chose a fixed-links model (FLM) approach to re-evaluate the RT slope parameter on a latent level in a sample of 102 participants aged 18 to 61 years who completed the SMST with set sizes 1, 3, and 5. The same was tried for P3 latencies to investigate whether or not both parameters measure the same cognitive processes in the SMST, and to assess the usability of both slopes to predict . For RTs, a linear increase with set size was found. The slope of mean RTs correlated with on a manifest level already. The FLM approach could better reveal this relationship with the correlation between the slope and being substantially higher. For P3 latencies, we found no evidence for a linear increase, but a general increase from the smallest set size to the two larger ones. This indicates that RTs and P3 latencies do not measure the same cognitive processes in the SMST. The FLM proved suitable to investigate the association between the speed of short-term memory scanning and intelligence.
在斯特恩伯格记忆扫描任务（SMST）中，短期记忆扫描速度被认为体现在平均反应时间（RTs）关于记忆集大小的线性函数斜率上。斜率参数的个体差异被假设与一般智力相关。然而，通常无法发现这种相关性。本研究采用固定链接模型（FLM）方法，在102名年龄在18至61岁之间的参与者样本中，在潜在水平上重新评估RT斜率参数，这些参与者完成了记忆集大小为1、3和5的SMST。对P3潜伏期也进行了同样的尝试，以研究这两个参数在SMST中是否测量相同的认知过程，并评估两个斜率预测……的可用性。对于RTs，发现其随记忆集大小呈线性增加。平均RTs的斜率在显变量水平上已经与……相关。FLM方法能更好地揭示这种关系，斜率与……之间的相关性显著更高。对于P3潜伏期，我们没有发现线性增加的证据，而是发现从最小记忆集大小到两个较大记忆集大小总体上有所增加。这表明在SMST中，RTs和P3潜伏期测量的不是相同的认知过程。FLM被证明适用于研究短期记忆扫描速度与智力之间的关联。
