Mental impairment and intelligence g factor: a psychometric profile.

Correlation among psychometric tests in normal Ss (N = 102) was examined for g factor saturation. A psychometric profile employing a test battery was drawn for use with neuropsychiatric patients (N = 35) to study whether mental impairment is due to a destruction of the general intelligence or of some specific intellectual function. Specific intellectual functions seem to have been involved, albeit at different degrees, Attentive abilities were the most impaired, abstract thinking the least. A methodological approach is proposed for further studies on mental impairment in neurological disorders.