Abstract. This paper provides an overview of the research into the cognitive basis of intelligence. This research explains cognitive abilities in terms of cognitive units or properties of such units. Furthermore, this research is characterized by the application of so-called elementary cognitive tasks. The various approaches of this research originate from the concepts of cognitive psychology: Mental (and perceptual) speed, attention, working memory, memory access, and learning. All the approaches led to measures which correlate with measures of intelligence. The enormous importance of the cognitive basis is highlighted by the observation that predictors taken from the various approaches explain approximately 50% of the variance of intelligence. At the latent level the rate of explanation seems to surmount the 70% barrier. Furthermore, the problems and perspectives of the approaches are addressed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.