Eye Movements and Cognitive Strategy in a Fluid Intelligence Test: Item Type Analysis

Abstract

Eye movements help to infer the cognitive strategy that a person uses in fluid intelligence tests. However, intelligence tests demand different relations/rules tokens to be solved, such as rule direction, which is the continuation, variation or overlay of geometric figures in the matrix of the intelligence test. The aim of this study was to understand whether eye movements could predict the outcome of an intelligence test and in the rule item groups. Furthermore, we sought to identify which measure is best for predicting intelligence test scores and to understand if the rule item groups use the same strategy. Accordingly, 34 adults completed a computerized intelligence test with an eye-tracking device. The toggling rate, that is, the number of toggles on each test item equalized by the item latency explained 45% of the variance of the test scores and a significant amount of the rule tokens item groups. The regression analyses also indicated toggling rate as the best measure for predicting the score and that all the rule tokens seem to respect the same strategy. No correlation or difference were found between baseline pupil size and fluid intelligence. Wiener Matrizen-Test 2 was demonstrated to be a good instrument for the purpose of this study. Finally, the implications of these findings for an understanding of cognition are discussed.

Do your eye movements reveal your performance on an IQ test? A study linking eye movements and socio-demographic information to fluid intelligence.

“…Additionally, in the case of correctly solved items, the participants performed saccades with significantly larger amplitude (p < 0.0001) and duration (p < 0.05). These results are in line with findings from related work [17], indicating an efficient visual search strategy, and/or successful retrieval of mental representations [65]. Along this line, Sargezeh et al, [22] also reported a strong positive correlation between saccade peak velocity and fluid intelligence [22].…”

“…The authors found that a significant percentage of the variance on the participant's scores on a Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test are predictable based on eye-fixation patterns, where systematic scanning of the problem matrices and less toggling between matrix and responses were indicative of better performance. In another work, Laurence et al [17] investigated the predictive power of eye movements on the IQ test performance based on a study with 34 participants who completed a digitalized version of the Wiener Matrizen-Test 2. The authors reported that participants with higher scores of fluid intelligence had less gaze transitions between the relevant areas of interest and the alternative options [17].…”

“…In another work, Laurence et al [17] investigated the predictive power of eye movements on the IQ test performance based on a study with 34 participants who completed a digitalized version of the Wiener Matrizen-Test 2. The authors reported that participants with higher scores of fluid intelligence had less gaze transitions between the relevant areas of interest and the alternative options [17]. More recently, Sargezeh et al, [22] recorded eye movements of 44 participants while performing a comparative visual search task and found significant differences between participants with low, medium, and high levels of fluid intelligence regarding multiple features extracted from eye movements.…”

“…Further research has been conducted on the relationship between these factors and fluid intelligence [12,13], the development of fluid intelligence over the course of our life [14], and how fluid intelligence can be positively influenced [3,15]. There is also an increasing emphasis on identifying how individual differences in fluid intelligence manifest themselves in behavior (e.g., as measured through eye movements [11,16,17]) ultimately in an attempt to paint a more complete picture of the factors contributing to an individual's performance in an intelligence test. As a video-based method, eye tracking plays an important role in this development as it enables researchers to investigate the participants' behavior in an unobtrusive way that is easy to set up.…”

Cognitive strategies revealed by clustering eye movement transitions

“…Next, using simulations, we show that this method is able to retrieve the groups corresponding to strategies for solving a Mastermind Game and present an application of the method to real data. Then, we apply the method to a data set of the Wiener Matrizen Test [a test very similar to the Raven’s Progressive Matrices; 43 ]. We conclude with discussion of our findings, as well as with the limitations, alternatives, and extensions to our approach.…”