Intelligence and working memory control: Evidence from the WISC-IV administration to Italian children

Abstract

Working memory (WM) has been associated with general intelligence (GI). However, evidence is contradictory, as the relationship has in some cases resulted to be very high, and in other cases very low. To explain these differences, it has been argued that WM is an articulated system and only its more attentional components are strictly related with GI. In particular, it has been argued that WM tasks can be located -according to the task characteristics and the subject's age -along a continuum, from the most passive tasks, which do not require cognitive control, to the most active tasks, which do require high cognitive control. The present study tested this hypothesis using data collected during the standardization of the Italian version of the WISC-IV. WISC-IV, includes four measures, i.e. the arithmetic test, the letter-number sequencing test, the backward and the forward digit span tests, which represent decreasing levels of cognitive control. The analysis of correlations between the four tasks and a measure of GI -obtained with the six basic tasks (related to verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning, but not to working memory) -confirmed the hypothesis and showed that the pattern of correlations only slightly changes across ages.

Working Memory in Portuguese Children With Developmental Dyslexia

“…This finding indicates that group differences in WM may be attributable to differences in general intelligence. Relationships between WM capacity and intellectual ability have also been documented by studies of typically -19 -developing children and young adults (Ackerman, Beier, & Boyle, 2005;Cornoldi, Orsini, Cianci, Giofrè, & Pezzuti, 2013).…”

Differences in the intellectual profile of children with intellectual vs. learning disability

“…An abundant body of research has shown that processing speed (Coyle, 2013;Jensen, 1998) and WM (Cornoldi, Orsini, Cianci, Giofrè, & Pezzuti, 2013;Demetriou et al, 2013;Giofrè, Mammarella, & Cornoldi, 2013) are involved in intellectual functioning. The present evidence confirms that this relationship may differ, however, in particular groups -as already suggested in the case of children with ADHD, who may struggle with WM tasks despite a high level of intelligence (Cornoldi, Giofrè, Calgaro, & Stupiggia, 2013).…”

The relationship among geometry, working memory, and intelligence in children

“…Although the two constructs are closely related, they do not appear to overlap completely and the two constructs can be considered as distinguishable (Conway, Kane, & Engle, 2003). Their relationship is under debate (Martínez et al, 2011) Conway, & Gathercole, 2010), and it has also been argued that highly-controlled WM processes have a greater power for predicting intelligence in typically-developing children (Cornoldi, Orsini, Cianci, Giofrè, & Pezzuti, 2013) than in particular populations (Cornoldi, Giofrè, Calgaro, & Stupiggia, 2013). The idea that different components of WM relate differently to intelligence has found further support: a recent study on 4 th -and 5 th -graders, for instance, supported the relationship between WM and intelligence, but showed that only active WM and visuospatial short-term memory were significantly related to intelligence, while verbal short-term memory did not .…”