Spearman’s g found in 31 non-Western nations: Strong evidence that g is a universal phenomenon.

Warne, Russell T.; Burningham, Cassidy

doi:10.1037/bul0000184

Cited by 84 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 150 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It has been well over a century since Spearman discovered that individuals who perform well in one cognitive or academic domain generally perform well in all other domains, leading him to conclude "that all branches of intellectual activity have in common one fundamental function (or group of functions)" [1] (p. 285), which he termed general intelligence, or g. Statistically, about 50% of the covariance among cognitive and academic measures is captured by this function or functions [2], making the concept of g (whatever it is indexing) of substantial theoretical and practical importance. The ensuing search for the basis of g has led to myriad theories and research traditions at multiple levels of analysis including complex (e.g., working memory) to more basic (e.g., speed of processing) cognitive systems [3,4]; complex (large-scale networks) to more basic (e.g., speed of neural conduction) neural systems [5]; aspects of cellular functioning (e.g., control of oxidative stress; [6,7]); and, g as an illusionary construct resulting from the mathematics underlying factor analyses [8,9].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondria as the Linchpin of General Intelligence and the Link between g, Health, and Aging

Geary¹

2019

J. Intell.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a recent theoretical article, I proposed that the efficiency of mitochondrial functioning is the most fundamental biological mechanism contributing to individual differences in general intelligence (g; Geary, 2018). The hypothesis accommodates other contributing mechanisms at higher levels of analysis (e.g., brain networks), and is attractive because mitochondrial energy production undergirds the developmental, maintenance, and expression of these other mechanisms and provides a means to link individual differences in g to individual differences in health and successful aging in adulthood. I provide a brief summation here and a few clarifications to the original article.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondria as the Linchpin of General Intelligence and the Link between g, Health, and Aging

Geary¹

2019

J. Intell.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, Spearman termed this phenomenon "the indifference of the indicator" (Johnson, Bouchard, Krueger, McGue, & Gottesman, 2004;Thorndike, 1987;Vernon, 1989). Additionally, g-factors have been identified across a wide range of populations (Warne & Burningham, 2019). Therefore, we expect general cognitive ability estimates derived from large, heterogenous batteries of tasks to be similar across studies, even when using somewhat different tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collecting big data with small screens: Group tests of children’s cognition with touchscreen tablets are reliable and valid

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Collecting experimental cognitive data with young children usually requires undertaking one-on-one assessments, which can be both expensive and time-consuming. In addition, there is increasing acknowledgement of the importance of collecting larger samples for improving statistical power Button et al. (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 14(5), 365–376, 2013), and reproducing exploratory findings Open Science Collaboration (Science, 349(6251), aac4716–aac4716 2015). One way both of these goals can be achieved more easily, even with a small team of researchers, is to utilize group testing. In this paper, we evaluate the results from a novel tablet application developed for the Resilience in Education and Development (RED) Study. The RED-app includes 12 cognitive tasks designed for groups of children aged 7 to 13 to independently complete during a 1-h school lesson. The quality of the data collected was high despite the lack of one-on-one engagement with participants. Most outcomes from the tablet showed moderate or high reliability, estimated using internal consistency metrics. Tablet-measured cognitive abilities also explained more than 50% of variance in teacher-rated academic achievement. Overall, the results suggest that tablet-based, group cognitive assessments of children are an efficient, reliable, and valid method of collecting the large datasets that modern psychology requires. We have open-sourced the scripts and materials used to make the application, so that they can be adapted and used by others.

show abstract

“…Currently the most widely accepted model is the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model that proposes a hierarchical, three-stratum model consisting of: stratum I, "narrow" abilities; stratum II, "broad abilities"; and stratum III, consisting of a single "general ability" (or g) (Flanagan & Dixon, 2014). This finding appears to be a culturally universal phenomenon (Warne & Burningham, 2019) and not limited only to humans (Reader, Hager, & Laland, 2011). The general intelligence construct also appears to have predictive validity and is the most important predictor for important life outcomes such as educational attainment, job performance, and health (L. S. Gottfredson, 1997;Linda S. Gottfredson & Deary, 2016).…”

Section: Part 1: General Factors In Psychology What General Factors Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

From general factors to response generalisation: the importance of the cerebellum for mental health and social effectiveness

Walsh¹

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Various psychometric general factor models exist to describe a diverse range of human psychological traits e.g. general factors of intelligence, personality and psychopathology. Historically, these latent traits have been viewed and studied as distinct constructs. However, accumulating evidence demonstrates empirical overlap, and conceptual proposals have been made arguing that collectively these traits form a marker of general social effectiveness. Here I argue that the cerebellum has an important, and previously neglected role in supporting diverse general factor psychological traits that enable such social effectiveness. In this conceptual article, I review evidence derived largely from neuroimaging studies, that these general traits (intelligence, personality, psychopathology and others) share overlapping neural correlates, and potentially shared underlying computations in the cerebellum. This is important as the cerebellum has an integrative role in skilled behaviour and psychological flexibility by enabling cognitive, affective and behavioural generalisation and adaptation across diverse environmental contexts. This article also discusses the importance of the cerebellum for understanding general factor development, given the early maturational timing of the cerebellum, and high sensitivity to early environmental influence. Finally, I propose a cerebellar role within the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiToP); an important framework for understanding of the latent transdiagnostic structure of psychopathology. If correct, consideration of the cerebellum can facilitate integration of psychometric and translational neuroscience perspectives to provide a broader and unified biopsychosocial understanding of psychological, and specifically mental health phenomena.

show abstract

Spearman’s g found in 31 non-Western nations: Strong evidence that g is a universal phenomenon.

Cited by 84 publications

References 150 publications

Mitochondria as the Linchpin of General Intelligence and the Link between g, Health, and Aging

Mitochondria as the Linchpin of General Intelligence and the Link between g, Health, and Aging

Collecting big data with small screens: Group tests of children’s cognition with touchscreen tablets are reliable and valid

From general factors to response generalisation: the importance of the cerebellum for mental health and social effectiveness

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About