On the correlation between working memory capacity and performance on intelligence tests

Abstract

A ubiquitous finding in intelligence research is that there is a substantial correlation between working memory (WM) capacity and general (fluid) intelligence tests (e.g., [Intelligence 14 (1990) 389]). The standard explanation for this correlation is as follows: People with high WM capacity can keep in memory many elements and are therefore good at storing subresults needed within an item. We argue that another factor may be partly responsible for this correlation, namely, that people with a high WM capacity can store many solution principles over items. Two experiments (with N=42 and N=52, respectively) are conducted that validate this alternative explanation in two particular tests, the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test (RPM) [Raven, J. C. (1965). Advanced progressive matrices, set II. New York: Psychological Corporation], and a number series test constructed by ourselves, but resembling standard number series intelligence tests (e.g., [J Educ Psychol 75 (1983) 603]).