The unique contributions of the facilitation of procedural memory and working memory to individual differences in intelligence

Abstract

Individual differences in working memory account for a substantial portion of individual differences in complex cognitive processes (e.g., comprehension) and fluid intelligence. However, a large portion of the variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension is unexplained. The current investigation was conducted to evaluate whether individual differences in the facilitation of procedural memory accounts for unique variance in intelligence not accounted for by working memory. To measure variability in the facilitation of procedural memory, we used a task that required participants to first classify exemplars of two categories; facilitation was then operationalized by subsequent improvements in the speed of classifying new exemplars from those categories (i.e., an operation-specific memory procedure). Three measures of each focal construct (facilitation in procedural memory, working memory, comprehension and fluid intelligence) were administered to 256 participants. We used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among these latent variables. Working memory did account for variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension, but most important, individual differences in facilitation of procedural memory accounted for unique variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension.