Working memory updating of emotional stimuli predicts emotional intelligence in females

Jarosław Orzechowski,Karol Lewczuk,Edward Nęcka,Magdalena Śmieja

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-77944-9

Abstract

Preliminary evidence concerning emotional intelligence (EI) and working memory (WM) showed that the relationship between them is dependent on the emotional content (‘hot’ or ‘cool’) of tasks involving WM. In this paper, we continue investigating the relationship between EI and WM, focusing on a crucial function of WM, i.e., the efficacy of updating its content. WM updating shows substantial correlations with general fluid intelligence (gF) and seems to be a significant predictor of cognitive performance and achievement. We assume that if updating is important for a wide range of higher-order processes, updating emotional content in WM could be essential for emotionally intelligent behavior. To test this hypothesis, we constructed two parallel versions of a task that requires WM updating: one with neutral and the other with emotional stimuli. In addition, performance-based measures of both gF and EI were used in the research. Using the structural equation approach, we sought to demonstrate that gF is dependent on the efficiency of WM updating for both emotional and neutral stimuli, whereas EI might depend only on the updating efficacy in the emotional context. The results are discussed in terms of the domain specificity of EI and the domain generality of gF. The main constraint of the study is its limited sample size (n = 123 for intelligence measures, n = 69 for WM updating tasks). Moreover, the study was based on a female sample; thus, the conclusions can be extrapolated only to women.

Highlights

Preliminary evidence concerning emotional intelligence (EI) and working memory (WM) showed that the relationship between them is dependent on the emotional content (‘hot’ or ‘cool’) of tasks involving WM
Some preliminary evidence concerning the EI-Working memory capacity (WMC) relationship was found by Gutiérrez-Cobo, Cabello, and Fernández-Berrocal[21], who attempted to determine whether the relationship between EI and WMC was dependent on the emotional content (‘hot’ or ‘cool’) of tasks involving WM
The test scores for both measures of IQ, i.e., the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) test and the Horn test, seemed to be positively related to both versions of the memory updating task (MUT). This result is consistent with the available literature[21] and shows that performance on some cognitive tasks may be related to measures of g on a very basic level and may not depend on the type of stimuli used in the task

Summary

Introduction

Preliminary evidence concerning emotional intelligence (EI) and working memory (WM) showed that the relationship between them is dependent on the emotional content (‘hot’ or ‘cool’) of tasks involving WM. Despite its ‘hot’ nature, EI is still ‘intelligence’, which is a cognitive ability correlated with general intelligence (g) test scores, according to the positive manifold rule[19]. This relationship has been repeatedly demonstrated when EI has been assessed with performance-based ability EI tests; self-report measures have rarely shown similar correlations[20,21]. Using n-back tasks, the authors provided evidence for the better performance of higher-EI participants ( in the managing branch of EI) measured through a performance-based ability test, but only in a hot WMC task with emotional content (both positive and negative)

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