Cognitive Psychology and the Study of Human Intelligence

A big tip of the hat to Kevin at Intelligence Testing Blog, for his posting on this article in the European Journal of Cognitive Psychology by Cesare Cornoldi at the University of Padova, Italy.

This evening I stumbled across a wonderful/glorious synthesis article in the European Journal of Cognitive Psychology by C. Cornoldi, the editor of a special issue devoted to the contributions of cognitive psycholgoy to the study of intelligence. The complete reference is:

* Cornoldi, C. (2006). The contribution of cognitive psychology to the study of human intelligence. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18 (1), 1-17

Cornoldi provides a concise historical and comtemporary overview of psychometric theories of intelligence, appropriately emphasizing the work of Cattell-Horn and Jack Carroll. This overview of the psychometric models is alone worth reading the article. More importantly, Cornoldi then tackles, in broad strokes (which is what many of us need to make the leap; or to ascertain if we have been on the correct path in our own conceptual leaps), how cognitive psychology can address a serious problem with hierarchical psychometric theories (like CHC).

Kevin then goes on to quote Cornoldi:

"In particular hierarchical theories based on psychometric evidence pose one serious problem: It is not clear to which psychological processes the highest stratum or components correspond. Cognitive Psychology has isolated powerful cognitive mechanisms that appear to be critical predictors of high level intelligence and underlie different cognitive tasks. Reference to these mechanisms could help in the specification of the most central components of human intelligence."

Cornoldi then proceeds to summarize the cognitive psychology research that has been zeroing in on the contsructs of of working memory (Gsm-MW), processing speed (Gs), and executive function...as explanatory mechanisms necessary to understand human intelligence and to allow for the integration of psychometric and information processing models. He also provides a coherent synthesis of various brain imaging studies and how they relate to all of this (e.g., the neural efficiency hypothesis).

In my brief overview of the article, my opinion matches Kevin's--it is an excellent review of the subject. Thanks for the information, Kevin.