Introduction

To what extent do cognitive abilities, conscientiousness, and physical activity predict academic performance?

The relative value of specific versus general cognitive abilities for the prediction of practical outcomes has been debated since the inception of modern intelligence theorizing and testing. This editorial introduces a special issue dedicated to exploring this ongoing “great debate”. It provides an overview of the debate, explains the motivation for the special issue and two types of submissions solicited, and briefly illustrates how differing conceptualizations of cognitive abilities demand different analytic strategies for predicting criteria, and that these different strategies can yield conflicting findings about the real-world importance of general versus specific abilities.

Many studies have found that variation in music training is associated with intellectual abilities, but research disagrees over whether music education should primarily correlate with general intelligence (g) or with specific lower-level cognitive abilities (e.g., fluid reasoning, verbal ability, or spatial reasoning). Past research, however, has not modeled the data in ways that can separate general abilities like g from specific abilities. To examine if the associations between music training and intelligence are general, specific, or both, a bifactor modeling approach was applied to data from a sample of 237 young adults who varied substantially in musical expertise. People completed a range of tasks that measured several lower-order abilities: fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence (vocabulary knowledge), verbal fluency, and auditory discrimination ability. Simple correlations showed that music training correlated with all 4 lower-order abilities. A bifactor model, however, found that music training had both general (a strong association with g: s = .74 [.50, .98]) and specific (a moderate association with auditory ability: s = .37 [.08, .67]) relationships. The findings reconcile past research on the breadth of music training’s relationships and illustrate a fruitful method for identifying its links with cognitive abilities.

School grades are still used by universities and employers for selection purposes. Thus, identifying determinants of school grades is important. Broadly, two predictor categories can be differentiated from an individual difference perspective: cognitive abilities and personality traits. Over time, evidence accumulated supporting the notion of the g-factor as the best single predictor of school grades. Specific abilities were shown to add little incremental validity. The current paper aims at reviving research on which cognitive abilities predict performance. Based on ideas of criterion contamination and deficiency as well as Spearman’s ability differentiation hypothesis, two mechanisms are suggested which both would lead to curvilinear relations between specific abilities and grades. While the data set provided for this special issue does not allow testing these mechanisms directly, we tested the idea of curvilinear relations. In particular, polynomial regressions were used. Machine learning was applied to identify the best fitting models in each of the subjects math, German, and English. In particular, we fitted polynomial models with varying degrees and evaluated their accuracy with a leave-one-out validation approach. The results show that tests of specific abilities slightly outperform the g-factor when curvilinearity is assumed. Possible theoretical explanations are discussed.

The Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities has helped advance understanding regarding the relations between specific cognitive abilities and academic achievement in definite domains. However, questions over the generalisability of this research, as well the moderating effect age has on the strength of cognitive-achievement relations, means that further research is needed. This study therefore investigated the capacity for using the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery — II (MAB-II), a group-administered test of cognitive ability, to further CHC-driven research in Australia. After adapting the MAB-II verbal subtests to be suitable for use with an Australian sample, 179 adults completed the measure. Results were analaysed using both classical test and item response theory. Findings indicated that despite the MAB-II not being developed using CHC theory, the structure of the test appeared to conform to this model. Further, while an adequate number of subtests hypothesised to measure the CHC domains of Comprehension-knowledge (Gc) and Visual processing (Gv) were found to perform well psychometrically, the Arithmetic, Picture Arrangement, and Digit Symbol subtests returned questionable results. Given the advantages a group-administered test of CHC cognitive abilities would provide to CHC-driven research in Australia, suggestions for future modifications and adaptations of the test are provided.

We tested a novel framework for explaining individual differences in academic performance with a large sample of undergraduates (n = 263). Using structural equation modeling, we evaluated how cognitive abilities, disposition, and healthy lifestyle separately influence grade point average. Employing a large cognitive battery assessing eight cognitive constructs and a bifactor model, we parsed variance due to general cognitive ability and residual specific cognitive abilities. Participants wore a Fitbit watch for three weeks to track activity levels, and completed the Big Five Inventory. We found that general cognitive ability did not predict academic performance after accounting for specific abilities, conscientiousness, and physical activity, but the specific abilities secondary memory and fluid intelligence each uniquely predicted about 4% of the variance in grade point average. Neither conscientiousness nor physical activity contributed unique variance in academic performance after accounting for other factors.

To assess the relations between 11 aspects of social support and five cognitive abilities (vocabulary, reasoning, spatial visualization, memory, and speed of processing) and to determine whether these relations between social support and cognition are moderated by age or sex. A sample of 2,613 individuals between the ages of 18 and 99 years completed a battery of cognitive tests and a questionnaire assessing aspects of social support. A measure of general intelligence was computed using principal components analysis. Multiple regressions were used to evaluate whether each aspect of support and/or its interactions with age or sex predicted each cognitive ability and g. Several aspects of social support were significantly related to all five cognitive abilities and to g. When g was included as a predictor, there were few relations with specific cognitive abilities. Age and sex did not moderate any of the relations. These results suggest that contact with family and friends, emotional and informational support, anticipated support, and negative interactions are related to cognition, whereas satisfaction with and tangible support were not. In addition, these aspects of support were primarily related to g, with the exception of family contact. Social support- cognition relations are comparable across the life span and the sexes.

This study examines the extent to which cognitive ability, the Big Five factor personality dimensions, and emotional intelligence are related to training and job performance of U.S. federal criminal investigators. Training performance measures were collected during a 17-week training program. Job performance measures were collected 1 year after the investigators completed the training program. Conscientiousness was modestly related to training performance. Cognitive ability and emotional intelligence were positively correlated with job performance. Neuroticism was negatively correlated with job performance. The relative benefits of using emotional intelligence and the five-factor model to select law enforcement agents are discussed.

The restructuring and optimization of the cerebral cortex from early childhood and through adolescence is an essential feature of human brain development, underlying immense cognitive improvements. Beyond established morphometric cortical assessments, the T1w/T2w ratio quantifies partly separate biological processes, and might inform models of typical neurocognitive development and developmental psychopathology. In the present study, we computed vertex‐wise T1w/T2w ratio across the cortical surface in 621 youths (3–21 years) sampled from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PING) study and tested for associations with individual differences in age, sex, and both general and specific cognitive abilities. The results showed a near global linear age‐related increase in T1w/T2w ratio across the brain surface, with a general posterior to anterior increasing gradient in association strength. Moreover, results indicated that boys in late adolescence had regionally higher T1w/T2w ratio as compared to girls. Across individuals, T1w/T2w ratio was negatively associated with general and several specific cognitive abilities mainly within anterior cortical regions. Our study indicates age‐related differences in T1w/T2w ratio throughout childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, in line with the known protracted myelination of the cortex. Moreover, the study supports T1w/T2w ratio as a promising surrogate measure of individual differences in intracortical brain structure in neurodevelopment.

Low early-life cognitive ability is a potential early marker of dementia risk in later life. Previous studies use only global measures of general intelligence and/or study this relationship in gender-specific samples. The contribution of early-life performance on specific cognitive abilities, such as language, reasoning, and visualization aptitudes, to indicating future dementia risk is unknown. To investigate the association between adolescent cognitive ability and Medicare-recorded Alzheimer disease and related disorders (ADRD) using both general and specific measures of cognitive ability and to explore these associations separately in men and women. Population-based cohort study from the Project Talent-Medicare linked data set, a linkage of adolescent sociobehavioral data collected from high school students in 1960 to participants' 2012 to 2013 Medicare Claims and expenditures data. The association between adolescent cognitive ability and risk of ADRD in later life was assessed in a diverse sample of 43 014 men and 42 749 women aged 66 to 73 years using a series of logistic regressions stratified by sex, accounting for demographic characteristics, adolescent socioeconomic status, and regional effects. Data analysis was conducted from November 2017 to March 2018. Presence of Medicare-reported ADRD. Overall, 1239 men (2.9%) and 1416 women (3.3%) developed ADRD. Lower mechanical reasoning was associated with increased odds of ADRD in men (odds ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.05-1.29), and lower memory for words in adolescence was associated with increased odds of ADRD in women (odds ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.05-1.28). Lower performance on several other language, reasoning, visualization, and mathematic aptitudes in adolescence showed prominent, but weaker, associations with odds of ADRD. This work contributes to the understanding of early-life origins of ADRD risk. The results suggest specific measures of cognitive ability may contribute to very early identification of at-risk subgroups who may benefit from prevention or intervention efforts.

Previous research has suggested that individual differences in procrastination are tied to everyday goal-management abilities, but little research has been conducted on specific cognitive abilities that may underlie tendencies for procrastination, such as executive functions (EFs). In this study, we used behavioral genetics methodology to investigate 2 hypotheses about the relationships between procrastination and EF ability: (a) that procrastination is negatively correlated with general EF ability, and (b) that this relationship is due to the genetic components of procrastination that are most related to other everyday goal-management abilities. The results confirmed both of these hypotheses. Procrastination was related to worse general EF ability at both the phenotypic and genetic levels, and this relationship was due to the component of procrastination shared with self-report measures of everyday goal-management failures. These results were observed even after controlling for potential self-report biases stemming from the urge to respond in a socially desirable manner. Together, these findings provide strong evidence for growing theories of procrastination emphasizing the importance of goal-related cognitive abilities and further highlight important genetic influences that underlie procrastination.

BackgroundEmerging data from younger and middle-aged persons suggest that cognitive ability is negatively associated with risk aversion, but this association has not been studied among older persons who are at high risk of experiencing loss of cognitive function.MethodsUsing data from 369 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging, we examined the correlates of risk aversion and tested the hypothesis that cognition is negatively associated with risk aversion. Global cognition and five specific cognitive abilities were measured via detailed cognitive testing, and risk aversion was measured using standard behavioral economics questions in which participants were asked to choose between a certain monetary payment ($15) versus a gamble in which they could gain more than $15 or gain nothing; potential gamble gains ranged from $21.79 to $151.19 with the gain amounts varied randomly over questions. We first examined the bivariate associations of age, education, sex, income and cognition with risk aversion. Next, we examined the associations between cognition and risk aversion via mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, and income. Finally, we conducted sensitivity analyses to ensure that our results were not driven by persons with preclinical cognitive impairment.ResultsIn bivariate analyses, sex, education, income and global cognition were associated with risk aversion. However, in a mixed effect model, only sex (estimate = -1.49, standard error (SE) = 0.39, p < 0.001) and global cognitive function (estimate = -1.05, standard error (SE) = 0.34, p < 0.003) were significantly inversely associated with risk aversion. Thus, a lower level of global cognitive function and female sex were associated with greater risk aversion. Moreover, performance on four out of the five cognitive domains was negatively related to risk aversion (i.e., semantic memory, episodic memory, working memory, and perceptual speed); performance on visuospatial abilities was not.ConclusionA lower level of cognitive ability and female sex are associated with greater risk aversion in advanced age.

Molarity not modularity: Multivariate genetic analysis of specific cognitive abilities in parents and their 16-year-old children in the colorado adoption project

Cognitive deficits are a core feature of established psychotic illnesses. However, the association between cognition and emerging psychosis is less understood. While there is some evidence that cognitive deficits are present prior to the onset of psychosis, findings are not consistent. In this article we provide an overview of the more general cognitive findings available from genetic high-risk studies, retrospective studies, and birth cohort studies. We then focus the review on neuropsychological performance in clinically "at-risk" groups. Overall, general cognitive ability as assessed by established batteries appears to remain relatively intact in these ultra-high risk cohorts and is a poor predictor close to illness onset relative to other vulnerability factors. Further decline may occur with illness progression, more consistent with state relative to trait factors. In addition, most established cognitive tasks involve several relatively discrete cognitive subprocesses, where findings from general batteries of subtests may mask specific deficits. In this context, our review suggests that relatively specific olfactory identification and spatial working memory deficits exist prior to illness onset and may be more potent trait markers for psychosis than cognitively dense tasks such as verbal memory. Suggestions for further research address the importance of standardization of inclusion criteria and the maintenance of basic neuropsychological assessment to allow better comparison of findings across centers. Further, in order to better understand the aetiopathology of cognitive dysfunction in psychosis, more experimental, hypothesis-driven measures of discrete cognitive processes are required. Delineation of the relationship between specific cognitive ability and symptoms from data-driven approaches may improve our understanding of the role of cognition during psychosis onset.

ABSTRACTLittle is known about creativity in old age. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent the intensity of engaging in creative activities differs between older and younger people as well as older people with and without cognitive impairment. Moreover, we evaluated associations of creative activities with specific cognitive abilities. For this cross‐sectional study, groups of younger people (n = 24), older cognitively healthy people (n = 24), and older cognitively impaired people (n = 23) were recruited via convenience sampling. Creative activities were assessed via the creative behavior inventory (CBI). Cognitive abilities were assessed via trail making test (TMT), standard progressive matrices (SPM), creative reasoning task (CRT), test of creative thinking‐drawing production (TCT‐DP), and alternate uses task (AUT). The intensity of engaging in creative activities was higher among younger people but was not significantly associated with being cognitively impaired. Only two cognitive abilities, the creative thinking scores CRT‐Components and TCT‐DP‐Original, predicted creative activities. Both did not differ significantly between cognitively healthy and cognitively impaired older adults. The findings suggest that cognitively impaired older people still engage in creative activities, which might be due to their relatively sound creative thinking. Further studies should investigate whether engaging in creative activities can mitigate cognitive decline.