Complexity, metacognition, and fluid intelligence

From among five tests of fluid intelligence employed in this study, two (Swaps and Triplet Numbers) were designed to investigate increases in complexity and difficulty. This was accomplished by manipulating the number of steps needed to reach a solution. The increase in task difficulty is related to changes in the overall performance levels that are reflected in arithmetic means. The complexity of a task is related to the increase in correlation with measures of fluid intelligence or in the increase in factor loadings on a fluid intelligence factor. Both these tendencies are present in the results of this study. A metacognitive process of self-confidence was assessed by asking participants to indicate how confident they were that the item they have just answered was correctly solved. A metacognitive process of Self-evaluation was assessed by estimating the number of correctly solved items at the end of each test. The analyses of the overall performance also indicate that an "easy/difficult" distinction provides a reasonable account of the calibration data that show over- and underconfidence. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses indicate the presence of a relatively strong self-confidence factor. Confirmatory analysis also indicates the presence of a self-evaluation factor.