ON THE REPLICABILITY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN REACTION-TIME COMPONENTS AND INTELLIGENCE

In this paper the replicability of the relation between reaction time components and intelligence is investigated with respect to two 'identical' sets of data obtained from independent samples. Whereas the first set of data is taken from a study which has already been published, the second set of data is obtained from a new investigation. Four models assuming different types of relations between reaction time components are applied to decomposite reaction times. The standard model assuming additively related reaction time components that correlate substantially with measures of intelligence in the original data leads to rather different findings in the new data. In contrast, if the components are related multiplicatively, then a high degree of consistency can be obtained. It even surmounts the consistency of pure reaction times to a considerable extent. The superiority of the multiplicative model suggests that the information processing that occurs due to the search tasks should be regarded as rather 'automatic' and 'parallel'. One of the two components is negatively related to measures of intelligence and loads on a general intelligence factor. The positive relations between the second component and intelligence observed in the first sample reaches no significance in the second sample. © 1991.