Abstract

MEDINA CURI, Nicolas. Working Memory and Fluid General Intelligence in a Children Scholar Group. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2019, vol.9, n.1, pp.59-67.  Epub Nov 25, 2019. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2019.1.06.

The present study have two objectives: a) Elaborate a Reading Span Test -RST, that measure the level of working memory (WM), and b) analyze the relation between WM and fluid general intelligence -Gf (measured with Raven´s Progressive Matrices Test, for children), in a group of 124 children of the primary school level. The first objective was reached according to the theoretical and techniques suggestions offered by Daneman & Carpenter (1980) in order to construct a new version of RST, sustained by WM model, originally proposed by Baddeley & Hitch (1974). WM is a cognitive system of limited capacity, in which acts simultaneously, storage and processing information mechanisms. This cognitive system is involved in diverse complex cognitive activities, such as, reading comprehension, learning, and reasoning. The content validity of the new RST was done through expert judgment; while the reliability of same instrument was got accord Kuder/ Richardson-20 coefficient r 11 = 0.87, that guarantee the reliability of the instrument. Respect to the second objective, it was found a coefficient of correlation Eta2 = 0.525, which means that relation is substantial, therefore confirms that WM is an important factor by which cause the variance of scores of the Gf is 27.6%.

Keywords : Working memory; Reading span test; Fluid general intelligence; Storage/processing; Individual differences in reading ability.