Scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) predict military job (and training) performance better than any single variable so far identified. However, it remains unclear what factors explain this predictive relationship. Here, we investigated the contributions of (Gf) and two executive functions- and -to the relationship between the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score from the ASVAB and job-relevant multitasking performance. Psychometric network analyses revealed that Gf and placekeeping ability independently contributed to and largely explained the AFQT-multitasking performance relationship. The contribution of attention control to this relationship was negligible. However, attention control did relate positively and significantly to Gf and placekeeping ability, consistent with the hypothesis that it is a cognitive "primitive" underlying the individual differences in higher-level cognition. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed stronger evidence for the incremental validity of Gf and placekeeping ability in the prediction of multitasking performance than for the incremental validity of attention control. The results shed light on factors that may underlie the predictive validity of global measures of cognitive ability and suggest how the ASVAB might be augmented to improve its predictive validity.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11120225 | DOI Listing |
J Intell
December 2023
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) predict military job (and training) performance better than any single variable so far identified. However, it remains unclear what factors explain this predictive relationship. Here, we investigated the contributions of (Gf) and two executive functions- and -to the relationship between the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score from the ASVAB and job-relevant multitasking performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognition
December 2022
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, USA.
Many cognitive tasks have what we refer to as a placekeeping requirement: steps or subtasks must be performed in a linear or other systematic fashion, without repetitions or omissions that would compromise performance. Here we asked whether the cognitive control mechanisms that meet this requirement are specific to individual tasks or general enough to be shared across tasks. Participants (N = 289) performed two tasks (Letterwheel and UNRAVEL) that share a sequential structure but are otherwise distinct.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Cogn Psychol
October 2019
Laboratory of Interactive Technologies, National Processing Institute1.
The current study aimed to develop a shortened language-specific (Polish) version of the UNRAVEL task (Altmann, Trafton, & Hambrick, 2014) and to verify whether the adaptation yields valid and reliable data about placekeeping ability. Since the original procedure is intended to investigate task performance referring to placekeeping operations under conditions of task interruptions, we used this tool in the context of a multitasking situation. The adopted version differs from the original in that we reduced the number of steps in the procedure and changed the rules set, using an acronym WINDA (a word meaning elevator in Polish).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychol Res
June 2021
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Multitasking is ubiquitous in everyday life, which means there is value in developing measures that predict successful multitasking performance. In a large sample (N = 404 contributing data), we examined the predictive and incremental validity of placekeeping, which is the ability to perform a sequence of operations in a certain order without omissions or repetitions. In the context of multitasking, placekeeping should play a role in the performance of procedural subtasks and the interleaving of subtasks that interrupt each other.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychon Bull Rev
August 2015
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA,
The question of what underlies individual differences in general intelligence has never been satisfactorily answered. The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of an executive function that we term placekeeping ability-the ability to perform the steps of a complex task in a prescribed order without skipping or repeating steps. Participants completed a newly developed test of placekeeping ability, called the UNRAVEL task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!