PSYCHOMETRIC g AND MENTAL PROCESSING SPEED ON A SEMANTIC VERIFICATION TEST

The Semantic Verification Test (SVT) consists of brief, simple statements, which are either true or false. about various arrangements of the letters ABC (e.g. B after A). Mean reaction time (RT) for confirming or disconfirming the various statements varies according to their complexity. In independent studies of university students and Navy recruits, RT and other response latency parameters (intraindividual variability and movement time) from SVT performance show significant correlations of about -0.40 with nonspeeded tests of psychometric g. The mean RTs of adults to the various SVT item types are highly related to the mean error rates on these item types when the SVT is taken by elementary school children as a nonspeeded paper-and-pencil test. RT is correlated with the general cognitive ability factor (g) and not with the test-taking speed factor that is found in speeded paper-and-pencil tests. The degree of correlation between RT and psychometric g does not show any regular relationship to differences in the SVT item-type’s complexity or difficulty as indicated by mean RT.