Competing tasks as an index of intelligence

Abstract

[Abstract]: Most studies involving competing (or dual) tasks have been concerned with the investigation of models of attention and have stressed the importance of task characteristics in determining competing-task performance. The relatively few studies which have looked at indi¬vidual differences in competing-task performance suggest that measures of this performance could reflect operations which are central to cognitive functioning. This paper examines two key questions which stem from this research: is there a separate ability involved in competing-task performance? Is competing-task performance more indicative of general intellectual functioning? A battery composed of both single and competing tasks was presented to 91 Ss. Two sets of scores, primary and `secondary', were obtained from the competing tasks. The results indicate that `single' and `primary' scores are basically measuring the same thing but that secondary' scores measure what is perhaps a time-sharing factor. There is also some evidence that primary and secondary scores are more indicative of the general factor, as measured by this battery, than their single counterparts.