Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities
Over a century of research on between-person differences has resulted in the consensus that human cognitive abilities are hierarchically organized, with a general factor, termed general intelligence or “g,” uppermost. Surprisingly, it is unknown whether this body of evidence is informative about how...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2020-06-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/9290.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797418801746149376 |
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| author | Florian Schmiedek Martin Lövdén Timo von Oertzen Ulman Lindenberger |
| author_facet | Florian Schmiedek Martin Lövdén Timo von Oertzen Ulman Lindenberger |
| author_sort | Florian Schmiedek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over a century of research on between-person differences has resulted in the consensus that human cognitive abilities are hierarchically organized, with a general factor, termed general intelligence or “g,” uppermost. Surprisingly, it is unknown whether this body of evidence is informative about how cognition is structured within individuals. Using data from 101 young adults performing nine cognitive tasks on 100 occasions distributed over six months, we find that the structures of individuals’ cognitive abilities vary among each other, and deviate greatly from the modal between-person structure. Working memory contributes the largest share of common variance to both between- and within-person structures, but the g factor is much less prominent within than between persons. We conclude that between-person structures of cognitive abilities cannot serve as a surrogate for within-person structures. To reveal the development and organization of human intelligence, individuals need to be studied over time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:38:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-60b4c3244985483683e807d2cdc896b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:38:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-60b4c3244985483683e807d2cdc896b92023-12-03T10:54:50ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592020-06-018e929010.7717/peerj.9290Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilitiesFlorian Schmiedek0Martin Lövdén1Timo von Oertzen2Ulman Lindenberger3Center for Lifespan Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyCenter for Lifespan Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyCenter for Lifespan Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyCenter for Lifespan Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyOver a century of research on between-person differences has resulted in the consensus that human cognitive abilities are hierarchically organized, with a general factor, termed general intelligence or “g,” uppermost. Surprisingly, it is unknown whether this body of evidence is informative about how cognition is structured within individuals. Using data from 101 young adults performing nine cognitive tasks on 100 occasions distributed over six months, we find that the structures of individuals’ cognitive abilities vary among each other, and deviate greatly from the modal between-person structure. Working memory contributes the largest share of common variance to both between- and within-person structures, but the g factor is much less prominent within than between persons. We conclude that between-person structures of cognitive abilities cannot serve as a surrogate for within-person structures. To reveal the development and organization of human intelligence, individuals need to be studied over time.https://peerj.com/articles/9290.pdfStructure of cognitive abilitiesIntelligenceIntraindividual variabilityIndividual differencesErgodicityWithin-person structure |
| spellingShingle | Florian Schmiedek Martin Lövdén Timo von Oertzen Ulman Lindenberger Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities PeerJ Structure of cognitive abilities Intelligence Intraindividual variability Individual differences Ergodicity Within-person structure |
| title | Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities |
| title_full | Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities |
| title_fullStr | Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities |
| title_short | Within-person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between-person structures of cognitive abilities |
| title_sort | within person structures of daily cognitive performance differ from between person structures of cognitive abilities |
| topic | Structure of cognitive abilities Intelligence Intraindividual variability Individual differences Ergodicity Within-person structure |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/9290.pdf |
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