title: Individual differences in memory search and their relation to intelligence.
abstract: Attempts to understand why memory predicts intelligence have not fully leveraged state-of-the-art measures of recall dynamics. Using data from a multisession free recall study, we examine individual differences in measures of recall initiation and postinitiation transitions. We identify 4 sources of variation: a recency factor reflecting variation in the tendency to initiate recall from an item near the end of the list, a primacy factor reflecting a tendency to initiate from the beginning of the list, a temporal factor corresponding to transitions mediated by temporal associations, and a semantic factor corresponding to semantically mediated transitions. Together, these 4 factors account for 83% of the variability in overall recall accuracy, suggesting they provide a nearly complete picture of recall dynamics. We also show that these sources of variability account for over 80% of the variance shared between memory and intelligence. The temporal association factor was the most influential in predicting both recall accuracy and intelligence. We outline a theory of how controlled drift of temporal context may be critical across a range of cognitive activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: M Karl
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Healey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4400-9309
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crutchley
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kahana
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult
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