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The Relationship between Reaction Time and Psychometric Intelligence in a Rural Guatemalan Adolescent Population
Author(s) -
Choudhury Naseem,
Gorman Kathleen S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/002075999399855
Subject(s) - psychology , population , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , demography , sociology
In industrialized countries reaction time has been found to be related to measures of intelligence and cognitive abilities. Little, however, is known about the validity of using such tasks in nonindustrialized countries. The present research investigated the association between reaction time and psychometric intelligence in a rural Guatemalan adolescent population. Results indicated that speed and consistency of processing on reaction time tasks were related to psychometric intelligence. However, the magnitude of these relationships were considerably smaller than those reported in industrialized populations. Reaction time task performance accounted for less than 5% of the variance in psychometric intelligence. Findings suggest that although reaction time tasks are associated with intelligence, the predictive validity of such measures needs to be established before use in nontraditional populations.