The Relationship of Attention and Intelligence

Abstract

The relationship between attention and intelligence is usually considered as the relationship between a basic ability and a complex ability in the sense that attention is a source, determinant or constitu- ent of intelligence. In this chapter, the term constituent is preferred since it represents the idea of an assembly of basic abilities giving rise to a complex ability especially well. The assembly of basic abilities is usually addressed as the cognitive basis of intelligence (Schweizer, 2005). Although at first view attention may appear as a natural member of the assembly of basic abilities, the close consideration of the complexity of the concept may lead to doubts in the trueness of the assumed membership. This complexity is the result of the research efforts of a large number of experimental researchers who have created a variety of facets, types, dimensions and measures of attention (Pashler, 1998), and it provides a number of perspectives for considering the relationship between attention and intelligence. Such a number of different perspectives, however, are not really an advantage since the perspectives are a source of inconsistency and even controversy. Therefore, in this field of research, it is necessary to evaluate the empirical evidence concerning the relationship between attention and intelligence especially carefully and to concentrate on attempts of integrating the various perspectives