Variation in working memory capacity, fluid intelligence, and episodic recall: A latent variable examination of differences in the dynamics of free recall

Abstract

A latent variable analysis was conducted to examine the nature of individual differences in the dynamics of free recall and cognitive abilities. Participants performed multiple measures of free recall, working memory capacity (WMC), and fluid intelligence (gF). For each free recall task, recall accuracy, recall latency, and number of intrusion errors were determined, and latent factors were derived for each. It was found that recall accuracy was negatively related to both recall latency and number of intrusions, and recall latency and number of intrusions were positively related. Furthermore, latent WMC and gF factors were positively related to recall accuracy, but negatively related to recall latency and number of intrusions. Finally, a cluster analysis revealed that subgroups of participants with deficits in focusing the search had deficits in recovering degraded representations or deficits in monitoring the products of retrieval. The results are consistent with the idea that variation in the dynamics of free recall, WMC, and gF are primarily due to differences in search set size, but differences in recovery and monitoring are also important. © 2009 The Psychonomic Society, Inc.