Randall W. Engle: Psychonomic Society 2017 Annual Meeting Keynote Address

Working Memory Capacity and Intelligence
Lee Cronbach, in his 1957 APA presidential address, argued that psychological research had followed two parallel and largely non-interacting tracks over its history: experimental psychology which we associate with Wilhelm Wundt and differential psychology which we associate with Francis Galton. Most Psychonomes are of the experimental persuasion. My ancestor, James McKeen Cattell combined the two approaches and I have tended to use both approaches in trying to understand the nature and importance of working memory capacity (WMC) and its relationship to fluid intelligence (Gf). This talk will briefly describe that endeavor and some of the pitfalls of trying to combine the two approaches. I will however discuss in more detail my more recent work suggesting specific mechanisms for these two constructs, what they share, and how they are different.