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| CLOCKING THE MIND
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Mental Chronometry and Individual Differences
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By
Arthur R. Jensen, Kelseyville, CA, USA
Description
Mental Chronometry (MC) comprises a variety of techniques for measuring the speed with which the brain processes information.
First developed
in mid-1800, MC was subsequently eclipsed by more complex and practically useful types of psychometric tests stemming from Alfred Binet.
This class of mental tests, however, has no true metric relating the test scores to any specific properties of the brain per se. The
scores merely represent an ordinal scale, only ranking individuals according to their overall performance on a variety of complex mental
tasks. The resulting scores represent no more than ranks rather than being a true metrical scale of any specific dimension of brain function.
Such an ordinal scale, which merely ranks individuals in some defined population, possesses no true scale properties, possessing neither
a true zero or equal intervals throughout the scale. This deficiency obstructs the development of a true natural science of mental ability.
The present burgeoning interest in understanding individual differences in mental abilities in terms of the natural sciences, biology
and the brain sciences in particular, demands direct measures that functionally link brain and behavior. One such natural ratio scale
is time itself - the time it takes the brain to perform some elementary cognitive task, measured in milliseconds.
After more than 25
years researching MC, Jensen here presents results on an absolute scale showing times for intake of visual and auditory information,
for accessing short-term and long-term memory, and other cognitive skills, as a function of age, at yearly intervals from 3 to 80 years.
The possible uses of MC in neurological diagnosis and the monitoring of drug effects on cognition, the chronometric study of special
time-sensitive talents such as musical performance, and presents a theory of general intelligence, or g, as a function of the
rate of oscillation of neural action potentials as measured by chronometric methods. Finally, Jensen urges the world-wide standardization
of chronometric methods as necessary for advancing MC as a crucial branch of biopsychological science.
Audience
Psychologists; Neuroscientists; Statisticians; Social Scientists
Contents
A Brief Chronology of Mental Chronometry. Chronometric Terminology and Paradigms. RT as a Function of Experimental Conditions. The Measurement
of Chronometric Variables. Chronometry of Mental Development. Chronometry of Cognitive Aging. The Heritability of Chronometric Variables.
The Factor Structure of RT in ECTs. Correlated Chronometric and Psychometric Variables. Sensory Intake Speed and Inspection Time. Theory
of the Correlation Between Response Time and Intelligence. The Relation of RT to Other Psychological Variables. Clinical and Medical
Uses of Chronometry. The Standardization of Chronometry.
| Bibliographic details |
Hardbound, 286 pages, publication date: JUL-2006
ISBN-13: 978-0-08-044939-5
ISBN-10: 0-08-044939-5
Imprint: ELSEVIER
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| Price and Ordering |
Price:
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USD 112
EUR 79.95
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Last update: 22 Sep 2009
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