The structure of the relationship between attention and intelligence

The relationship between attention and general intelligence was investigated considering the different types of attention: alertness, sustained attention, focused attention, attentional switching, divided attention, attention according to the supervisory attentional system, attention as inhibition, spatial attention, attention as planning, interference, attention as arousal, and attention according to the assessment tradition. In a sample of 197 participants the relationship of attention and intelligence was investigated by means of structural equation modeling. The results revealed that each type of attention was substantially related to intelligence on the latent level. Furthermore, a high degree of overlap in predicting intelligence was observed for the various types of attention. Comprehensive models based on resources theory and Posner's dimensions were also investigated. The best model of the relationship between attention and intelligence included two first-order and one second-order latent variables of attention and one of intelligence. It predicted 32% of the variance of intelligence.