Relationship between selective attention and the WAIS-R scores

The study investigated the relationship between selective attention and intelligence. Measures of attention were obtained by administering a shadowing task. Measures of intelligence were obtained by administering the WAIS-R. While Full Scale and Performance IQ's correlated significantly with shadowing accuracy, verbal IQ correlated poorly with shadowing accuracy. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis using three WAIS-R factors (attention-concentration, verbal comprehension and perceptual organization) with shadowing errors as the dependent variable yielded unexpected results. Even when the attention-concentration factor was entered first in the analysis, it accounted for a nonsignificant proportion of the variance in shadowing errors. The verbal comprehension factor performed similarly. The effect for the perceptual organization factor was especially strong in light of the fact that this factor accounted for a significantly large proportion of variance in the shadowing errors despite being entered last in the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results are discussed in light of the hypothesis that a common factor of attention may considerably determine performance on the speeded subtests of the WAIS-R. Possible clinical implications of the results are offered.Thesis (M.A.