The strength and nature of the association between IQ and performance
on other cognitive tests has both practical and conceptual significance
for clinical neuropsychology. In this study, 28 measures derived from
16 cognitive tests were analyzed as a function of IQ in 221 adults.
Participants were grouped by their IQ scores as having below average
(BA), average (A), or above average (AA) intelligence. Planned
comparisons revealed that A adults performed significantly better than
BA adults on 25 of the 28 cognitive measures, and that AA adults
performed significantly better than A adults on 19 of 28 measures.
Effect sizes averaged .74 for BA–A comparisons and .41 for
A–AA comparisons. Linear, quadratic, and cubic functions
described the relationships between IQ and cognitive test performance
equally well for most individual test measures and for a composite
index of test performance, whereas quadratic and cubic functions
explained the proportion of abnormal performances better than a linear
function. These findings confirm that IQ predicts concurrent
neuropsychological performance across the entire spectrum of
intelligence, but more so among persons of average IQ or less than
among those with above average IQ. (JINS, 2004, 10,
82–90.)