Intelligence and Motor Skill Acquisition by Discrimination Learning

This experiment investigated the relation between intelligence and acquisition of motor skill using predictions from Zeaman and House's 1963 attention theory. 20 undergraduate students and 20 subjects of low IQ (WAIS—R Full Scale IQ range 50 to 73, M = 60) made linear positioning movements of long and short amplitude to the left and right of a central starting position. Four conditions (right-long, right-short, left-long, left-short) were created by specifying the corresponding target area on the positioning apparatus. One or both of the paired cues were varied, i.e., left, right, long, or short, while the dimensions of direction and amplitude remained unchanged across conditions. A shift from one condition to the next followed a criterion response of four consecutive movements to the target area. Results supported the hypothesis that subjects of low IQ would require more trials to criterion than subjects of normal IQ across all conditions of direction and extent. There was qualified support for the hypothesised interaction between intelligence and cue shifts. The practical implications and theoretical significance of these findings are discussed.