This seems an important point. I have a measured IQ of around 145 (or at least as last measured maybe 15 years ago when I was in my 20s). My reaction times are also unusually slow. Some IQ tests are timed. My score would come in a full 15 points lower (one standard deviation) on timed tests.
You might complain this is just an artifact of the testing protocol, but I think there’s something real there. In everyday life I’m a lot smarter (e.g. come up with better ideas) when I can sit and think for a while. When I have to “think on my feet” I’m considerably dumber. The people I meet who feel significantly smarter than me usually feel that way because they can think quickly.
I’ve even gotten complaints before from friends and coworkers wondering why I don’t seem as interesting or smart in person, and I think this is why. I’m not quite sure how to quantify it, but on reaction time tests I’m 100+ms slower than average. Maybe this adds up to being able to think 1-2 fewer thoughts per second than average. Obviously this is a difference that adds up pretty quickly, especially when you’re trying to do something complex that requires a lot of thinking and less crystalized intelligence.
„We found that participants with higher intelligence were only quicker when responding to simple questions, while they took more time to solve hard questions.“
I thought the criticism on that specific quote was that the “higher intelligence” group, while taking more time, did solve the hard questions correctly, as opposed to not solving them correctly at all.
But some games require reactions that are blazing fast, and not only in thought—I think fast, but am still bad at most RTS (bad as in, can’t play hard difficulties or in competitive multiplayer) because the specific kind of movement they require, clicking fast with the mouse, is just something I’m not very good at. Heck, it’s very sensitive to details like hardware performance and the surface you keep your mouse on. You can standardise these things but there’s a lot of extraneous influence. Of course some games are turn based instead or more forgiving and those are more purely relying on cognitive skills.
This is purely speculative, but I wonder if slow reaction speed could be in any way conducive to intelligence. I also score subpar on reaction time tests and sometimes react over a second later than I’d consider typical. Afaik IQ does correlate positively with reaction speed, so this naturally isn’t the whole story, but my hypothesis would be a kind of “deep” vs “shallow” processing of sensory data. The former being slower, but able to find more subtle patterns in whatever you are perceiving, the latter being quick to respond, but also quick to miss vital information.
This seems an important point. I have a measured IQ of around 145 (or at least as last measured maybe 15 years ago when I was in my 20s). My reaction times are also unusually slow. Some IQ tests are timed. My score would come in a full 15 points lower (one standard deviation) on timed tests.
You might complain this is just an artifact of the testing protocol, but I think there’s something real there. In everyday life I’m a lot smarter (e.g. come up with better ideas) when I can sit and think for a while. When I have to “think on my feet” I’m considerably dumber. The people I meet who feel significantly smarter than me usually feel that way because they can think quickly.
I’ve even gotten complaints before from friends and coworkers wondering why I don’t seem as interesting or smart in person, and I think this is why. I’m not quite sure how to quantify it, but on reaction time tests I’m 100+ms slower than average. Maybe this adds up to being able to think 1-2 fewer thoughts per second than average. Obviously this is a difference that adds up pretty quickly, especially when you’re trying to do something complex that requires a lot of thinking and less crystalized intelligence.
But consider: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38626-y
„We found that participants with higher intelligence were only quicker when responding to simple questions, while they took more time to solve hard questions.“
I thought the criticism on that specific quote was that the “higher intelligence” group, while taking more time, did solve the hard questions correctly, as opposed to not solving them correctly at all.
But some games require reactions that are blazing fast, and not only in thought—I think fast, but am still bad at most RTS (bad as in, can’t play hard difficulties or in competitive multiplayer) because the specific kind of movement they require, clicking fast with the mouse, is just something I’m not very good at. Heck, it’s very sensitive to details like hardware performance and the surface you keep your mouse on. You can standardise these things but there’s a lot of extraneous influence. Of course some games are turn based instead or more forgiving and those are more purely relying on cognitive skills.
This is purely speculative, but I wonder if slow reaction speed could be in any way conducive to intelligence. I also score subpar on reaction time tests and sometimes react over a second later than I’d consider typical. Afaik IQ does correlate positively with reaction speed, so this naturally isn’t the whole story, but my hypothesis would be a kind of “deep” vs “shallow” processing of sensory data. The former being slower, but able to find more subtle patterns in whatever you are perceiving, the latter being quick to respond, but also quick to miss vital information.