Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-rvxtl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-22T02:31:40.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factorial Equations for Tests of Attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

John Richard Wittenborn
John Richard Wittenborn*
Affiliation:
Yale University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tests designed to measure what was conceived to be attention were found by factor analysis to involve a factor which is independent of the factors of rote memory, visual-space, number, or perception. To a large extent, at least, this attention factor is independent of content and of mode of presentation of test material. The tests in which the variance is mainly dependent upon this factor are those involving a high degree of sustained or relatively continuous mental effort.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1943 , pp. 19 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © 1943 The Psychometric Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

An abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology in the Graduate School of the University of Illinois, 1942.

The writer wishes to express his gratitude to Professor Herbert Woodrow who suggested the present problem and under whose guidance the investigation was conducted. A further debt of gratitude is acknowledged to the enlisted men at the Air Corps Technical School at Chanute Field, Illinois, who served as subjects and to Capt. T. W. Harrell and Capt. Richard Faubion.

References

Coombs, C. H. A factorial study of number ability. Psychometrika, 1941, 6, 161–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzinger, K. J. Preliminary report on Spearman-Holzinger unitary trait study, No. 6, Chicago: Statist. Lab., Dept. Educ., Univ. Chicago, 1935.Google Scholar
Otis, A. S. Otis group intelligence scale. Yonkers, N. Y.: World Book Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philip, B. R. The measurement of attention. Studies in Psychology and Psychology, 1928, II, No. 1.Google Scholar
Seashore, C. E., Lewis, D., and Laetveit, J. G. Seashore measures of musical talent, Camden, N. J.: Educ. Dept. R. C. A. Mfg. Co., Inc., 1939.Google Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. The vectors of mind, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1935.Google Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. Primary mental abilities. Psychom. Monogr., 1938, No. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. The perceptual factor. Psychometrika, 1938, 3, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. A new rotational method in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 1938, 3, 199–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodrow, H. The measurement of attention. Psychological Monographs, 1914, XVII, No. 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodrow, H. The common factors in fifty-two mental tests. Psychometrika, 1939, 4, 99–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodrow, H. Factors in improvement with practice. J. Psychol., 1939, 7, 55–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar