Trait Intellect Predicts Cognitive Engagement: Evidence from a Resource Allocation Perspective

Abstract

Trait Intellect, one of the two 'aspects' of the broader Openness/Intellect 'domain', predicts performance on a range of cognitive tasks including tests of intelligence and working memory. This has been explained in terms of the tendency for high-Intellect individuals to explore, or engage more effortfully with, abstract information. This theoretical perspective can be framed in the language of Resource Allocation Theory, in terms of high-Intellect individuals allocating more of their available cognitive resources to abstract cognitive tasks. In two experiments (total N=160), we examined the relation between Intellect and cognitive engagement during a primary word-search task under condition..