The contribution of working memory to fluid reasoning: capacity, control, or both?

Fluid reasoning shares a large part of its variance with working memory capacity (WMC). The literature on working memory (WM) suggests that the capacity of the focus of attention responsible for simultaneous maintenance and integration of information within WM, as well as the effectiveness of executive control exerted over WM, determines individual variation in both WMC and reasoning. In 6 experiments, we used a modified n-back task to test the amount of variance in reasoning that is accounted for by each of these 2 theoretical constructs. The capacity of the focus accounted for up to 62% of variance in fluid reasoning, while the recognition of stimuli encoded outside of the focus was not related to reasoning ability. Executive control, measured as the ability to reject distractors identical to targets but presented in improper contexts, accounted for up to 13% of reasoning variance. Multiple analyses indicated that capacity and control predicted non-overlapping amounts of variance in reasoning.