DOES PERFORMANCE ON MEMORY FOR ORDER CORRELATE WITH PERFORMANCE ON STANDARDIZED MEASURES OF ABILITY - A METAANALYSIS

For over a century psychologists have been interested in measures of memory for order (MFO), and the relationship of MFO with measures of general ability. The results have been many and varied; thus, a meta-analysis was performed to determine the nature and degree of such relationships. Specifically, 225 hypothesis tests relating measures of MFO with performance on standardized tests of ability were included in the meta-analysis. The combined effect size was found to be moderate and highly significant. In addition, separate meta-analyses were performed for standardized achievement and aptitude tests, partial and whole recall MFO tasks, and for each of the 11 MFO tasks included in the overall analysis. Other task and subject characteristics were coded and used to predict effect size. It was found that the relationship between partial recall and standardized achievement tests was significantly higher than other relationships involving partial and whole recall with achievement and aptitude tests. Age was not found to predict effect size in a systematic manner. Quality of the MFO task was a significant predictor of effect size.