Correlation Between Intelligence And Chinese Relative Clause Processing

Relative clause processing is influenced by many factors such as the complexity of syntax, and working memory load and so on. This research makes a correlation analysis with an aim to discover the correlation between intelligence and Chinese relative clause processing and the specific factors of intelligence that influence Chinese relative clause processing. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is used to conduct the intelligence test and 96 stimuli sentences are used in the behavioral experiment of Chinese relative clause processing.The experiment results showed a significant correlation between intelligence and of Chinese relative clause processing that reaction time (RT) of Chinese relative clause processing is closely related to intelligence, especially the full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ). No obvious correlation exists between reaction time and the performance intelligence quotient (PIQ). Accuracy of Chinese relative clause processing is closely related to VIQ, not FSIQ and PIQ. In a word, Chinese Relative clause processing is mostly correlated with VIQ.For the correlation between intelligence and processing of subject Chinese relative clauses, both reaction time and accuracy are correlated with VIQ. For the correlation between intelligence and object Chinese relative clause processing, reaction time and accuracy are also correlated with VIQ. What is different from subject relative clause is that the reaction time of object relative clause is correlated with FSIQ. Based on the correlation coefficients, the reaction time of object relative clause is more correlated with VIQ than that of the subject relative clause (|-0.349|>|-0.2901), and this result involve the issue of relative clause processing preference, which indicates that object relative clause processing is more difficult than that of subject relative clause processing. The accuracies of the two kinds of relative clauses are nearly of the same correlation level with VIQ.For the specific intelligence factors, reaction time is correlated to information, digit symbol and is highly correlated to digit span. Accuracy only has correlation with comprehension. The four correlated subtests can reflect different intelligence factors that are involved in Chinese relative clause processing, including individual’s verbal comprehension ability, working memory ability and the ability of processing speed. The experiment results show that Chinese relative clause processing is mostly correlated with the intelligence factor and working memory ability.The findings of the experiment confirm the significant role of intelligence levels that play in Chinese relative clause processing and the strong correlation between them.