Intellectual activity is a mental thinking movement.It directly acts on human thinking, and can produce results only through human thinking activities, or it can indirectly act on nature without using natural forces only through human thinking as a medium.
Therefore, such activities do not have the characteristics of technology, so they do not belong to the invention and creation mentioned in the Patent Law, and therefore cannot be granted patent rights.The characteristics of such rules and methods guiding human thinking activities are that they must be thought and judged by the human brain when used.Intellectual activity, as its name implies, is the use ofintelligenceAnd the activities carried out.Intellectual activity is a kind of life activity carried out by people combining their common innate ability and special ability different from others.
Intellectual activity, as its name implies, is the use ofintelligenceAnd the activities carried out.
Definition II
According to the main idea of "intelligence dualism" proposed by British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945) in 1904, we can draw the following conclusions:
Intellectual activity is a kind of life activity carried out by people combining their common innate ability and special ability different from others.Common ability is the common foundation of all intellectual activities.The person measured by the general intelligence test is the general ability.
Intellectual activity
Rules and methods
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The Patent Law stipulates that the rules and methods of intellectual activities cannot be granted patent rights.
Intellectual activities usually include: instructions for the use of various equipment and instruments, teaching methods, music, quick calculation, pithy formula, grammar, computer language and calculation rules, dictionary arrangement, book classification rules, calendar arrangement rules and methods, psychological algorithms, tailoring methods, accounting methods, statistical methods, game rules and various forms.
characteristic
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Variability and stability
The variability and stability of intellectual development in adulthood are actually two poles of the same problem, which means that adult individuals will change or remain stable in the same kind of intelligence with age.
In the existing psychological research, most of them investigate the development and change of adult intelligence by making horizontal comparison on the operation level of some intellectual activities of subjects of different age groups, or by tracking and analyzing the operation level of intellectual activities of subjects of the same age group in different periods.
However, horizontal comparison and follow-up analysis often lead to inconsistent conclusions.The most representative is a series of studies on the development of basic psychological ability led by Shai (Schaie, 1996).The research shows that although the horizontal comparison results show that there are significant differences in basic mental abilities between different age groups, and the overall trend is declining with age, the tracking analysis of the same age group after a certain time interval (7 years or 14 years) does not find a significant downward trend,The number of people whose intellectual level has remained stable or even improved after 7 or 14 years accounts for a considerable proportion.For example, in a study, it was found that even among the elderly subjects with an average age of 72 years, 46.7% of them remained stable in the spatial ability and reasoning ability tests 14 years later, while only 21% showed a downward trend in their scores on the two tests (Schaie&Wills, 1986).[1]
This discrepancy between the results of horizontal comparison and follow-up analysis is also reflected in Shen Jiliang's research on Chinese adult subjects (Shen Jiliang et al., 2000b).This study examines the development of several basic mental abilities in adulthood by comparing and analyzing the scores of adults of different ages on five intelligence tests, namely, number comparison, matching figures, subtraction and multiplication, figure classification and vocabulary understanding, from both horizontal and vertical perspectives.Figure comparison and matching tests perceptual speed and discrimination ability, subtraction and multiplication tests numerical computing ability, figure classification tests inductive reasoning ability, and vocabulary understanding tests lexical ability.The results of horizontal comparison show that the scores of various tests basically show a downward trend at the age of 20-79, but the degree of decline varies in different items or age groups
However, whether the intelligence of adult individuals will change with age is far from a convincing conclusion based on the results of horizontal comparison.This is mainly because: First, the decline of the overall trend does not mean that the growth of individual intelligence will inevitably lead to significant changes with age.For example, in the graph classification test, there is no significant difference between the 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60-69 age groups through the analysis of variance test, but only when compared with the 20-29 or 70-79 age groups, there is a significant difference;In the vocabulary comprehension test, only the 20-29 year old group's performance was significantly higher than that of the 70-79 year old group, and there was no significant difference between other groups.Second, even though statistical tests have proved that there are significant differences between different age groups, it is not certain that the growth of age will bring about changes in intelligence.For example, a cross-sectional study showed that adults over 60 years old scored significantly lower on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale than adults aged 20-29 years old.However, we cannot conclude from this result that the intelligence of adults aged 20-29 will change significantly after they reach the age of 60-69.Because cross-sectional research cannot guarantee that the intelligence of adults aged 60 to 69 at the age of 20 to 29 is at the same level as that of adults aged 20 to 29.In fact, many studies have shown that (Flynn, 1987), with the change of the times, there are significant differences in the performance of peers in intelligence tests in different periods. The intelligence of adults aged 20 in 1985 is significantly higher than that of adults aged 20 in 1945.Third, horizontal comparison is, after all, a static study of the average differences between groups of different ages, and cannot dynamically analyze the actual changes of each individual over a certain period of time.
In contrast, longitudinal tracking research can better answer whether the intelligence of adult individuals will change or remain stable with age.Shen Jiliang et al. (2000b) conducted a longitudinal study to investigate the development of adult individuals in five intelligence test scores after three years.Generally speaking, to examine the change of each individual's psychological ability in a certain period of time (such as three years), we can judge whether the difference between the scores of the two tests exceeds the standard error of measurement (SEM).If the current score of the subject is higher than that of three years ago by one standard error, it is considered that the ability to complete the test is improved;If it is lower than one standard error, it is considered that the ability to complete the test is reduced.If the difference between the scores of the two tests does not exceed one standard error, it is considered that the ability to complete the test remains stable.One method that is recognized and often used in the tracking research of adult intelligence development is to explore the longitudinal change of test scores by directly comparing the percentage of people whose scores have improved, decreased and remained stable (Willis, et al., 1992).This is because the simple difference test still examines the average difference between groups, and cannot reflect the actual changes of each individual.In addition, because the retest reliability of various intelligence tests cannot be 1, even if there is a difference between the scores of each individual before and after two times, it is impossible to judge whether the difference is the result of individual development or the reliability of the test itself.A standard error is actually the acceptable change range of each measurement value within the reliability range. Only when the change range of the measurement value exceeds one standard error, can the difference between the scores of the two tests be considered as the result of individual development.Table 5-2 shows the variability and stability of each age group in perception, inductive reasoning and lexical ability after three years, taking the subjects' scores on three tests of matching figure, figure classification and vocabulary understanding as examples.[1]
Diversity and multidirectional
The multiplicity and multidirectional of intellectual development are always interrelated.Diversity means that intelligence is composed of multiple components, and different components often have complex hierarchical or structural relationships. With the change of age, the components of individual intelligence or the structural relationships among components may also change to some extent.Multidirectionality refers to the different development directions or tracks of different intelligence components in the whole life development process.Therefore, the diversity of intelligence is the premise of the multi-directional development of intelligence.[1]
（1） Diversity
Psychologists have many different theoretical views on the components of intelligence.In the research of adult intelligence development, the components of basic mental ability, fluid intelligence and crystal intelligence mentioned in the previous section are the most common variables.W Cunningham's multi-level model of intelligence structure gives a good description of the above theory of intelligence components.In this model, at the bottom is the item or question that measures individual intelligence;The second level is a test composed of multiple questions;The third level is the basic ability factors obtained according to each specific test, which is equivalent to the basic psychological ability components;The fourth level is the secondary intelligence factor, which is the result of factor analysis of various basic psychological abilities, including fluid intelligence component, crystal intelligence component and other factors that cannot be attributed to these two secondary components (Horn, 1982);The fifth level is the third level intelligence factors, that is, the result of further factor analysis of the second level intelligence components;The top layer is the general intelligence factor.[1]
Studies have shown that (Baltes, 1997), in the lifelong development of intelligence, there will be two development trends of differentiation and dedifferentiation in the composition and structural relationship of individual intelligence.The so-called differentiation means that the general factors of intelligence are weakened while the components of special intelligence are increased, which makes the differences of intelligence components and structural relationships among individuals larger;On the contrary, the difference of intelligence composition among individuals is becoming smaller and smaller.It is generally believed that, from childhood to middle age and early old age (under 70 years old), due to the gradual maturity and stability of brain function, and the increasing differences in knowledge acquired among individuals, the development of intelligence is constantly differentiated;However, after reaching the older age (such as 70 or 80 years old), the decline of brain function will have a general and similar impact on various cognitive functions, thus making the difference of different intelligence components' functions smaller and smaller.
Gardner (1983)'s theory of multiple intelligences explores the problem of intelligence diversification from a rather unique perspective, which has aroused great concern.Gardner believes that human intelligence does not have a unified or single general factor component, but should be regarded as a pluralism composed of various relatively independent components.These elements include linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, logical mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, physical kinesthetic intelligence, introspective intelligence and interpersonal intelligence.In Gardner's view, all human individuals have the above intelligence components.Because of the role of heredity, early training and the continuous interaction between these intelligence components, some individuals have better development in some aspects of intelligence than others.However, every normal individual will develop his intelligence to a certain extent as long as he has a little chance.In the normal development process, these intelligence components actually interact and pave the way for each other from the beginning of life, and they are eventually mobilized to adapt to various social roles and social functions.[1]
（2） Multidirectional
The multi-directional development of intelligence in adulthood has been involved in the previous narrative.From Barthes' dual process model (see Figure 5-2), it can be seen that the cognitive mechanical components mainly affected by individual neurophysiological conditions and the cognitive practical components mainly affected by acquired culture and education have different development directions.After analyzing many intelligence development studies, Shay pointed out that it is a very common phenomenon in adult intelligence research to use different cognitive or intelligence tests to obtain different age development patterns (Schaie, 1996).In the follow-up study of Shen Jiliang et al. (2000b) (see Table 5-2), it can also be found that after a certain period (three years), the ability of adults on different tests shows a great difference in the development trend of improvement, reduction or stability.For example, from the 50 to 59 year old group to the 70 to 79 year old group, the percentage of the people whose performance improved and the percentage of the people whose performance decreased with age on the matching figure and figure classification tests decreased, while the percentage of the people whose performance was stable always dominated on the vocabulary comprehension test,The change direction of the percentage of people whose scores improved or decreased was opposite to the situation on the two tests mentioned above.The graphical representation of the results of a study (Horn, 1970) (see Figure 5-4) more clearly reflects the multi-directional nature of intellectual development.
In addition to investigating the multi-directional development of intelligence according to the results of psychological tests, other psychologists have explored this from the perspective of information processing.These psychologists (Salhouse, 1991) believe that the information processing components or links that different intellectual activities rely on are not always the same, and the changes of different information processing components with age may be very different.
Many studies have shown that in the process of information processing, the main components affected by age change are processing speed and working memory capacity.For example, when engaged in intellectual activities with speed requirements, the ability of the elderly is significantly lower than that of the young, while when engaged in intellectual activities without speed requirements, the ability difference between the elderly and the young is not obvious;When engaged in cognitive operations with high requirements for working memory capacity (such as free recall), adult individuals show an obvious decline trend with age, while when engaged in cognitive operations with low requirements for working memory capacity (such as recognition, speech activities), individual abilities will not significantly decline with age.Other researchers pointed out that in each link of information processing, the peripheral processes of information processing (such as information coding and response execution) declined significantly with age, while the central processes of information processing (such as information extraction and decision-making) did not show significant age differences (Salhouse, 1991).All of the above views have important reference value for in-depth understanding of the multi-directional development of intelligence reflected in psychometric research.[1]
Plasticity and training
The plasticity of intelligence in adulthood focuses on the possibility or degree of improvement of intelligence function through certain intervention training at a certain stage of adult development.Examining the effect of adult intelligence through intervention training is the most important means to explore the plasticity of intelligence.Relatively speaking, the plasticity of intelligence is a more practical research topic.Because in addition to understanding the development law of adult intelligence, the most practical purpose is to know how to maintain and promote the function of intelligence.Generally speaking, the research on adult intelligence plasticity mainly focuses on those intelligence components that are most likely to decline in the process of adult development: fluid intelligence or cognitive machinery.
Baltes&Willis (1982) once implemented the Adult Development and Enrichment Project in Pennsylvania State University and conducted a series of adult intelligence intervention training.They used two levels of intervention in the study.One is that there is no targeted training, and the goal is to improve the familiarity with the test. That is, the subjects are given the same type of test many times in different situations, so that researchers can understand the effect of repeated tests on operational performance.The other is special training for various basic abilities.The researchers first analyzed various cognitive processing activities that must be involved in completing a certain ability test, and then taught the subjects how to improve the efficiency of these cognitive processing activities through prompts, feedback and group discussions.The research results show that through special training, the intelligence level of the subjects has indeed improved significantly, but the effects of maintenance and transfer produced by training for different basic abilities are different.For example, the effect of training the ability of graphical relationships lasts the longest and has the widest range of migration;Although the training of inductive reasoning, attention and memory can also improve the test results, this effect can not be well transferred to the new activity tasks.The research results of Barthes and Willis also show that the ability growth achieved through training is equivalent to the average decline of the ability of the subjects in the Seattle follow-up study of Shai after 21 years.This comparison more fully shows that the trend of intellectual decline can be slowed down or even reversed through appropriate intervention.In particular, the training time of this intervention study is quite short: only five times on average, one hour each time.Such a short intervention can achieve a very significant promotion effect, which means that adult intelligence has considerable plasticity.[1]
Later, Shay and Willis expanded the achievements of the above research programs and further carried out a series of intervention studies (Schaie&Wills, 1986).They selected intervention subjects from the Seattle follow-up study, and divided the subjects into two groups according to the ability change after 14 years (1970~1984).One group is people with significant decline in spatial ability or reasoning ability, that is, ability decline group;The other group is the people whose ability remains stable after 14 years, namely the ability stability group.They gave the two groups of subjects five times (one hour each time) of spatial ability training or reasoning ability training.The research shows that after 14 years of training, the spatial ability or reasoning ability of those whose ability has significantly declined can return to the level of 14 years ago;However, those whose ability remains stable can improve their corresponding ability after training, thus exceeding the level 14 years ago (Berg, 2000).Moreover, the ability of individuals to grow through training will not disappear in a short period of time, but can be well maintained for as long as 7 years.However, the training effect is mainly reflected in the ability of specialized training, while other abilities are very limited.For example, spatial ability training has a great effect on the performance of subjects on spatial ability tests, but has little effect on the performance of inductive reasoning ability, perceptual speed, number and word ability tests.
According to Shay and Willis, the most important outcome of intervention research, on the one hand, confirmed that the intelligence of late adult individuals is plastic, and the decline of adult intelligence is not irreversible;On the other hand, it provides a possible explanation for the decline of intelligence in adulthood, that is, a certain decline of intelligence is the result of the reduction of individuals' use of such intelligence opportunities or the lack of necessary training.In addition, others (Salhouse, 1991) pointed out that there is age difference in the plasticity of adult intelligence.Although adults of different ages can improve their scores on intelligence tests through certain interventions, the elderly have made less progress in training than the young.[1]
major factor
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[2]
Cultural and historical factors
From birth to youth, and then from middle age to old age, it is difficult to avoid going through many historical events.Cultural and historical factors will leave a deep imprint on adult individuals.There are always more or less differences in the cultural background of different historical periods, and these differences are likely to affect the intellectual activities of adults.Many researchers have investigated the influence of this cultural and historical factor on intelligence, that is, what many developmental psychologists call "group effect".
Group refers to people born in the same era, such as those born in 1950, whose basic backgrounds are the same or very similar, such as nutritional conditions, education level, the impact of mass media, and the change of science and technology on people's lifestyle or lifestyle.Due to differences in cultural background and life experience, different groups will also show obvious differences in intellectual activities.
Educational factors
From the plasticity of intellectual development and cultural and historical factors, we can easily see the impact of education on adult intellectual development.However, how much education affects the development of intelligence and how it affects the development of intelligence has always been a matter of great concern to many psychological researchers.
Many psychological researchers analyze and explain the phenomenon that the level of intelligence in adulthood decreases with age, taking the level of education as the intermediary factor.They often use the years of formal school education as an indicator to measure the level of education.These studies show that the average number of years of formal education for elderly subjects is less than that for young subjects, and if the correlation between the control age and the number of years of education is controlled, the decline trend of adult intelligence with age is not obvious.
Although there are numerous examples about the significant correlation between the level of education and adult intellectual development, how educational factors affect intellectual development in practice is still a very complex problem that needs further exploration.At the same time, it is also necessary to point out that the causal relationship between education level and intelligence is not necessarily one-way, that is, the higher the education level, the higher the intelligence. It is also possible that people with higher intelligence have more opportunities to receive more or higher education.
Occupational factors
Professional activities are lacking in the development of children and adolescents, but are very important to the development of adults. Therefore, they are often the influencing factors concerned by adult intelligence development researchers.
In life, we often encounter such a phenomenon that people who are engaged in different occupations of the same thing often come to different conclusions.This shows that occupation will have a certain impact on people's cognitive activities.Various occupations always require individuals to carry out some specific cognitive activities.Generally speaking, the more frequently an individual needs to carry out certain cognitive activities in a certain occupation, the better the person will maintain the intelligence level closely related to these cognitive activities.
Health factors
With the growth of age, the health status of adults, especially the elderly, is getting worse and worse, which is an irreversible trend.So, what is the inevitable relationship between this trend and the decline of intelligence in adulthood?This problem is easy to attract the attention of adult development psychologists.Therefore, health is also a factor that must be considered in the research of adult intelligence development.
After middle age, the incidence of cardiovascular system increases with age.Cardiovascular diseases will directly affect the blood supply of the brain, making the nutrition supply of the brain abnormal, which can lead to temporary malnutrition in corresponding brain regions, and even tissue necrosis in serious cases.Once the human brain is affected by this kind of influence, its function will also be hindered, which will affect intellectual activities.Many studies have shown that cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension have a significant negative impact on adult intelligence.
Human brain development generally reaches a mature level in the early youth.Later, as time goes by, more and more negative effects are produced by various harmful stimuli to the brain. When the negative effects accumulate to a certain level, they will lead to the degeneration and deterioration of brain neural function.Especially in patients with brain diseases, the deterioration of their brain nervous function is more prominent, and the greater the impact on intelligence.
