As an Indian American, I appreciate the attention. I truly do. But comparing an IQ score derived from the average score of immigrant Indian American kids on an arbitrary memory test (it was 112) to the average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews (110, claims the article) to show them in better light is scientifically wrong in so many ways, (not to mention, an indicator of nothing) it made me want to stop reading the article.
The forward digit test is a memory test. The backward digit test is a staple of IQ tests and correlates pretty well with the whole. I think the article used that because it was the best data available.
I came here to say exactly that. Since you already said it, I will merely add that it is bizarre that the article would veer into the IQ explanation after discussing self-selection, which is sufficient to explain the success of Indian Americans as well as the observed memory test scores.
"When statistical adjustments are used to convert the backward digit span results to full-scale IQ scores, Indian Americans place at about 112"
I don't know how you can meaningfully relate a score on a "backward digit" memory test to an exact IQ score. Nevertheless, I am editing my comment to reflect that it's an IQ score derived from the test and not the score on the test.
