Whether males and females differ in general mental ability (GMA) remains an open question. Complicating the issue is that
standardized IQ tests are constructed to minimize sex differences. We propose a potential solution whereby GMA is measured via performance on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs). ECTs assess basic information-processing ability, yet correlate moderately highly with GMA. Toward this end, we had male (
n = 218) and female (
n = 226) undergraduates complete the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT), and two ECTs: inspection time (IT) and reaction time (RT). The sex difference on the WPT was non-significant (
d = .17), but small differences favoring males existed for IT (
d = .34), RT (
d = .26), the standard deviation of RT (
d = .30), and an ECT factor score (
d = .38). Unlike standardized IQ tests, ECTs may be a viable research tool to help clarify and illuminate the nature of sex differences on GMA.