1. Dylan Colbert, Bryan Roche & Sarah Cassidy
Using SMART Training to enhance intellectual ability in year old children
Dylan Colbert, Bryan Roche & Sarah Cassidy
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2. Study Aim
To replicate and extend upon previous studies (Cassidy et al. 2011, 2016) which found that training relational skills leads to increases in Full scale IQ.

3. What is Intelligence?
“The ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning and to overcome obstacles by taking thought.”
American Psychological Association (Neisser et al. 1996)
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is the most empirically validated measurement of intelligence
High IQ is associated with:
Educational attainment (Deary et al., 2007; Jensen , 1998; Kaufman et al., 2012;Rinderman, 2007)
Income (Irwing & Lynn, 2006; Jencks, 1970; Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002; 2006)
Happiness (Ali et al. 2013; Kanazawa, 2014; Isaacowitz & Smith, 2003; Siedlecki et al., 2008)
Health and Longevity (O’Toole & Stankov, 1992; Deary et al., 2004; Kanazawa, 2014)
Lower levels of crime (Hischi & Hindeland, 1977; McGravey et al., 1981; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994)

4. What are Relational Skills?
Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes & Roche, 2001) attempts to explain a wide range of cognitive skills in terms of a small collection of underlying, teachable skills
These skills are known as relational skills
Same/Opposite
Before/After
More than /Less than
Analogy
Categorical
Perspective-taking

5. Relational Frame Theory (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes & Roche, 2001)
Derived Relational Responding (DRR):
the ability to derive relations between stimuli without direct reinforcement and in accordance with a small family of “frames”, such as equivalence, more than/less than, and opposition.
Relational skill correlates significantly with intellectual performance (Andrew & Halford, 1998; Cattel, 1971; Colbert, Dobutowitsch, Roche & Brophy, under submission; Gore et al ; O’Hora et al. 2005, 2008; O’Toole & Barnes Holmes, 2009)
Relational skill can be trained and improved
(Barnes-Holmes et al., 2001; Berens & Hayes, 2007; Gomez et al., 2007; Luciano et al., 2007).

6. SMART Training Strengthening Mental Abilities with Relational Training
Relational ability is fundamental to intelligence.
Relational ability can be improved.
Can intelligence be improved by training relational ability?
So...
SMART Training is an online training system that isolates and trains relational skills to a high degree of proficiency, in order to increase intellectual performance.

7. SMART Training

8. SMART Training System 55 levels of increasing complexity
Levels 1 – 29: Same/Opposite
Levels 30 – 55: More than/Less than
Difficulty is increasing by controlling:
Number of relational premises (1-4)
Number of relations
Directionality of relational question
Order of relational premises
In order to pass each level, 16 consecutive correct responses are required

11. The Current Study
This study used a crossover design to assess the effect of a relational skills training intervention in increasing the intellectual performance of a group of primary school children, as measured by the WISC-IV.

12. Test Battery
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV, 4th edition).
Full IQ & four subscales:
Verbal Comprehension
Perceptual Reasoning
Working Memory
Processing Speed)
Relational Abilities Index (RAI)
RAI Accuracy (RAIa)
Total number of correct responses out of 55
RAI Fluency (RAIf)
______RAIa________
[(√time)÷ RAIa/55]

13. Study Schedule
Primary school children attending 5th class (n = 28, mean age: 10.1 years). Mean IQ in the average range (M = 94.1, SD = 10.9, range = )
Year
Month
Group 1
Group 2
2015
May
Baseline IQ testing
September
Training
No intervention
October
November
December
Second IQ test
2016
January
February
No Intervention
March
April
Final IQ testing

14. Results

15. RAI results
Strong positive correlation between Baseline IQ and RAIa (r = .69, p < .001) and RAIf (r = .45, p < .05)
Baseline IQ significantly predicted completion of all 55 training levels (r = .74, p < .001)
Significant difference between RAIa scores at baseline
(M = 32.9, SD = 6.1) and follow-up (M = 35.8 , SD = 9)
Significant difference between RAIf scores at baseline (M = 6.4 , SD = 1.9) and follow up (M = 8.4, SD = 3.6)

16. Verbal Comprehension (verbal knowledge, verbal reasoning, vocabulary etc.)
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Group 1
95.8
101.5 (+5.7)*
105.5 (+4)
Group 2
92.9
91.9 (-1)
100.6 (+8.7)**

17. Perceptual Reasoning (non-verbal reasoning, general problem solving)
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Group 1
93.7
101.6 (+7.9)**
102.9 (+1.3)
Group 2
96.7
103.7 (+7)**
105.2 (+1.5)

18. Working Memory (memorise and manipulate info over a short period)
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Group 1
98.4
100.8 (+2.4)
101 (+0.2)
Group 2
99.3
99.8 (+0.5)
104.7 (+4.9)*

19. Processing Speed (visual discimmination, response speed, visuo-motor skill)
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Group 1
93.9
93.9 (-)
99.9 (+6)
Group 2
92.6
99.1 (+6.5)*
101.8 (+2.7)

20. Full IQ (overall intellectual performance)
** significant at p <.01 level
* Significant at p < .05 level
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Group 1
94.1
100.1 (+6)**
103.6 (+3.5)*
Group 2
97.9 (+3.7)*
104.6 (+6.7)**

21. Training Levels Completed
Amount of Training
Training Levels Completed
RAIa Score Change
Full IQ Score Change
Strong positive correlation between post-intervention IQ rise and levels of training completed (r = .62, p < .01).
Participants who finished all 55 training levels displayed IQ rises (M = 13) that were 2.5 times larger than those who did not (M = 4.9)

22. Amount of Training

23. Finished Participants
FIQ1
FIQ2
VC1
VC2
PR1
PR2
WM1
WM2
PS1
PS2 11
100
105 98 96
112
123
102
104 83 85 12
107 99
116
106 97 14
114
124
108
113
120 24 95
119
126 26
109
122
115
127 94

24. Discussion
Full IQ rises were lower than those seen previously in in a similar age group (M = 23, Cassidy et al., 2016)
As the number of training levels correlated significantly with IQ rises, it appears that completion of all 55 levels is critical to IQ increases
In addition, high IQ participants were more likely to reach latter stages
Training system may have proven very challenging for many of the current group
Participants needed a longer training period

25. Conclusion
Study failed to replicate the magnitude of rises found in Cassidy et al. (2016) However, this does not appear to be due to the inefficiency of relational training, but rather insufficient time allocated to its completion.

26. Dylan Colbert, Bryan Roche & Sarah Cassidy
Using SMART Training to enhance intellectual ability in year old children
Dylan Colbert, Bryan Roche & Sarah Cassidy
Thanks