The proxy-measurement of intelligence quotients using a relational skills abilities index

Abstract

Relational Frame Theory proposes that levels of sophistication with relational concepts may underlie intellectual performance. In order to further elucidate this relationship, the current study examined correlations between scores on a novel Relational Abilities Index (RAI) and a range of widely-used cognitive ability measures, including Full Scale IQ. In Study 1, 35 adult participants completed a battery of cognitive assessments, comprising of the National Adult Reading Test, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, the Trail Making Test, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and a RAI assessment at two time periods. In Study 2, a full WAIS-III assessment and RAI was administered to 25 college students. Results indicate that performance on the RAI displayed impressive degrees of correlation with the three main IQ indices, three of the four IQ subindices, and three of the four cognitive ability measures, suggesting that the RAI assessment may represent a promising potential proxy measure of Full Scale IQ.

Non-verbal IQ Gains from Relational Operant Training Explain Variance in Educational Attainment: An Active-Controlled Feasibility Study

“…Therefore, they can also be trained by manipulating the environment (see Kishita, Ohtsuki, and Stewart (2013); McLoughlin and Stewart (2017); Moran, Walsh, Stewart, McElwee, and Ming (2015)). Not only can relational operants be trained, but they are strongly associated with IQ (Colbert et al, 2017), and this is congruent with converging consensus from the fields of neuroscience (Davis et al, 2017), linguistics (Everaert et al, 2015;Goldwater, 2017), evolutionary biology (Wilson & Hayes, 2018), and cognitive psychology (Alexander, 2019;Goldwater, Don, Krusche, & Livesey, 2018;Goldwater & Schalk, 2016;Halford, Wilson, & Phillips, 2010;Kaufman, DeYoung, Gray, Brown, & Mackintosh, 2009) that relational reasoning is central to cognition.…”

The Relational Abilities Index+: Initial Validation of a Functionally Understood Proxy Measure for Intelligence

“…A small number of correlational analyses (Colbert et al, 2017;Dixon et al, 2014;O'Hora et al, 2005O'Hora et al, , 2008 have further underlined the relationship between relational responding and intellectual performance by assessing performance on traditional IQ test performance and assessments of relational skills. For instance, across two separate analyses, O'Hora et al (2005) andO'Hora et al (2008) reported significant correlations between performance on a temporal relations task (before/after) and all three WAIS-III indices (Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQ), two of four WAIS-III subindices (Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organization) and two WAIS-III subtests (Vocabulary and Arithmetic).…”

“…The Relational Abilities Index (RAI), initially developed by Cassidy ( 2008) and later extended by Cassidy et al (2016), is in its current form a 55-item syllogistic reasoning assessment that measures proficiency in coordination, opposition, and comparison relational responding, and is now regarded as an acceptable proxy measure of IQ (Colbert et al, 2017). Colbert et al (2017) carried out the most in-depth analysis of the RAI to date, reporting medium to strong correlations between RAI scores and all three WAIS-III indices (Full Scale, Verbal and Performance IQ), all four subscales (Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Organization and Processing Speed), as well as 10 of 13 IQ subtests. In addition, in the second of the Colbert et al's studies, RAI scores predicted performance on number of other measures of cognitive ability, including verbal ability (National Adult Reading Test; Nelson, 1982), visuospatial function (the Trail Making Test; Lezak, 1995), and memory (Rey Auditory Visual Learning Tests;Rey, 1958;English version: Taylor, 1959).…”

“…One noteworthy research stream that has proved particularly efficacious in improving intellectual performance has emerged from a set of behavior-analytic principles that allow researchers to target a key repertoire of skills (known as relational skills) that are proposed to underlie most, or even all, intellectual performance (e.g., Cassidy et al, 2011Cassidy et al, , 2016Colbert, Dobutowitsch, Roche, & Brophy, 2017). From this behavioranalytic or functional perspective (De Houwer, Barnes-Holmes, & Moors 2013), trait definitions of intelligence are considered to fall victim to the errors of reification and circular reasoning (Gottfredson, 1998;Howe, 1990;Schlinger, 2003), and therefore are wholly incongruent with the behaviorist tradition (Schlinger, 2003;Skinner, 1974).…”

“…Several studies have revealed high levels of correlations between measures of relational responding and various tests of verbal ability (Barnes, McCullagh, & Keenan, 1990;Colbert et al, 2017;Dugdale & Lowe, 2000). In the domain of academic attainment, relational responding has been shown to be of key importance to reading (de Rose, de Souza, Rossito, & de Rose, 1992;Farrington-Flint & Wood, 2007;Goswami, 1986;Mackay, 1985;Sidman, 1971), vocabulary (Edwards, Figueras, Mellanby, & Langdon, 2011;McHugh et al, 2004;Nippold & Sullivan, 1987), grammar (Hock, 1991(Hock, , 2003, and even spelling (Brown, Sinatra, & Wagstaff, 1996;Goswami, 1988;Mackay, 1985).…”