Three Chronometric Indices of Relational Responding as Predictors of Performance on a Brief Intelligence Test: The Importance of Relational Flexibility

Abstract

Participants completed a before/after and a similar/different relational task, using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), and subsequently took the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). For each relational task, response latencies were measured first on consistent trials, where participants responded in accordance with preestablished verbal relations, and then on inconsistent trials, where they responded against these relations. A difference-score was calculated by subtracting consistent from inconsistent response latencies. The inconsistent trials and the difference-score provided measures of relational flexibility. Results showed that faster responding on the IRAP and smaller difference-scores predicted higher IQ. These findings suggest that relational flexibility is an important component of intelligence and might therefore be targeted in educational settings.For humans, the ability to identify relations between objects and events is an integral part of everyday life. They routinely recognize similarities between various stimuli, and they have the ability to make comparisons, learn from analogies, understand a sequence of events, and plan for the future. each of these abilities relies on relational thought, which Gentner and Loewenstein (2002b) referred to as the sine qua non of human cognition. Consistent with this view is the observation that a child's cognitive development is typically observed in the increasing relational complexity of the language and concepts this child employs as he or she grows older (Andrews & Halford, 1998 Gentner & Ratterman, 1991;Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001).Although often considered as predominantly the subject matter of cognitive psychology, relational abilities can also be understood from the perspective of behavior analysis. Modern behavioral research into complex relational performances was greatly enhanced by the seminal work of Murray Sidman and colleagues, who developed a methodology for examining what is now known as stimulus equivalence (see Sidman, 1994, for a review). In a typical equivalence experiment, explicit training is given in a number of interrelated stimulus relations, which then produces a number of predicted but untrained relations. For example, if they are trained in A-B and A-C relations, most verbally able humans will spontaneously show B-A, C-B, A-C, and C-A relations. When these untaught relational responses emerge, the three stimuli A, B, and C are said to participate in an equivalence class or a relation of similarity.Although the equivalence relation is the one most widely researched, it is of course just one of the relations that seem to occur in human language and cognition. Among the other relations are those of comparison and difference, as well as hierarchical, spatial, and temporal relations. One of the primary reasons why behavioral researchers have shown such interest in these relational abilities is the apparent relevance to human language and cognition (see Hayes, , for a book-length review).For some time now, th...

A First Test of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure as a Measure of Self-Esteem: Irish Prisoner Groups and University Students

“…The basic IRAP effect has been replicated across a number of domains in previous and ongoing research at our laboratory (Barnes-Holmes et al, 2006;Barnes-Holmes, Hayden, et al, 2008;Barnes-Holmes, Murtagh, Barnes-Holmes, & Stewart, in press;Barnes-Holmes, Waldron, Barnes-Holmes, & Stewart, in press;McKenna, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, & Stewart, 2007;O'Toole & Barnes-Holmes, 2009). At the current time, however, there is no published evidence to support the IRAP's validity as a potential tool for measuring clinically relevant variables.…”

Relational Frame Theory and Human Intelligence

“…Relational responding correlations loaded particularly highly on the Verbal Comprehension (r = .403) and Perceptual Organization (r = .409) factors of the WAIS-III. O'Toole and Barnes-Holmes (2009) employed the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to test before/after and same/ different relations and found that performance on the relational tasks that required reversing known relations correlated with IQ as measured by the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (r(before/after) = .38, r(same/different) = .35). Finally Gore, Barnes-Holmes, and Murphy (2010) found significant correlations between performance on a test for deictic (perspective taking) relational responding and Full Scale (r = .43), Verbal (r = .45) and Performance IQ (r = .45; p.12) as measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI; Psychological Corporation, 1999).…”

The fruits of a functional approach for psychological science

“…This assumption has recently received empirical support on several fronts (e.g. Gore, Barnes‐Holmes, & Murphy, ; O'Toole & Barnes‐Holmes, ) with one line of research in particular highlighting the potential of a functional approach.…”