Can you increase your intelligence? It is one of the most rancorous debates in science, with disputes raging over the meaning of intelligence, the value of IQ tests and whether brainpower is influenced by genetics or environmental factors.
Now researchers at NUI Maynooth’s department of psychology say they have discovered a new and surprisingly simple way for people of all ages to significantly boost their IQs, using a specially developed computer program. If their claims can be verified, they might be on the cusp of bringing in a lot of money.
The hoped-for breakthrough comes back to how we understand the relationships between things, says Dr Bryan Roche, a lecturer in psychology at NUI Maynooth. According to Roche, relational skills – comparing sizes, looking at opposites, deriving connections – are central to how humans understand the universe and the very nature of existence.
The findings have potential implications for language acquisition, literacy, numeracy, reasoning and problem-solving. Roche says his team have discovered no less than the building blocks of intelligence. These are audacious claims.
Working with NUIM colleague, psychologist and licensed psychometrician Dr Sarah Cassidy, Roche created Smart (Strengthening Mental Abilities with Relational Training), a series of computer training programs that have been developed into a single online game, suitable for children or adults, which develops relational skills. “People assumed, for example, that you learn maths and then, after this, come to understand basic concepts like more than, less than and opposite,” says Roche.
“Because of this, the education system generally focuses on teaching content: how to add and subtract, how to put letters together to form words, how to string words together to express meaning. But it has become increasingly clear that children, or anyone learning, starts with the basic concepts first.”
