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VECTORIZING IQ Mini-Guide 

 

STEP 1 - Unit 1  

 

Dr Mark Ashton Smith IQ Mindware.com 

2019-20 

 

 

 

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Welcome to IQ Mindware - - - - X Before we start, let me introduce myself.

I’m Dr. Mark Ashton Smith, applied cognitive

neuroscientist and founder and director of IQ

Mindware – an evidence- based cognitive

training provider.

⇐ And here’s my brain.

I earned my joint neuroscience and cognitive

psychology Ph.D. at the Carnegie Mellon &

University of Pittsburgh’s Center for the

Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) program.

This was one of the first - and highly competitive - cognitive neuroscience

programs in the early 1990s. Its graduates have gone on to be leaders in the field.

My fellow CNBC graduate students Professor Tod Braver, Professor Randall

O’Reilly, and Professor Jason Chein have all spearheaded seminal research in

intelligence and the brain's executive functions - and some of this research has

fed directly into the development of my IQ augmentation programs.

I worked as a Lecturer (Assist. Professor) and researcher in the Department of

Psychology at Cambridge University for a number of years and went on to help

build and direct psychology programs around the world.

 

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I now use my scientific training to develop evidence-based apps and programs to

help people get smarter and build cognitive resilience. I maintain an active

research program as director of the Cambridge Mindware Lab with

researchers in labs around the world, testing my apps in real-world settings. I

have worked with many successful professionals as well as ex-Navy Seals,

government organisations, universities and corporations.

I am also on the faculty of the Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Online, creating their online BSc degree courses (such as 'Reasoning and Problem

Solving') and tutoring undergraduates. There is a useful synergy: the courses I

develop here for the University of Essex such as Reasoning and Problem Solving

are based on my Cambridge Mindware Lab intervention work. And the undergrad

tutoring I do synergizes with my IQ Mindware coaching services.

“ Your fluid intelligence can be a remarkably productive engine that generates 

new knowledge and possibilities, expanding the cone of options and effectiveness into the future, and tapping what we have learned from the past. 

-Mark Ashton Smith, Ph.D 

”  

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Vectorizing Your IQ:The Concept  - - - - X

If you’re like most people, you will think your IQ level is static -

intelligence is genetically hardwired and there is little you can do to

alter your raw ‘brain power’. Some people are naturally smart: they

learn quickly, grasp complex matters, problem solve effectively and

make good decisions. While others have to work that bit harder and

practice more, relying more on practice and hard graft to keep up.

“ I can tell you as a cognitive neuroscientist with 30 years in the field that 

intelligence is not fixed in stone. It is not static, it is dynamic. -Mark Ashton Smith, Ph.D 

” 

 

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Without active interventions, or environmental restructuring, your IQ will

remain flatlining - and with chronic stress and aging, it may even start to slip.

Vectorizing your IQ means changing a flatlining or down-sliding IQ into a

dynamic mental capacity with upward magnitude and direction. Vectorizing IQ is

central to the mission of IQ Mindware.

Vectorizing your IQ 

Vectorizing your IQ is a 3 Step process.

Step 1 Your IQ is a measure of the g factor. So this step involves understanding g and

the nature of general intelligence. Unit 1 covers much of this step.

 

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Step 2

This step motivational and designed to lead to taking action. It involves

reviewing the evidence, and (1) convincing yourself that IQ is not genetically

hardwired and that you can increase it through different IQ interventions; (2)

seeing what utility a higher IQ can have for you - what it’s value might be in

your life and how this and how that might offset the costs of the effort you put in

to train; and (3) setting realistic but inspiring expectations for the kinds of IQ

and other cognitive gains you can expect and the impact those gains may have in

your life.

Step 3

This step kicks in when you commit to some program - whether evidence-based

app brain training or some other brain cross-training strategy, such as

meditation, image streaming or nootropics that you can do just using the guides.

This step can benefit from self-quantification: measuring your current

baseline cognitive abilities with valid tests (including IQ tests if you choose) and

then tracking your cognitive gains over time.

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So without further ado, let’s start vectorizing your IQ!

 

 

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What is IQ? What is g? - - - - X Understanding IQ depends on understanding g and the positive manifold. IQ

tests are designed to measure g - so let’s first be clear about what this is.

The English psychologist Charles Spearman in the early 1900s saw that childrens’

marks across seemingly unrelated school subjects – from history to languages to

science – were all positively correlated. Scores tended to rise and fall together

across the board. He called this the ‘positive manifold’.

The positive manifold is a well-established fact: statistically speaking,

performance on all cognitive tasks – from languages to math, from SATs to

music theory exams, from self-control to attention focus & flexibility – show a

positive manifold.

The positive manifold is the best established and the most striking

fact in the psychological study of intelligence. The great intelligence

scholar Jensen called it “simply a fact of nature” and some have called it “the first

law of intelligence.”

Spearman explained the positive manifold by

proposing a universal general ability factor – g

that is common to scores on all cognitive tasks. The

terms IQ, general intelligence, general ability

and g, are used interchangeably to refer to this

common core shared by a wide range of cognitive

tasks.

 

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G has Subfactors: ‘Multiple Intelligences’ 

The well-established CHC Theory of general intelligence (g) uses a

statistical technique called factor analysis to reveal a second stratum of 'broad

ability' factors below the g factor - such as visual processing (Gv) and processing

speed (Gs). The original 9 broad abilities in CHC Theory are shown above,

 

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although others have since been identified by Professor McGrew - the scientist

behind the CHC theory - and his colleagues.

Actionable: Have a look at the above ‘multiple intelligences’ and  consider if you have relative strengths or weaknesses in them. 

Someone may be relatively strong at visuospatial but weak at processing speed,

while someone else may have the reverse pattern - even though they may both

have the same level of general intelligence (g). Like a snapshot of peaks and

troughs of the swell at different tide levels - g is the baseline tide level and the

peaks and troughs are variation in broad abilities. These can be called ‘multiple

intelligences’ provided it’s understood that they are all bound to the general

factor and tend to rise and fall with it.

And there's more to take in...

Some broad IQ abilities 'load' more highly on g (the

general intelligence factor) than others - they overlap

more as you can see with the blue ovals here. This means

that they are more closely correlated with the g factor

itself as well as all other cognitive tasks and tests. They

are more ‘representative’ of general intelligence.

As we’ll see, two types of test load most highly on g -

fluid intelligence (Gf) and working memory (Gwm). These two broad abilities lie

at the heart of the gCODE paradigm for effective brain training.

 

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IQ Tests IQ tests are designed to measure g – the general intelligence factor

underlying the positive manifold. Your IQ is a standardized measure of g, where

the average is 100 and the spread of scores looks like this ‘bell curve’. Using this

bell curve we can define ‘high IQs’ as being in the top 16% of the population –

with IQs above 115.

 

Full Scale IQ tests Six of the broad abilities (Gf, Gwm, Gc, Gs, Gv and Gq) in the CHC theory load

highly on g. These are the ones measured by subtests of full-scale IQ tests.

When you take a full scale IQ test, you get both a composite IQ score

(measuring g), as well as subfactor scores - showing relative strengths and

weaknesses of the broad abilities such as visuospatial vs verbal.

 

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Fluid intelligence (culture fair) IQ tests The broad ability with the highest g-loading (it's almost perfect) is fluid

intelligence (Gf).

Gf tests - sometimes called 'culture fair' IQ tests - such as the Raven's Progressive

Matrices tests or number/letter series tests (see below) assess your power of

reasoning (inductive and deductive) and your ability to infer patterns,

relationships and rules - without the need for specific cultural knowledge, or

special classes such as you might get in math. We’re talking very general-purpose

information processing skills here.

These tests load so highly on g that they can be used as substitutes for

full-scale IQ tests. If you do a matrices or letter series test, you get a good

estimate of your general intelligence (g).

Actionable: There are two examples of matrices Gf tests below. Each question consists of a design that has a missing piece, followed by six to 

eight figures, one of which is the missing piece. You must look for similarities and differences across the rows and down the columns of the 

design in order to find the piece that fits. 

Try figuring out (literally!) the answers. 

 

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And for a more challenging problem.

 

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Actionable: And here’s a letter-series problem from a Gf IQ test. 

Try finding the answer. 

How did you get on?

The answers are: 8, bottom right, A.

With the problems above, you now even have a feel for what kind of processing

your brain is doing when you engage your fluid reasoning and thus your IQ (g)

directly!

 

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Working Memory (Gwm) Working memory (Gwm) is a

broad ability that also loads

very highly on g.

In combination with your

attention focus, your working

memory functions like a

mental workspace. Its job is

to temporarily store

task-relevant information for

ongoing information

processing while inhibiting

distractors or automatic

responses - or not!

People differ in the capacity - or ‘bandwidth’ - of their working memory, and

differences in working memory capacity (WMC) strongly predict IQ levels. The

n-back is a task used to used for working memory. Dual n-back (DNB) training

is a type of working memory training. A few hours of this DNB training results in

long-term augmentation of this broad ability of IQ.

WM Test: Boxes flash in sequence. You have to remember the sequence. 

 

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So why do both Gf and Gwm overlap with the g factor and each other so well?

To answer this we need to look to research that explains how broad IQ abilities

identified in CHC theory work together in an information processing system

for general intelligence (g) - such as this one by McGrew and Schneider (2).

Don’t worry about the details! What is important to see here is that fluid

intelligence (Gf) and working memory (Gwm) under attention control work

together as the central processor of our general intelligence. Our reasoning

and inference-making plays out in the mental workspace of our Gwm. The larger

the capacity of our Gwm, the more the ‘bandwidth’ we have for fluid reasoning.

This Gf-Gwm central processor of IQ acts as a limited capacity bottle-neck

between the vast stores of knowledge in our long-term memory and our skilled

 

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capacity to perceive and act on the world around us. You might have phenomenal

knowledge tucked away somewhere in the recesses of your mind, but unless you

can bring it to bear on IQ-demanding tasks when needed, you will not manifest a

high IQ. The central processor enables efficient learning from experience, and

effective application of background skills and knowledge for any task.

So now you can see why Gf and Gwm are related, and why they predict overall

intelligence levels so well.

Where is G in Our Brains? We can now rephrase this: Where is the Gf-Gwm central processor in our brain?

Some brain regions are highly connected, acting as flexible network hubs. These have a central role in supporting integrated brain function and multiple

learning and thinking demands.

Brain imaging studies have shown time and again that IQ-intensive, g-loaded

tasks all depend on neural signalling in the prefrontal and parietal lobes of the

brain.

 

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More precisely g has been identified with a network hub called the

frontoparietal network (FPN) which is the most densely connected to all

other brain hubs, playing the central role in control and communication. The

FPN is shown in yellow here.

The frontoparietal network (FPN) of g 

So now you've got an understanding of g - and thus IQ - from a technical,

scientific perspective within the IQ testing tradition. With the problems above,

you now even have a feel for what kind of processing the frontoparietal network

of your brain is doing when you exercise g!

But what does IQ mean in your day to day life? IQ tests are artificial, and not

everyone is into taking them!

 

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Definitions of General Intelligence (g) Here are some definitions to flesh g out a bit for you. An op-ed by fifty-two

intelligence researchers defines g as:

“the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly,

comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from

experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic

skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and

deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings

—”catching on,” “making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what

to do.”

From artificial intelligence (AI) we get these definitions of g:

“Achieving complex goals in complex environments.” B. Goertzel

“Intelligence is the ability to use optimally limited resources –

including time – to achieve goals.” R. Kurzweil

And in our careers and professional lives we have these definitions of g:

“ intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products,

that are valued within one or more cultural settings.” H. Gardner

 

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“I prefer to refer to it as ‘successful intelligence.’ And the reason

is that the emphasis is on the use of your intelligence to achieve

success in your life. So I define it as your skill in achieving

whatever it is you want to attain in your life.” R. Sternberg

In Summary Welcome again to the IQ Mindware mission!

Through this Unit, you now have a basic understanding of IQ, general intelligence

(g) and IQ tests, thinking as a scientist would.

That's the first critical step towards vectorizing your IQ.

I'll follow up with the next Unit to continue this process in a few days, once you've

consolidated this material.

I trust you are motivated to learn more.

 

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References (1) McGrew, K. S. (2009). CHC theory and the human cognitive abilities

project: Standing on the shoulders of the giants of psychometric

intelligence research. Intelligence, 37(1), 1–10.

(2) Schneider, W. J., & McGrew, K. S. (2012). The Cattell-Horn-Carroll model

of intelligence. In Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests,

and issues, 3rd ed (pp. 99–144). New York, NY, US: The Guilford Press.