Goodbye, IQ Tests: Brain Imaging Predicts Intelligence Levels

An anonymous reader writes "Research from Washington University in St. Louis has identified variations in brain scans that they believe identify portions of the brain that are responsible for intelligence (abstract). As suspected (and as explained by cartoons) brain size does play a small role; they said that brain size accounts for 6.7 percent of variance in intelligence. Recent research has placed the brain's prefrontal cortex, a region just behind the forehead, as providing for 5 percent of the variation in intelligence between people. The research from Washington University targets the left prefrontal cortex, and the strength of neural connections that it has to the rest of the brain. They think these differences account for 10 percent of differences in intelligence among people. The study is the first to connect those differences to intelligence in people."

Comments

You may have high IQ ...

[ackthpt]

But what about your Wisdom?

Seems a better measure than how fast you can perform math, patern recognition, etc.

Thanks to AD&D I learned about the importance of balance Int with Wis

Re:The question is...

[ackthpt]

The question is, do the excess connections cause intelligence, or does working the brain cause the excess connections?

Seems to me the opinion of science is having ability isn't the same as keeping it sharp -- performing Crossword Puzzles, Sudoku, etc, keep your mind in training, same as physical exercise does for heart, muscle and liver.

Nobody knows what they are measuring

[nut]

People have been trying to measure intelligence for well over a hundred years now, but I have yet to see anybody precisely and fully define exactly what it is they are measuring.

And don't say IQ - the only thing IQ tests measure is the ability to do IQ tests. Read up on their history. There is nothing scientific about their origin.