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Goodbye, IQ Tests: Brain Imaging Predicts Intelligence Levels

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-random-internet-sites-already-tell-me-i'm-a-genius dept.

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."

4 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. The question is... by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    1. Re:The question is... by bunratty · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes. If you could undergo a procedure that creates more the the neuronal connections that are correlated with intelligence, would you become more intelligent? I suppose you would, but the question really is, "How much more intelligent would it make you?" In other words, are there other brain differences that account for the increase in intelligence, such as chemical levels or the speed of neurons? Likewise, if you did exercises to increase your intelligence, would they increase the neuronal connections?

      --
      What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
  2. Re:You may have high IQ ... by Feyshtey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wisdom is generally considered the collective experiences of a person, and how those experiences influence a person's approach to later decisions.

    Wisdom would be gained by discovering the effect of fire by putting your finger in it. Intelligence would be testing the effect of fire on something less critical than your finger in order to discover its nature.

    --
    "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
  3. What about the other 78.3%? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seems like a pretty big gap... they're saying they've identified 3 factors that together make up (if they can be believed) about 21.7% of the "variation in intelligence". So where's the other 78.3%?

    I'm not criticizing their results. Maybe they are correct. But it still isn't saying a hell of a lot.