The multidimensional nature of human intelligence is fascinating. We humans can be so smart and yet so dumb all at the same time. I have always felt that “EQ” or emotional quotient has greater impact on one’s life success than book-smarts or “IQ” numbers. Now a new Canadian study out of the University of Western Ontario finds that the idea that intelligence can be measured by a single number — your IQ — is simply wrong.
The study, published in the journal Neuron on Wednesday, involved 100,000 participants around the world taking 12 cognitive tests, with a smaller sample of the group undergoing simultaneous brain-scan testing.
“When we looked at the data, the bottom line is the whole concept of IQ — or of you having a higher IQ than me — is a myth,” said Dr. Adrian Owen, the study’s senior investigator and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at the university’s Brain and Mind Institute. “There is no such thing as a single measure of IQ or a measure of general intelligence.”
Rather, the study determined three factors — reasoning, short-term memory and verbal ability — that combined to create human intelligence or “cognitive profile…
The researchers advertised their tests through New Scientist magazine and on discovery.com. Word quickly spread around the world, far surpassing the expectations of researchers, who expected only a few thousand participants. It became the largest online study on intelligence, allowing them to gather data across demographic, age and gender lines.”
Researchers have posted their tests on line here at Cambridgebrainsciences.com and are hoping to collect data from more than 1 million subjects worldwide. Login and be part of the study.
One of the study findings apparently, “people who play video games performed “significantly better” in terms of both reasoning and short-term memory.” Oops this will not help my cause in my on-going argument with my son to “get off screens!”
