When the ‘very brightest’ people tend to go to bed.
The bacteria has also been linked to reduced anxiety and higher serotonin levels.
The bacteria has also been linked to reduced anxiety and higher serotonin levels.
Exposure to a common bacteria present in the soil boosts learning behaviour.
The bacteria — mycobacterium vaccae — may also act as an antidepressant and lower anxiety.
We can probably get sufficient exposure to the bacteria by simply working in the garden, walking through the woods or digging in the dirt.
For thousands of years human beings have lived close to nature.
It is only recently, with the advent of industrialisation, that we have begun leading such antiseptic lives.
Being closer to nature probably has considerable benefits to both health and cognition.
The conclusions come from a study in which mice were fed the bacteria.
The results showed they navigated a maze at twice the speed.
Dr Dorothy Matthews, the study’s lead author, explained:
“Mycobacterium vaccae is a natural soil bacterium which people likely ingest or breath in when they spend time in nature.”
For the study, mice were fed a diet with the M. vaccae bacteria added to it.
The idea was inspired by previous research that involved injecting the deactivated bacteria into mice.
The bacteria spurred on growth of neurons, boosted serotonin levels and decreased anxiety.
Dr Matthews said:
“Since serotonin plays a role in learning we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice.
We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice.”
Once taken off the diet, though, the mice slowed down somewhat, although they were still faster than the control mice.
Dr Matthews said:
“This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals.
It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.”
The study was published in the journal Behavioural Processes (Matthews & Jenks, 2013).
People with high intelligence tend to share this quality.
People with high intelligence tend to share this quality.
Intelligent people tend to be better behaved and less aggressive.
Both boys and girls with higher IQs are less likely to be antisocial than those with lower IQs.
Boys who are not antisocial generally have IQs around 10 points higher.
Non-antisocial girls have IQs around 5 points higher than their antisocial peers.
High IQ is also linked to lower levels of aggression and drug abuse.
The results come from a group of over 1,000 children in England and Wales.
They were given tests of their IQ and externalising behaviour (aggression, antisocial behaviour etc.).
The study revealed that more intelligent children were less likely to exhibit antisocial behaviour.
The study’s authors write:
“Low IQ is a consistent risk factor for emergence and continuity of antisocial behavior across the life course in both prospective and cross-sectional studies, even when other relevant risk factors are statistically controlled.”
Genetic factors are likely important in the link, as well as situational factors, the authors write:
“…cognitive deficits might promote antisocial behavior if children with low IQs misunderstand rules, find it too difficult to negotiate conflict with words, find school frustrating, or become tracked with antisocial peers.”
The study was published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Koenen et al., 2008).
This simple test of verbal skill might predict how long you live.
One ubiquitous food could help people achieve higher IQs.
Four personality factors are linked to high intelligence.
Intelligence isn’t fixed — these 10 psychology studies prove you can boost your brainpower
This character trait is linked to a high IQ.
This character trait is linked to a high IQ.
Being conscientious is linked to having a high IQ, but only among females.People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.Among males, however, those who are more careless and indifferent have higher IQs.The study of school children also found that introverts who are conscientious get the best grades.Fear may also be a factor in driving up grades, the Swedish research found, since neurotic pupils got better grades.Neurotic people tend to worry more, which may motivate them to work harder if their worries are stoked by the system.Ms Pia Rosander, the study’s first author, said:“We have a school system in Sweden that favours conscientious and fear-driven pupils.It is not good for psychological well-being in the long term if fear is a driving force.It also prevents in-depth learning, which happens best among the open personality types who are driven by curiosity.”The study included 200 pupils entering secondary school at 16 who were followed for three years.The results revealed that girls who were eager to please got better grades.On the other hand, boys were more likely to be curious, but the system tended not to feed their curiosity.Ms Rosander said:
“Greater conscientiousness, i.e. getting things done, arriving on time, etc. may be a way for boys to compensate for a lower IQ.”The study also found that introverts get better grades, probably because extraverts have so much to distract them.Ms Rosander said:
“My studies clearly show that the school system needs to be more individualised.How else can we support talented pupils with the ‘wrong’ personality type, those we call under-performers, who are capable but lack the ability to plan their school work, for example?”The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Rosander et al., 2011).
This is how your musical taste reveals your IQ.
This is how your musical taste reveals your IQ.
A preference for instrumental music indicates higher intelligence.
People who like ambient music, smooth jazz, film soundtracks, classical music and similar genres without vocals tend to have higher IQs.
While vocal music might be seen as the ‘opposite’ of instrumental music, liking vocal music has no link to IQ.
In other words, many people with high IQs also like vocal music, but so do many with less impressive levels of intelligence.
The conclusions come from a survey of 1,500 people.
All were given IQ tests and asked about their preferences for eighteen musical genres.
The results showed that…
“…net of age, race, sex, education, family income, religion, current and past marital status and number of children, more intelligent Americans are more likely to prefer instrumental music such as big band, classical and easy listening than less-intelligent Americans.”
A second similar survey of thousands of 16-year-olds and their musical preferences was carried out in the UK in the 1980s.
This also found a link between high intelligence and a preference for instrumental music.
One theory about why liking instrumental music is linked to high IQ is the cognitive complexity of the music.
However, the researchers found this couldn’t be true.
Opera, for example, is seen as complex, yet the people who like it are no more intelligent than those who don’t.
The study’s authors write:
“It would be difficult to make the case that big-band music is more cognitively complex than classical music.
On the other extreme, as suspected, preference for rap music is significantly negatively correlated with intelligence.
However, preference for gospel music is even more strongly negatively correlated with it.
It would be difficult to make the case that gospel is less cognitively complex than rap.”
Instead, the reason, according to Dr Satoshi Kanazawa, the study’s co-author, is that instrumental music is more novel.
Music that is novel — in other words, developed more recently in evolutionary terms — tends to be preferred by people with higher IQs.
The study was published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making (Kanazawa & Perina, 2011).
Crystallised intelligence is demonstrated by better language and reasoning skills.
Crystallised intelligence is demonstrated by better language and reasoning skills.
Sitting down is not all bad: people who spend more time sitting score higher on tests of crystallised intelligence.
Crystallised intelligence is demonstrated by better language and reasoning skills.
It refers to the type of intelligence that comes from knowledge and experience that tends to come with age.
However, people who do more exercise boost their fluid intelligence.
Fluid intelligence refers to the speed at which the brain works.
It is like the raw power of an engine or the speed at which a computer can process information.
The conclusions come from a study that looked at how different levels of physical activity are linked to cognitive health.
Dr Agnieszka Burzynska, the study’s first author, said:
“We know that as we grow older, even if we do not have any cognitive impairments, people aged 60 and up already show some decreases in speed, executive functioning, and memory.
Those decreases are totally within a normal range, but this study was looking to understand how our behaviors and habits may correlate with cognitive outcomes in older age.”
For the study, 228 older people’s daily activity was measured.
People are often sat down each day for longer than they think said Dr Burzynska:
“If you ask, ‘How long did you sit today?’ people will perhaps say 2 to 3 hours when the reality is more like 6 to 8 hours.”
Cognitive tests revealed that people who sat more tended to do better on knowledge and reading tests.
Those that exercised more, though, did better on memory and problem-solving tests that require a ‘faster’ brain.
Light physical activities like housework cooking and laundry had little effect on people’s cognition — it was moderate-to-vigorous activities that worked.
Dr Burzynska said:
“There’s this big push within health and wellness that sitting is always bad for your body, that being a couch potato is not good, and although our earlier studies indicated that the brains of those who spend more time sitting may age faster, it seems that on the cognitive level, sitting time may also be meaningful.”
Sitting time may be beneficial as long as it is used to stimulate the brain: such as by reading, playing games or doing something educational or mentally invigorating.
Dr Burzynska said:
“I don’t think I would in any way suggest that we should engage in more sitting, but I think trying to be as physically active as possible and making sure that you get stimulated in your sedentary time — that it’s not just spent staring at the TV — that this combination might be the best way to take care of your brain.
I hope it sends some positive message for those of us who have had limited opportunities to exercise during the pandemic.”
Dr Burzynska added:
“When you exercise, enjoy your exercise. Maybe sometimes think, ‘Yeah I’m going to go sit now and enjoy a really good book’.”
The study was published in the journal Psychology and Aging (Burzynska et al., 2020).
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