Simple Vision Test May Predict IQ, New Study Suggests
The ability to filter out distracting background motion could help scientists understand what makes the brain more efficient and consequently, more intelligent. In line with this, researchers from University of Rochester developed the first-ever purely sensory assessment that provides non-verbal and culturally unbiased tool in understanding neural processes associated with human intelligence.
In the current study, participants watched short video clips of black and white bars moving across a computer screen. Their goal was to identify the direction the bars were headed, either to the right or to the left. The bars came in three sizes, with the smallest version restricted to the central circle where the human perception of motion is said to be optimal. After the visual test, the participants also took the standard IQ test.
As expected, individuals with high IQ scores performed better at identifying the directions of the bars when observing the smallest image. According to the lead author Michael Melnick, a doctoral candidate in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, this supports previous studies suggesting that people with higher IQs tend to make simple perceptual judgments quicker and have faster reflexes. But when the participants were presented with larger images, those with high IQs performed the worse at identifying the movements of the bars. Melnick said they were expecting that all participants would perform less in the given task but it turned out that those with higher IQ levels performed much, much worse.
In their report, which was published in the journal Current Biology, the researchers explained that the counter-intuitive inability to perceive large moving objects is a perceptual marker for the brain’s ability to suppress background motion. This unexpected finding leads to the conclusion that the brain’s natural filtering ability is linked to IQ. In the first experiment which involved small bars, the researchers found a 64% correlation between motion suppression and IQ scores.
“In our first experiment, the effect for motion was so strong that I really thought this was a fluke." said Duje Tadin, a senior author on the study and an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University. So far, motion suppression provides greater link to IQ than any other sensory measures for intelligence, including colour discrimination, reaction time, and sensitivity to pitch which only have 20 to 40% correlation.
To verify their findings, the researchers performed the same experiment, this time, administering the full IQ test instead of a shortened version. From 60%, the correlation between motion suppression and intelligence rose to 71%.
The study suggests that people with high IQ levels are not just more intelligent. They also process sensory information in a different manner. These people are more likely to suppress larger and less relevant images in the background as compared to those with lower IQs.
Incorporating the vision test in standard IQ tests may help eliminate the issue on cultural bias. According to Loisa Bennetto, study co-author, because this method is simple and non-verbal, it may also help scientists better understand the neural processing in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Source of this article:
A strong interactive link between sensory discriminations and intelligence
©Copyright 2013 by http://www.naturaltherapyforall.com Hypnotherapy Bristol All Rights Reserved.