Tag Archives: intelligence

December 10, 2021 · 11:36 pm

Can Seven Questions Determine How Wise You Are?

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that an abbreviated, seven-item scale can help determine with high validity a person’s level of wisdom, a potentially modifiable personality trait that has been shown to have a strong association to well-being.

The study’s researchers had previously developed the 28-item San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE-28), which has been used in large national and international studies, biological research and clinical trials to evaluate wisdom.

But in a study published in International Psychogeriatrics, researchers found that a shortened seven-item version (SD-WISE-7 or Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index), was comparable and reliable.

“Wisdom measures are increasingly being used to study factors that impact mental health and optimal aging. We wanted to test if a list of only seven items could provide valuable information to test wisdom,” said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

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Tagged as compassion, empathy, intelligence, maturity, wisdom

January 30, 2021 · 12:07 am

Frequent cannabis use by young people linked to IQ decline

A study has found that adolescents who frequently use cannabis may experience a decline in Intelligence Quotient (IQ) over time. The findings of the research provide further insight into the harmful neurological and cognitive effects of frequent cannabis use on young people.

Photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem on Pexels.com

The paper, led by researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, is published in Psychological Medicine.

The results revealed that there were declines of approximately 2 IQ points over time in those who use cannabis frequently compared to those who didn’t use cannabis. Further analysis suggested that this decline in IQ points was primarily related to reduction in verbal IQ.

The research involved systematic review and statistical analysis on seven longitudinal studies involving 808 young people who used cannabis at least weekly for a minimum of 6 months and 5308 young people who did not use cannabis. In order to be included in the analysis each study had to have a baseline IQ score prior to starting cannabis use and another IQ score at follow-up. The young people were followed up until age 18 on average although one study followed the young people until age 38.

“Previous research tells us that young people who use cannabis frequently have worse outcomes in life than their peers and are at increased risk for serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Loss of IQ points early in life could have significant effects on performance in school and college and later employment prospects,” commented senior author on the paper Professor Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health, RCSI.

“Cannabis use during youth is of great concern as the developing brain may be particularly susceptible to harm during this period. The findings of this study help us to further understand this important public health issue,” said Dr Emmet Power, Clinical Research Fellow at RCSI and first author on the study.

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Tagged as cannabis, intelligence, IQ, weed

March 8, 2018 · 12:21 am

Brain Activity at Rest Provides Clue to Intelligence – Study

I am just starting my ninth year of writing this blog. It began as a weight loss aid, but has morphed into a general good health and longevity tool. As regular readers know, my family has at least three cases of Alzheimer’s Disease/dementia. So, I am totally psyched on my brain and working to keep it healthy and functional since I just turned 78 in January. For that reason, I was fascinated by this study from Sydney, Australia on intelligence.

The ability of an adult to learn and to perform cognitive tests is directly linked to how active the brain is at rest, UNSW researchers have found.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Imaging and Behaviour, found that how well an elderly adult performed on language recall, memory executive function tests was directly related to the activity of the brain while in a resting state, or not doing any specific tasks.

“The next stage in research would be to examine if this resting state activity of the brain can be modified by training,” says Professor Perminder Sachdev. NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the UNSW news release.

Researchers from the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of the brain in 67 cognitively healthy adults aged between 73 to 90 years. The MRI images captured activity of the whole brain at rest when the participants were not thinking of anything in particular and had their eyes closed. They were also tested on their ability to perform three common neuropsychological tests, administered by trained psychology graduates.

“We found that the human brain is already somewhat pre-determined to do well or perform poorly in testing,” said lead researcher Professor Perminder Sachdev, Co-Director of CHeBA. “Brains differ from each other in terms of resting state activity and it’s not an even playing field. If there is activity in certain brain networks when the brain isn’t doing anything, then that person is predisposed to do better than others on the tasks that rely on that network.”

In the past, similar research had focused on specific brain regions, however this study examined 3D “voxel” images of the whole brain, thereby not constraining the results based on previous knowledge.

The results found that how well an individual did on language and executive function tests was linked with functional connectivity during rest in the frontal and temporal cortices. For memory retrieval, strong resting state activity was located in the inferior temporal cortices.

“The next stage in research would be to examine if this resting state activity of the brain can be modified by training. There is a possibility that training could boost the brain’s intrinsic network, improving overall mental performance and possibly prevent cognitive decline or even dementia,” Professor Sachdev said.

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Filed under aging brain, brain, brain function, brain health, Healthy brain, intelligence

Tagged as brain function, brain health, intelligence

December 26, 2017 · 12:10 am

Eating Fish every week linked to better sleep, higher IQ – Study

Children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have IQ scores that are 4 points higher, on average, than those who consume fish less frequently or not at all, according to new findings from the University of Pennsylvania published in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal.

Previous studies showed a relationship between omega-3s, the fatty acids in many types of fish, and improved intelligence, as well as omega-3s and better sleep. But they’ve never all been connected before. This work, conducted by the School of Nursing’s Jianghong Liu, Jennifer Pinto-Martin and Alexandra Hanlon and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Adrian Raine, reveals sleep as a possible mediating pathway, the potential missing link between fish and intelligence. Continue reading →

How avocados and nuts could boost intelligence – MNT

Here is some heartening news for folks worried about fats consumption.

You may want to think about adding avocados, olive oil, and nuts to your grocery list, since a new study has suggested that the monounsaturated fatty acids in these foods could boost intelligence.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in the blood correlated with greater general intelligence in older adults.

Study leader Aron K. Barbey, a professor of psychology at the university, and colleagues recently reported their results in the journal Neuroimage.

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Secrets to our smarts hidden in the folds of our cortex

I am keenly interested in the brain as I have a history of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia on both sides of my family. That is one of the reasons that I exercise religiously. To read more about the brain and exercise, check out my Page – Important facts about your brain (and exercise benefits).

Here is the latest from the National Institute of Mental Health. brain_illo_news

The more folding in the thinking parts of our brain, the smarter we are – to a degree. That’s the take-home of by far the largest study of its kind into the connection between such brain gyrification and human intelligence.
Continue reading →