Scientific study shows that head size influences intelligence

A study recently published in the journal nature, one of the most prestigious and traditional scientific publications in the world, suggests that the bigger a baby’s head, the more likely it is to succeed in life. This happens, according to the researchers, due to the relationship found between the intellectual coefficient (the famous IQ), genetics and physical health.

Today the awesome.club brings the most important results of this very controversial study.

Researchers at Biobank, UK, found that there is a relationship between IQ and skull size. Data were collected from 502,655 people aged between 37 and 73 years. The research included physical tests and blood, urine and saliva tests.

At the same time, economic and clinical, family, lifestyle, education and social background assessments were carried out. All this to generate physical and mental evidence. The results showed that people who were born with a greater than average neonatal circumference (from 34 to 36 cm) had higher probability of obtaining a university degree and better results in tests with numbers and language.

The study assures that there is a relationship between brain size, cognitive ability and good results in studies, traits that are easily associated with intelligence. This is very important scientifically and socially because it represents individual differences in brain processes that work together to solve problems. Therefore, the researchers came to the conclusion that genetic associations play a very important role.

It has been shown that there are strong correlations between the results of verbal-numerical skills assessments and educational attainment—those who did well in the former tended to have good levels in the latter. That is, verbal-numerical reasoning showed a greater correlation with good results in the studies. The aforementioned correlation is due, in part, to the so-called superposition of genetic architecture of each person.

While the study brings surprising results, if your child doesn’t have the traits we’ve just shown you (which are associated with intelligence), there’s no reason to panic. The WHO (World Health Organization), in its table of children’s head circumference according to age, considers that there are significant variations in babies according to ethnicity. In addition, another study states that there are other traits, such as family heritage and stimulation during pregnancy and the newborn, that influence brain and intelligence development.

And, although the educational table shows a large interaction of genes (20 of the 24 variables) related to good physical and mental health, there is a study carried out by psychologist Howard Gardner (Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences) that defends the existence of more than one type of intelligence. Altogether there are eight standards, which we can all fit into: intelligence linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual and spatial, musical, bodily kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal (social intelligence) and intrapersonal. And, of course, in each person these patterns manifest in different ways.

The study adds to what we already know about genetics and health, which is why it’s so important. However, it is necessary to know that the tests were carried out within a specific sector of the population, with particular ethnographic characteristics and traits.

What did you think of the results? For you, what is the aspect that most determines a person’s intelligence? Share your opinion in the comments.