Visual Motion Intelligence Test To Measure IQ

A science study by researchers at the University of Rochester have found a link between the brain's ability to filter out background movement and its intelligence. Test reveals that those who automatically suppress visual background movement scored higher in standard intelligence tests.

IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is a score that is determined by a series of tests. The score reveals the value of intelligence a person has. The average score set for a specified age group is 100 (tests differ from age group to age group). About 95% of people score an IQ between 70 and 100.

A study by James R. Flynn showed a consistent increase in IQ over time. Known as the Flynn effect, IQ scores increases three points every ten years. Observations reveal that the Flynn effect is consistent across regions.

IQ tests are updated periodically to standardize the test scores to an average of 100 points. The latest study on the relationship between visual movement and intelligence may help develop a natural, non-verbal and culturally unbiased way of determining one's IQ.

Researchers Study Visual Intelligence Through Facebook Users

What is visual intelligence?

Visual intelligence put simply is being "picture smart". It is the ability to recreate and manipulate and modify ones perception of the world in one's mind visually.

It is the spatial understanding of shapes, patterns, designs, and colors. Visual intelligence refers to the ability to reproduce the outer world environment internally in one's mind through images. Chess players, painters, architects, sculptors, theoretical physicists, war strategists, navigators, illusionists, graphic artists, designers, cartographers, and film makers are said to have enhanced visual intelligence.

A team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have developed a web application to test the visual intelligence of Facebook users through the social network. The new platform will enable researchers to test different cognitive skills and to obtain large amounts of data that determine what parameters affect the brain's visual capacity.

Any Facebook user can download this application (available in both Spanish and English languages), which consists of different tests for measuring visual intelligence and calculation ability.

Gonzalo García de Polavieja, CSIC researcher and head of the enquiry who works for Cajal Institute states: "It is the first time that we use a social network for a cognitive research. This will enable us to obtain large amounts of information on the cognitive capacity of Internet users worldwide. Once we collect that information, we will analyze it in order to obtain innovative models and results on visual ability".

Group Settings Can Diminish Expressions of Intelligence, Especially Among Women

Two Heads Are Better Than One. Three or More? Not Really

In the classic film "12 Angry Men," Henry Fonda's character sways a jury with his quiet, persistent intelligence. But would he have succeeded if he had allowed himself to fall sway to the social dynamics of that jury?

Research led by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, collective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some susceptible people. "You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well," said Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, who led the study.

The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how the brain processes information about social status in small groups and how perceptions of that status affect expressions of cognitive capacity.

"We started with individuals who were matched for their IQ," said Montague. "Yet when we placed them in small groups, ranked their performance on cognitive tasks against their peers, and broadcast those rankings to them, we saw dramatic drops in the ability of some study subjects to solve problems. The social feedback had a significant effect."

"Our study highlights the unexpected and dramatic consequences even subtle social signals in group settings may have on individual cognitive functioning," said lead author Kenneth Kishida, a research scientist with the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. "And, through neuroimaging, we were able to document the very strong neural responses that those social cues can elicit."