IQ Rises and falls During Teenage years

During our lifetime most scientists believe that our IQ is stable and only gradually increases throughout our life but a study by Cathy Price proves otherwise. In 2004 in the University College of London a group of researchers lead by Cathy Price tested the IQ rate of 33 healthy teenagers between the ages of twelve and sixteen years of age using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imagery). Four years later, in 2008 the group of researchers repeated the test on the subjects who were now between the ages of sixteen and twenty. They found that as some of the IQ rates increased by over twenty, some decreased by as much as twenty as well.

To double check and verify whether these tests were correct, the group of scientists also conducted MRI scans on the subjects to test whether the subjects brains had changed in any way. The scientists tested each of the teenagers in verbal categories such as maths, language, general knowledge and memory. After that they would test each of the teenagers in non-verbal categories  like puzzles with shapes. The researchers explained that if you don't practice as much in say, maths your IQ will decrease in that area, similar to physical fitness.


I don't exactly understand this and it doesn't exactly make sense in my head but I think that this may really affect teenagers lives because they might get a really high grade one year and not such a good grade the next. I think this post proves that we still really don't know that much about the human mind even though we can do limited brain surgery. I am not really sure how to react to this information because in some cases it might be good and my IQ will go up but it may also be that and my IQ rate will go down. Who knows!


MLA Citation: Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. Web. 29 Oct. 2011.