Heterogeneity of the pooled effects in all six domains was high (P<0.01 I 2 = 66–99%). There were no differences by infection/treatment status for reaction time, school attendance and scholastic achievement (SMD: -0.26 to -0.16, P = 0.06–0.19). STH infected/non-dewormed children had small to moderate deficits in three domains-learning, memory and intelligence (SMD: -0.44 to -0.27, P<0.01–0.03) compared to STH-uninfected/dewormed children. But anyone can get stronger or faster by working out.We included 36 studies of 12,920 children. He says thinking is like running or weightlifting. Haier says the good news is that we're not necessarily stuck with the brain, or the brain speed, we inherit. 'And what the Thompson study is showing is that a large part of the genetic aspect of intelligence has to do with the white matter tracks that connect different parts of the brain.' 'We know that intelligence has some genetic component,' he says. Richard Haier, Ph.D., emeritus professor at the University of California, Irvine, says this may explain something scientists have been wondering about for a long time. And it turned out many of these genes were also associated with intelligence. Others were non-identical twins, who share only certain genes.īy comparing the groups, the researchers were able to tease out genes associated with the structural integrity of white matter. Some were identical twins, who share all the same genes. The team was able to figure this out because the 92 people in their study were all twins. Thompson's study also found that genetic factors played a big role in brain speed. 'The impulses are going faster and they are just more efficient at processing information, and then making a decision based on it.'

'When you say someone is quick-thinking, it's genuinely true,' Thompson says. Thompson says DTI scans of the 92 participants in the study revealed a clear link between brain speed and intelligence. 'My daughter, who's 5, says they look like little flowers at each point in the brain.' They're also 'the most beautiful images of the brain you could imagine,' Thompson says. 'These images really give you a picture of the mental speed of the brain,' says Paul Thompson, Ph.D., a professor of neurology at UCLA School of Medicine. The greater the structural integrity, the faster nerve impulses travel. Then the researchers studied their brains using a technique called diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI.ĭTI is a variant of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can measure the structural integrity of the brain's white matter, which is made up of cells that carry nerve impulses from one part of the brain to another. All the participants took standard IQ tests. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, looked at the brains and intelligence of 92 people. And this ability to think quickly apparently is inherited. The smarter the person, the faster information zips around the brain, a UCLA study finds. Thompson says not only are these brain scans beautiful but 'these images really give you a picture of the mental speed of the brain.'ĭavid Shattuck/Arthur Toga/Paul Thompson/UCLA This DTI brain scan shows more of the brain's wiring.

Cognitive speediness definition