Fatheaded? You’re Probably a Gifted Kid

The brains of very intelligent children may develop in a distinctive way from less intelligent children, a study says

The brains of very intelligent children may develop in a distinctive way from less intelligent children, a study says. The study attempts to measure whether differenc­es in brain development are linked to intelli­gence. Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, US, did brain scans on 309 healthy children aged be­tween six and 19. Scans showed children with the highest IQs began with a relatively thin cortex—the folded outer layer of the brain involved in complex thinking—which rapidly grew thicker before reaching a peak, and then quickly became thinner. Children of average intelligence had a thicker cortex around age six, but by 13, it was thinner than in children of supe­rior intelligence. The cortex has long been known to get thinner in late adolescence, presumably be­cause the brain prunes cells, neurons and connec­tions not being used. The new study found the cor­tex continued to thicken in gifted children until around age 11 or 12, much later than in children of average intelligence, whose cortex thickening peaked by age eight. Simply, the most agile minds have the most agile cortex.

The study doesn’t suggest interventions to boost intelligence. But the fact that the region of the brain being studied is malleable suggests experi­ence and environmental cues may play a crucial role in shaping intelligence.