Cognitive aspects at age 7 months may help predict ability at age 30: Study

Cognitive aspects at age seven months such as being able to stay on task or if an infant prefers new toys could predict cognitive ability at age 30 a new study has foundGeneral cognitive ability known widely as intelligence or IQ is a composite score that measures ones capacity to learn reason understand and solve problemsIQ is considered to remain constant between ages 11 and 90Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US however said that little is known about the stability of intelligence under age three and how it is related to cognitive ability as an adultThe study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS looked at over 1000 twins measuring general cognitive ability at ages under two three seven 16 and 29The team found that two cognitive aspects a preference for new things and a focus on current tasks could predict about 13 per cent of how much ones intelligence score at seven months could deviate by the time they turn 30The authors wrote Two infant cognition measures object novelty and testerrated task orientation predicted GCA general cognitive ability in adulthoodWe certainly do not want to imply that cognition is somehow fixed by seven months old But the idea that a very simple test in infancy can help predict the results of a very complicated cognitive test taken 30 years later is exciting lead author Daniel Gustavson assistant research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder saidLooking at twins also helped the researchers contribute to the nature vs nurture debate in psychology which is concerned about how much of an individuals characteristics are due to genetics nature and how much is due to environment nurtureAn interaction between ones genes and their environment is said to make up a diverse range of traits in a personThis study compared scores of general cognitive ability between identical twins they carry almost entirely identical genes and fraternal twins who only share half the genesA trait being more similar between identical twins compared to fraternal twins is known to suggest that genes play a stronger role in the development of that traitThe researchers found that genetic influences measured by age seven accounted for about half of the changes in scores at age 30 this meant that genes played a big role in influencing general cognitive ability they saidBut the environment also had a significant and lasting impact they added as 10 per cent of the variability in adult cognitive ability was explained by environmental influences before year one or two Gustavson saidThe older the children got the more influence genes had and the less environment had the team saidThis suggests that even the prepreschool environment matters Gustavson saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever