Fact Or Bluff Analysis

"Fact or Bluff: Does your brain size determine your mental ability?"

Ever since Frederick Tiedmann, a German anatomist and physiologist, stated in 1836 that there is an undeniable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by an individual, scientists have been searching for evidences to prove his claim. Many researchers examined the relationship of brain size and intelligence. Plenty of them debated on the different links between the amount of gray matter and the cognitive skills of a human being. Previous studies says that people with bigger brains are more intelligent than those who have a smaller or an average-sized brain. However, new researches disagrees with this. They believe that intelligence levels

The weight of an average-sized human brain is studies, the relationship of the size of the brain and intelligence has never been specifically well-defined. This applies to both human beings and other species. Humans assumes that we are the kings of the animal kingdom because of the cognitive abilities that we possess or because we have the about 3 pounds while the weight of an average-sized brain of a blue whale is 15 pounds. But even though their brain is heavier and larger, humans still appear to have more cognitive skills and intelligence which led scientists to compare brain-to-body ratio rather than comparing the weight of the brains. In this case, blue whales have a relatively small brain because it takes only about 0.007% of their body weight while human brains take up about 2% of an average body weight. However, this measurement is found out to be lacking and inaccurate since mice have a similar brain-to-body ratio with humans. Because of this, scientists created another way of getting the measurements of the brain size and it is called "Encephalization Quotient". It is the measure of relative brain size defined as the ratio between actual brain mass and predicted brain mass of a given animal size. In this measurement, humans have the highest EQ which is 7.5 dominating the elephants which is 2.36 and chimps which is

Human intelligence is the result of how multiple areas of the brain work together. Richard Haier, an American psychologist, stated "Genetic research has demonstrated that intelligence levels can be inherited, and since genes work through biology, there must be a biological basis for intelligence.” The review of the study suggests that intelligence is not related so much to the size of the brain, but to how efficiently information travels through the brain.

Richard Haier and Rex Jung, a neuropsychologist, created a theory called "Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory" or simply "P-FIT". This theory suggests that intelligence levels are based on how efficient frontal and parietal lobes communicate with one another since in their review, most of the brain areas that are supposed to play a role in intelligence are clustered in the frontal and parietal lobe.

To elaborate more on the biological basis for intelligence, a more advanced and recent discovery has surfaced. Michael Johnson, a consultant neurologist, believes that they may have discovered two networks of genes that are responsible for human's cognitive abilities. "Intelligence is a composite measure of different cognitive abilities and how they are distributed in a population. It doesn't measure any one thing. But it is measurable," Johnson said. Although the factors affecting intelligence have not yet fully discovered, scientists are sure that 40% of them