Global InformationHeight and intelligence information
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The study of height and intelligence examines correlations between human height and human intelligence. Some epidemiological research on the subject has shown that there is a small but statistically significant positive correlation between height and intelligence after controlling for socioeconomic class and parental education.[1] The cited study, however, does not draw any conclusions about height and intelligence, but rather suggests "a continuing effect of post-natal growth on childhood cognition beyond the age of 9 years." This correlation arises in both the developed and developing world and persists across age groups. An individual's taller stature has been attributed to higher economic status, which often translates to a higher quality of nutrition. This correlation, however, can be inverted to characterize one's socioeconomic status as a consequence of stature, where shorter stature can attract discrimination that affects many factors, among them employment, and treatment by educators.[2] One such theory argues that since height strongly correlates with white and gray matter volume, it may act as a biomarker for cerebral development which itself mediates intelligence.[3] Competing explanations include that certain genetic factors may influence both height and intelligence,[4][5] or that both height and intelligence may be affected in similar ways by adverse environmental exposures during development. Measurements of the total surface area and mean thickness of the cortical grey matter using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the height of individuals had a positive correlation with the total cortical surface area. This supports the idea that genes that influence height also influence total surface area of the brain, which in turn influences intelligence, resulting in the correlation.[6] Other explanations further qualify the positive correlation between height and intelligence, suggesting that because the correlation becomes weaker with higher socioeconomic class and education level, environmental factors could partially override any genetic factors affecting both characteristics.[7]
- ^ Pearce MS, Deary IJ, Young AH, Parker L (June 2005). "Growth in early life and childhood IQ at age 11 years: the Newcastle Thousand Families Study". International Journal of Epidemiology. 34 (3): 673–7. doi:10.1093/ije/dyi038. PMID 15746206.
- ^ Tyrrell J, Jones SE, Beaumont R, Astley CM, Lovell R, Yaghootkar H, et al. (March 2016). "Height, body mass index, and socioeconomic status: mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank". BMJ. 352: i582. doi:10.1136/bmj.i582. PMC 4783516. PMID 26956984.
- ^ Taki Y, Hashizume H, Sassa Y, Takeuchi H, Asano M, Asano K, Kotozaki Y, Nouchi R, Wu K, Fukuda H, Kawashima R (January 2012). "Correlation among body height, intelligence, and brain gray matter volume in healthy children". NeuroImage. 59 (2): 1023–7. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.092. PMID 21930215. S2CID 25227802.
- ^ Silventoinen K, Posthuma D, van Beijsterveldt T, Bartels M, Boomsma DI (November 2006). "Genetic contributions to the association between height and intelligence: Evidence from Dutch twin data from childhood to middle age" (PDF). Genes, Brain and Behavior. 5 (8): 585–95. doi:10.1111/j.1601-183X.2006.00208.x. PMID 17081263. S2CID 11248397.
- ^ Sniekers S, Stringer S, Watanabe K, Jansen PR, Coleman JR, Krapohl E, Taskesen E, Hammerschlag AR, Okbay A, Zabaneh D, Amin N, Breen G, Cesarini D, Chabris CF, Iacono WG, Ikram MA, Johannesson M, Koellinger P, Lee JJ, Magnusson PK, McGue M, Miller MB, Ollier WE, Payton A, Pendleton N, Plomin R, Rietveld CA, Tiemeier H, van Duijn CM, Posthuma D (July 2017). "Genome-wide association meta-analysis of 78,308 individuals identifies new loci and genes influencing human intelligence". Nature Genetics. 49 (7): 1107–1112. doi:10.1038/ng.3869. PMC 5665562. PMID 28530673.
- ^ Vuoksimaa E, Panizzon MS, Franz CE, Fennema-Notestine C, Hagler DJ, Lyons MJ, et al. (September 2018). "Brain structure mediates the association between height and cognitive ability". Brain Structure & Function. 223 (7): 3487–3494. doi:10.1007/s00429-018-1675-4. PMC 6425087. PMID 29748873.
- ^ Teasdale TW, Sørensen TI, Owen DR (May 1989). "Fall in association of height with intelligence and educational level". BMJ. 298 (6683): 1292–3. doi:10.1136/bmj.298.6683.1292. PMC 1836522. PMID 2500201.