Good Rhythm And Intelligence Go Hand In Hand
April 17, 2008
People who score high on intelligence tests are also good at keeping time, new
Swedish research shows. The team that carried out the study also suspect that
accuracy in timing is important to the brain processes responsible for problem
solving and reasoning.
Researchers at the medical university Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University
have now demonstrated a correlation between general intelligence and the ability
to tap out a simple regular rhythm. They stress that the task subjects performed
had nothing to do with any musical rhythmic sense but simply measured the
capacity for rhythmic accuracy. Those who scored highest on intelligence tests
also had least variation in the regular rhythm they tapped out in the
experiment.
"It's interesting as the task didn't involve any kind of problem
solving," says Fredrik Ullén, Karolinska Institutet, who led the study
with Guy Madison at Umeå University. "Irregularity of timing probably
arises at a more fundamental biological level owing to a kind of noise in brain
activity."
According to Fredrik Ullén, the results suggest that the rhythmic accuracy in
brain activity observable when the person just maintains a steady beat is also
important to the problem-solving capacity that is measured with intelligence
tests.
"We know that accuracy at millisecond level in neuronal activity is
critical to information processing and learning processes," he says.
They also demonstrated a correlation between high intelligence, a good ability
to keep time, and a high volume of white matter in the parts of the brain's
frontal lobes involved in problem solving, planning and managing time.
"All in all, this suggests that a factor of what we call intelligence has a
biological basis in the number of nerve fibres in the prefrontal lobe and the
stability of neuronal activity that this provides," says Fredrik Ullén.
Publication:
'Intelligence and variability in a simple timing task share neural substrates
in the prefrontal white matter'
Fredrik Ullén, Lea Forsman, Orjan Blom, Anke Karabanov and Guy Madison
The Journal of Neuroscience, 16 April 2008.
Karolinska Institutet is one of the leading medical universities in
Europe. Through research, education and information, Karolinska Institutet
contributes to improving human health. Each year, the Nobel Assembly at
Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Karolinska Institutet
Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Back to News