Michael Mosley
What are you like and how does your brain strength compare to the rest of the UK?Does your phone make you stupid?
Find out the answers by taking the Great British Intelligence Test.
When it comes to measuring intelligence, there are many things that come into play, from problem-solving and spatial ability to emotional awareness and working memory. But no matter how you break it down, one thing is clear: intelligence matters.
People who do well on intelligence tests tend, on average, to live longer, age better, and are more likely to succeed in school and career. But don’t panic: a growing body of research suggests that intelligence isn’t fixed. That’s why it’s very important to understand how intelligence works, what points influence it, and how.
And we want YOU to join us through the Great British Intelligence Test.
Their individual effects will also contribute to important clinical research, helping scientists in the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London understand how our behaviour and lifestyle modify our intelligence.
Dr Hannah Fry and I will provide the general effects of our control in a special episode of Horizon that will be broadcast on BBC2. The more people do the checking, the more we can be informed about the state of the nation’s intelligence and how it is shaped through the world we live in and the possible choices we make.
In this program, we will also ask why we observe such effects and delve into the most recent clinical advances in intelligence and the brain. But what we investigate is up to you and your answers.
BBC Horizon and Dr Adam Hampshire of Imperial College London need to use the effects of the Great British Intelligence Test to explore how our conversion behaviour and way of life might work in our brains. Click on the link below to access Imperial’s Great British Intelligence Test website. The controls provide each player with feedback on how they compare to others who have performed the control and their cognitive strengths.
I am fascinated to see the results of this study, especially since it will add to many new clinical studies being conducted in the human brain.
When I was in medical school, we were taught that we were born with all the brain cells we would ever have and that after middle age, the situation deteriorated from that point on. But now we know that this is not true. Today, technologies like MRI and MEG allow us to look inside the living brain and practice how it works in a way that wasn’t imaginable a decade ago. These studies shed light on what scientists call “neuroplasticity”: the concept that our brains continue to change, and that we keep expanding new brain cells and making new brain connections everywhere in our lives.
What’s more, we now know much more about the extent to which those adjustments are influenced by the global environment around us, and even by the possible choices we make in our daily lives. This presents us with the tantalizing option that we have more control over our brains and cognitive abilities than we did when we were young.
Among other things, I hope that the Great British Intelligence Test will show us what we can do, not only to maximise but also to protect our brain power. Like many middle-aged people, I worry that I will find it harder to do so. I don’t forget names and main points as I get older, and it baffles me to know that I rely on my smartphone to keep me from forgetting phone numbers and appointments. I need to understand why my memory deteriorates with age and what I can do. Do it.
I also want to find out how our ever-changing world affects our cognitive function. Over the past few decades, the internet, smartphones, and social media have completely reshaped the way we absorb data and interact with each other. British Intelligence Test, we will be able to read about how this technological explosion can affect our brains and what it may mean for our intelligence, now and in the future.
I am very happy to participate in the advancement of clinical research. You can do this by taking the Great British Intelligence Test – click here to check it out and get quick feedback on your own intellectual strengths and advice on how to improve.
Keep an eye out for Horizon’s Great British Intelligence Test on BBC Two in 2020.