大象传媒

By Michael Mosely

You want to know how smart you are? The Great British Intelligence Test has measured the brainpower of the nation in one of the largest intelligence experiments of its kind ever undertaken.

With data collected from over a quarter of a million people the Test has also led to some unexpected findings – would you have guessed that those with the strongest verbal skills come from Midlothian; that Londoners are best at reading emotions and that those in Oxford (who you might imagine would be particularly smart) score badly when it comes to “working memory”. Maybe they just don’t play enough computer games. One of our more surprising findings was that gaming really can improve this key component of intelligence.

You can find out more in The Great British Intelligence Test, on 大象传媒 Two, Monday 4th May at 9pm and play along, doing the yourself to find out how just how your own brain measures up to the rest of the nation.

Here’s just a sample of some of our findings:

We tested different aspects of intelligence in people right across the whole of the UK. When it came to problem solving abilities, the people of Bristol came on top. We also found that that it was those who said they liked to tuck into fruit and veg who did best on this test.

But the biggest thing that affected problem solving ability was age.

Sadly, getting older may bring wisdom, but it does not make you sharper. It was those in their early 20s who did best at this aspect of the test, and scores fell off dramatically in older participants.

It turned out that the average 40 year old has similar problem solving abilities to the average 12 year old! And things went downhill from there. We found that working memory, spatial intelligence and attention all peaked in the 20s and fell off after that.

This may be because the processing speed of your brain is related to how well the connections between your brain cells are insulated. As we age, the myelin sheath that surrounds the brain’s wiring gets thinner and communication between the neurones slows. It seems that as we age our brains quite literally slow down.

Those with the best spatial abilities were in Cambridge, with Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and North Yorkshire also scoring well. Oxford was towards the bottom of the league table.

Our scientists were particularly interested in the impact that our increasing use of technology is having on memory, spatial abilities and other areas of cognition. We asked people to tell us what devices they use, what they do on them, and how often they do it. We looked at things like internet searching, social media use, online gambling and online shopping.

To our surprise there was no clear link between brainpower and the amount of time spent or type of technology used. Except in one area… The more time people spent playing computer games, the better they scored on tests of spatial working memory (your ability to remember where things are, like car keys!), attention and verbal reasoning.

It was notable that people who played computer games scored higher in these tests than those who did brain training – suggesting gaming may be a more valuable pastime for those keen to enhance their cognitive skills!

There was one other strong and disturbing link, and that was between those who used the internet excessively and obsessively (for example repeatedly checking smart phones in bed) and those who felt anxious and stressed. This was particularly true for younger age groups.

It is some of the clearest evidence yet that overuse of technology can have a negative impact on mental health.

One of our tests looked at people’s ability to correctly read the emotions in a range of faces. We found that those who did best in this test of emotional intelligence live in London. You were also more likely to score highly if you had brothers and sisters. And if you owned a cat or a dog!

Although there is no overall difference in intelligence between different genders, when it came to our emotional intelligence, women came out on top scoring higher than men, or those that identify as other.

On the other hand, when it came to tests of spatial ability and problem solving, men scored better than women and those who identify as other.

The differences, it has to be said were small. There is a lot of debate about whether these slight differences are primarily the result of nature or nurture. One recent bit of research, which looked at lots of different studies, found that differences in spatial ability tend to appear at school age, suggesting that these differences are largely the result of social pressure and its impact on things such as toy selection.

Other studies have found that whether you like to play computer games, or not, is a better predictor of good spatial skills than gender, and that differences in spatial abilities can be reversed by three months playing computer games.

The people who scored best for verbal intelligence came from Midlothian. Those who did a lot of reading, spent time internet searching, and those who ate more fruit and vegetables also scored well. This was one of the cognitive skills that was most affected by lifestyle.

And most interestingly was how verbal abilities varied by age. Whereas all other cognitive skills declined with age, verbal ability increased dramatically - peaking in our 70s and 80s!

This peak extending into the 70s and 80s is an interesting new finding, Previous studies have found this peaking in 50s and 60s and then declining.

The Great British Intelligence Test was devised with Dr Adam Hampshire from the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College, London.

With over 250 000 people around the nation having taken part so far, it's one of the biggest test of its kind, revealing important new science about the nation’s changing intelligence. This is not an IQ test, in that the scientists are measuring performance on different aspects of intelligence that relate to specific brain systems.

On the Great British Intelligence Test, 90% of Britons are above average on at least one aspect of intelligence, giving a better picture of our individual strengths and weaknesses. The scientists at Imperial then compared these scores with data on lifestyle, technology use, socio-demographic info and wellbeing.

The Great British Intelligence Test with Dr Hannah Fry and Michael Mosley, is on 大象传媒 Two on Monday 4th May at 9pm, putting the public to the test, pitting young versus old, males and females, and tech lovers and readers against each other in a battle of wits.

The audience can also play along online .