DailyDirt: Measuring Human Intelligence

The measurement of human intelligence is far from a settled science. IQ tests are very misleading, and unfortunately, some people assign far too much importance to IQ scores. There's plenty of room for improvement, but brain scans or a battery of cognitive skill tests probably shouldn't be used for employment or educational opportunities -- no matter how advanced we might think the tests might be. Still, there will probably be plenty of other misguided ideas for any data we have on people's intelligence.

• Human intelligence may be difficult to measure quantitatively, but fMRI brain scans might be able to capture "brain fingerprints" that could serve to estimate various cognitive abilities. Obviously, there would be ethical issues surrounding a brain scan for predicting any individual's talents or lack thereof -- but imagine instead of taking an SAT exam, just sitting for an fMRI scan. That wouldn't be as stressful as making sure you had no.2 pencils at all, would it? [url]
• The whole idea that there's a single test for general intelligence is flawed. The IQ myth persists because it's a simple-sounding way to gauge intelligence, but IQ scores are very rough estimates of a particular kind of cognitive ability. [url]
• How much of a brain does a person really need to function normally? Doctors have discovered a few people with hydrocephalus or other conditions where patients have lost brain matter volume who were still able to lead regular lives. [url]

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