American researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered that individuals’ visual abilities vary more than previously thought, and there is no link to a higher intelligence rate.
In other words, visual intelligence has nothing to do with being intelligent or having a large IQ, according to the study published in the Cognition journal. Researchers have found that intelligence does not guarantee a person’s ability to learn new skills such as radiographs or radar monitoring of an airplane.
Instead, visual abilities can be measured as a separate skill and not associated with the general intellect.
“Many people think they are smart if they are able to visually identify objects,” said Isabel Gauthier, author of this study.
Previous studies have shown that there are links between visual and intelligence skills, but recently researchers wanted to see how these skills vary according to individuals.”It’s amazing because performance in cognitive abilities is always associated with general intelligence. It suggests that we can learn something new about people using these tests, beyond the skills we already know to measure.”, the researcher added.
Using computer-generated figures, Gauthier conducted a series of tests with more than 2,000 people. By displaying six target figures in sets of three, each set contained a target figure and two unknowns. Participants were asked to choose the known figures. Tests have confirmed that differences in visual skills are higher than previously thought.
“Many hobbies and jobs depend on social skills. Since they are independent of general intelligence, the next step is to explore how we can use these tests in real-world applications where performance could not be predicted. “, the researcher concluded.
