Achievement

IGERT principal investigator, Steven Quartz, reported that social context can profoundly alter the expression of IQ. Using subjects whose IQ was similar using individual IQ tests, Quartz and colleagues developed a five-person social IQ task, in which subjects' relative performance was reported periodically to the group. Despite initial similar performance, this social signal had a profound effect on the brain and performance, inducing an anxiety-related signal. While some subjects were able to quell this response, others were not. This resulted in a 20-point drop in IQ among those with social sensitivity to this rank-related signal. These results suggest that implicit status cues, which permeate classrooms and workplaces, may play an important role in the expression of IQ. This work was published in, Implicit signals in small group settings and their impact on the expression of cognitive capacity and associated brain responses, Philos Trans. Royal Society London, B, 2012.