While many people are considered late bloomers, most people believe that if kids are smart at their young age, they will also be smart later on in life. As such, a new study reveals that toddler brain activity could predict how intelligent they will be when they reach 18 years old.
Bucharest Early Intervention Project
According to Science Alert, a new study shows that being able to understand how a child's brain functions could give a prediction of their future active intelligence. This study found that the upbringing of a child could affect their brain power later on.
A collaboration of United States and German researchers have decided to get an update for a previous study done in Romania. For the first time, the conclusion was that a child's upbringing could potentially influence their future brain power.
The study started in the early 200s and was called the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) which aimed to track cognitive development of Romanian children that were abandoned. The update involved looking at their performance when the children reached 18 years old.
The study examined two groups: children that were fostered and institutionalized and those that had home care when growing up. Upon reaching 18, the researchers discovered relatively lower IQs for the children who had experienced institutionalization.
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Brain Wave and IQ
The latest research showed a connection between IQ scores and brain wave patterns. Science Direct reports that the findings show how early life changes, when it comes to brain activity coming from experience, have an impact on the individual's long-term cognitive development.
Because of this, researchers find that it's important to intervene early in order for children to experience healthy development. The researchers highlighted how this was much needed for children who were living in environments considered disadvantageous.
Currently, scientists believe that a person's brain remains relatively stable when they are at rest even as they enter adulthood. These are different ages experiencing different fluctuations in terms of active brain power.
However, it remains poorly understood as to how stable and resting a brain activity develops when someone is young. For toddlers until kids age 10, resting brain activity is often considered to have either fewer low-frequency or greater high-frequency.
Understanding Brain Waves
The National Library of Medicine reports that if a child lacks emotional support or cognitive stimulation, this could result in impacted neural pruning or experiencing an affected neurocognitive development.
The Bucharest study showed that 202 18-year-olds saw their IQ assessments showing lower scores for those that as toddlers, also displayed slow wave activity. The authors highlight how there was a significant correlation since they were able to observe the data points from significant periods.
Science Alert notes that there still needs to be additional studies among larger cohorts in order for the correlation to be confirmed.
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