1
Q
How the structure of the physical environment we grow up in influences our spatial navigation abilities
A
- Higher entropy = More complicated city network structure
- The street network or entropy wasn’t very consequential to the spatial abilities; What mattered was the entropy of where they grew up
- People who grew up outside of the city performed better on this task of spatial navigation
- People were better at navigating environments that were topographically similar to where they grew up
- Growing up in low entropy cities = Better results at a video game with a regular layout
- Growing up outside cities or with higher entropy = Better results at more entropic video game levels
- highlights the effect of environment on human cognition on a global scale and the importance of urban design in human cognition and brain function
2
Q
Birth Order and IQ
A
- Your birth order relative to your siblings relate to your IQ
- Firstborn children tend to have cognitive advantage relative to their later-born peers
- Can be due to a gradually more relaxed parenting style
3
Q
Hypothesis for the First-born Advantage
A
Hypothesis: As parents move from parenting one child to multiple, there are systematic shifts in parental behaviour and the home environment
4
Q
The Early Origins of birth Order Differences in Children’s outcomes and Parental Behaviour
A
- Later-born children are not born disadvantages in their health or developmentally
- But parents are unable to provide later-siblings with the same level of cognitive support as their first-born
- Also, systematic differences in maternal behaviour during pregnancy and in the first year of life
- As early as 1yo, later-borns score lower on cogn tests than their siblings
- This gap increases until school entry and remain statistically significant thereafter
- Can be explained largely by variations in parental behaviour; terus pas masuk sekolah jadi stabil
- Only evident on cognition
5
Q
Breastfeeding and Cognitive Development
A
- Multiple studies demonstrating this link
- Children who were breastfed for less than 3 months had an increased risk or lower test scores and IQ, compared to children breastfed for at least 6 months
6
Q
Long-term Consequences of Breastfeeding on Cognitive Development
A
- Looked at long-term consequences on IQ, years of schooling and income of 30yo Brazilians
- Results showed that those breastfed for >12mo have 3.76 IQ points advantage, 0.91 more years of education and higher monthly incomes, than those who breastfed for <1mo
7
Q
Breastfeeding and Health Effects
A
- There is evidence that breast milk may provide optimum nourishment in those early years, which then supports brain development
- Facilitator of optimal brain development and thus attainment of full cognitive potential
- Breast milk as personalised medicine for infants
- It appears to upregulate child’s immune response and provide positive constituents that would help them heal
8
Q
Low Birth Weight and IQ
A
- Found that those with lower birth weight still showed a normal distribution of IQ BUT the peak had shifted downwards (average is lower than the expected 100)
- Low birth weight isn’t optimal for optimal development and thus cognitive development
9
Q
General Anaesthesia in Early Childhood and IQ
A
- One found no detectable development outcomes
- One found that exposure to anaesthesia before 4yo was associated with 0.97% lower IQ score (very small effect)
10
Q
Chemotherapy in Early Childhood and IQ
A
- Found evidences for effects from chemotherapy in early childhood on IQ
11
Q
Growing up near a Toxic Waste Site and IQ
A
- Strikingly bad for IQ
- Also for other toxins that may be found in one’s environment (ex. lead exposure)
12
Q
Explain the Flynn Effect
A
- James Flynn
- If you looked across IQ scores across generations, you see very substantial gains from 20th century onto successive generations
- Suggests that maybe IQ tests do not reflect how smart we are but instead how modern we are
- IQ gains are higher in fluid intelligence
- Flynn effect occurs in both developing and non-developing countries, but earlier in developing countries
13
Q
Potential Causes of Flynn Effect: Norwegian Study and US Study
A
- A significant decline in the Flynn effect was seen
- Reversal confirmed in subsequent studies of developing countries
- Evident in the US, Norway, Britain, German-speaking countries, etc.
14
Q
Interpreting the Flynn Effect
A
- Not easily explained by changes in knowledge transmission or teaching, as greatest in fluid intelligence
- Could be to do w societal changes in practices of abstract reasoning
- Material explanations supported by close associations with height, nutrition, etc.
- Improvements in education and nutrition and reduced pathogen stress (again supported by close associations with height, nutrition, etc.)
15
Q
Potential Causes of Flynn Effect: Kenyan Study
A
- Looked at what else had changes in the society in these years
- Found a significant decrease in family size; increase in individual’s energy intake and daily protein intake
16
Q
Potential Causes of Flynn Effect: Nutrition in the Norwegian Study
A
- Found a relationship between changes in height and changes in cognitive ability
17
Q
Environmental Cause of Flynn Effect and its Reversal
A
- Argues that if the anti-Flynn effect is caused by dysgenic trends or compositional change from immigration then the underlying causal factors will NOT be operating within families
- Found that within-family variation fully recovered both the timing and the magnitude of the increase and decline in the Flynn effect
- Hence, this disproves the dysgenic fertility and compositional change from immigration hypotheses
- JADI the causal factors of the Flynn Effect must environmental
18
Q
Alternative Interpretation of the Flynn Effect
A
- Underlying dysgenic trend (e.g. more intelligent people having fewer children)
- Compositional change from immigration
- Hence the anti-Flynn effect being attributed mainly to genetics and immigration
19
Q
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