Older and Wiser

From the moment of birth the average human being loses brain cells. They die at a rate that can accelerate to as many as 100,000 per day by age 60, and unlike other cells they are not replaced. That dismaying loss would seem to ensure a substantial decline in mental capacity by middle age. But Psychologist Jon Kangas, director of the University of Santa Clara Counseling Center, believes that despite the diminishing number of brain cells, IQ may actually increase with age. In a recent study, Kangas found that the IQs of 48 men and women in the San Francisco Bay area went up about 20 points between childhood and early middle age.

First tested as preschoolers, members of the group had a mean* IQ of 110.7. This rose to 113.3 ten years later and to 124.1 after another 15 years. By the time the subjects were in the 39-to-44 age group, their mean IQ was 130.1.

Kangas found an unexpected variation between IQ changes in men and women: among men, those with the highest IQs as children showed the greatest increase in IQ scores as adults. But among women, those who were brightest as youngsters made the smallest gains in adulthood. Most of the female subjects were housewives or held undemanding jobs, while all of the males had stimulating careers. For this reason, Kangas attributes the male-female IQ differences to his subjects' jobs--or lack of them. Though he admits that he cannot prove it, he theorizes that performing menial tasks may not only bore some women, but may even hold them back intellectually.

*Half scored higher, the other half lower

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