MANCHESTER, England, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- British scientists plan to test the DNA of people with an IQ of more than 145 to find a genetic link between intelligence and dementia.
A team from the University of Manchester's Center for Integrated Genomic Medical Research wants to test members of high-IQ society Mensa to compare with data collected from an earlier university study of 2,500 elderly people, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Existing research already has uncovered two genes associated with general cognitive ability, while work elsewhere over the past eight years has identified 10 other "intelligence genes."
The aim of the project is to recruit at least 1,000 Mensa members and investigate if there is a difference between their genetic polymorphisms and those found in average IQ individuals, using the Dyne Steele DNA bank.
