IQ may not remain static during lifetime

LONDON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- British researchers challenge the belief that intellectual capacity -- measured by IQ -- stays static after early childhood.

Professor Cathy Price of the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at University College London and colleagues conducted IQ on teenagers at an average age of 14 and then repeated the test at age 18 and found some improvement and some deterioration, the BBC reported.

The study involved 19 boys and 14 girls, all undergoing a combination of brain scans and verbal and non-verbal IQ tests in 2004 and again in 2008.

The study, published in the journal Nature, found a change in verbal IQ was observed in 39 percent of the teenagers, with 21 percent showing a change in "performance IQ" -- a test of spatial reasoning.

The findings suggest intellectual potential may improve or wane, Price said.