Inherited Intelligence

Some estimate that only about 40-60% of intelligence is inherited, the remaining percentage depending on how the brain is stimulated and what happens in the environments to which the brain is exposed. For example, is the brain being stimulated and challenged with creative activities and learning or is it exposed to mostly passive mental picturing activities as occurs with watching television? This means that even when a child possesses a high IQ range, that intelligence potential must be nourished. Work by Robert Lehrke revealed that a child’s intelligence depends on the X chromosome and that cognitive abilities on the X chromosome are passed from father to daughter and not from father to son (which invalidated earlier studies of parent-child transmission of IQ, which included father-son correlations). Lehrke also noted that males are more likely to be exceptionally high in cognitive abilities (other than memory), especially in such areas as advanced mathematics, spatial perception, and creative music. In some ways, the more research that is released the more confusing this becomes. More tomorrow.