Differences of our visual ability and IQ

For the first time, researchers show that the differences in people’s visual ability and their IQ.

“People may think they can tell how good they are at identifying objects visually,” said Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, who headed the study. “But it turns out that they are not very good at evaluating their own skills relative to others.”

In earlier studies, researchers focus on visual object recognition, but the new study explains about the visual ability varies among individuals.

Novel Object Memory Test

However, researchers develop a Novel Object Memory Test (NOMT), to measure people’s ability to identify unfamiliar objects.

While testing on 100 people, researchers found that participants consider the visual tasks as different from other tasks related to general intelligence. Also, they feel less variation in people’s visual skills than non-visual skills, such as verbal and math ability.

However, researchers proven a poor predictor of how well someone can learn to identify objects in a new domain.

To solve this problem, researchers using a computer-generated creature called greebles, sheinbugs and ziggerins to study visual recognition. The test to study six target creatures, followed by a several trials displaying creatures in sets of three. Each set contains a creature from the target group along with two unfamiliar creatures, and the participant asks to pick out the creature that is familiar.

After studying the results from more than 2000 subjects, researchers discovered that the ability to recognize one kind of creature was well predicted by how well the subjects could recognize the other kind. Also, the objects visually quite differently. This confirmed the new test can predict the ability to learn new categories.

The psychologists also used performance on several IQ-related tests and determined that the visual ability measured on the NOMT is distinct from and independent of regular intelligence.

“This is quite exciting because performance on cognitive skills is almost always associated with general intelligence,” Gauthier said. “It suggests that we really can learn something new about people using these tests, over and beyond all the abilities we already know how to measure.”

More information: [Cognition]