# Does intelligence correlate with any measurable physical attribute? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120 "2013-06-16T13:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/21 "2013-06-18T23:25:01Z")
The correlation with nearsightedness… does this explain why so few criminals seem to wear glasses? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/22 "2013-06-19T00:00:02Z")
The smart people in our family have big feet. I noticed that in three generations. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/23 "2013-06-19T00:37:36Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > The smart people in our family have big feet. I noticed that in three generations. Well, height is correlated weakly with IQ (see cite above). [Height is correlated with foot size](http://www.biomedscidirect.com/879/study_of_correlation_between_human_height_and_foot_length_in_residents_of_mumbai/articlescategories) so therefore IQ and foot size may be correlated as well. Whether foot size is an independent marker of IQ, I don’t know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/24 "2013-06-19T00:47:56Z")
A high glial-cell-to-neuron ratio is correlated with intelligence, so if you allow for dissection or (:eek:) biopsy, you could probably gauge how intelligence your specimen is (or, was). ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/25 "2013-06-19T02:18:50Z")
Based on the responses in this thread so far, I’d say we have a definitive answer to the OP: **No.** ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/26 "2013-07-05T18:52:24Z")
A recent study found that intelligence (as measured by an IQ test) at age 11 predicted brain cortical thickness at age 73: [http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mp201364a.html](http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/mp201364a.html) > [@](#): > > Associations between brain cortical tissue volume and cognitive function in old age are frequently interpreted as suggesting that preservation of cortical tissue is the foundation of successful cognitive aging. However, this association could also, in part, reflect a lifelong association between cognitive ability and cortical tissue. **We analyzed data on 588 subjects from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 who had intelligence quotient (IQ) scores from the same cognitive test available at both 11 and 70 years of age as well as high-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging data obtained at approximately 73 years of age.** Cortical thickness was estimated at 81 924 sampling points across the cortex for each subject using an automated pipeline. Multiple regression was used to assess associations between cortical thickness and the IQ measures at 11 and 70 years. **Childhood IQ accounted for more than two-third of the association between IQ at 70 years and cortical thickness measured at age 73 years.** This warns against ascribing a causal interpretation to the association between cognitive ability and cortical tissue in old age based on assumptions about, and exclusive reference to, the aging process and any associated disease. Without early-life measures of cognitive ability, it would have been tempting to conclude that preservation of cortical thickness in old age is a foundation for successful cognitive aging when, instead, it is a lifelong association. This being said, results should not be construed as meaning that all studies on aging require direct measures of childhood IQ, but as suggesting that proxy measures of prior cognitive function can be useful to take into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120/27 "2013-07-05T19:08:57Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I read somewhere that (contrary to many wishful stereotypes) it is fairly well correlated with physical attractiveness. I recall reading the same; there’s a small correlation between intelligence and between being attractive, as well as being big and strong. The hypothesis I recall being used to explain it was that being large, healthy, strong and symmetrical (a key part of beauty) implies both that the person is well fed and that they developed better than average physiologically. And the brain is produced by many of the same processes that produce the rest of the body, so on average if the body develops unusually well, so will the brain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-intelligence-correlate-with-any-measurable-physical-attribute/661120.md?page=1)