The Quirk of A High IQ

This is Scientific American 60-Second Mind, I'm Christie Nicholson. Got a minute?
People with a high IQ are considered to be smarter,
but do they also have quirks in the way that their brains process information that gives them an advantage?
Well, recent research finds that when subjects were asked to observe objects in motion, those with a high IQ automatically focused their attention more efficiently than people who score lower on IQ tests.
The research is published in the journal Current Biology.
Participants watched video snippets of black vertical lines that took up a small section of the screen and that moved either to the left or right.
The high IQ subjects spotted the direction of motion much faster than those with low IQ.
Which is not a necessarily surprise.
But what is surprising is when the vertical lines took up much larger space on the screen,
those with a high IQ actually were slower to tell the direction of movement than the lower IQ subjects.
The researchers think that this slowness actually represents a benefit of high intelligence,
smarter people may automatically focus less well on large scenes that are likely to be background in favor of the perception of smaller details.
Of course, if you're looking for someone really good at seeing moving black and white lines, ask a lion tracking a zebra.
Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American 60-Second Mind. I'm Christie Nicholson.