Even though this was probably already texted to you by your super smart mom who has multiple Google alerts for mom-based news, a new study says kids get their intelligence from their moms, not their dads, but it’s not like we’re gonna be dicks about that. Nope. Just giving you the facts.
The study, published in Psychology Spot, found that a mother’s genetic material determines how smart her kids are and the father’s genes don’t make any difference at all. And they also found that if the same intelligence gene is inherited from the father, it’s deactivated. DEACTIVATED, GUYS!!!!
And, even more interesting, when the labs used a study with genetically modified mice with an additional dose of maternal genes, they developed bigger heads and brains, but smaller bodies. When the mics had an extra dose of paternal genes, they ended up with tiny little brains and huge bodies. I’m sorry. I’m gonna need to laugh about these images and what they represent to me for the next 45 minutes. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Bye guys. Hold on.
Ok, I’m back.
Now, because these scientists are very smart (they get it from their mommas), Glasgow-based researchers decided to interview 12,686 people between the ages of 14 and 22 every year from 1994 on and found that while the mother’s IQ was still the largest indicator of the child’s intelligence, they also found that only 40 to 60 percent of a person’s intelligence is determined by genes. So if you had dumb-dumb parents and you’re now a super genius, it’s totally possible that your environment changed that fate.
Source: Makers
That “environment” could mean a variety of things, but researchers at the University of Washington found that mothers who bonded with their children in the early years and supported them emotionally and intellectually had a 10 percent larger hippocampus (the part of the brain that is thought to be where your emotions and your memory are) at age 13 than mothers who were MIA.
Now, dads, if you’re crying right now, stop (but also, keep crying because crying is great and should be an acceptable thing for men to do). Researchers also found that intuition and emotions might (might) be passed on from you to your kid, and, you know, if you truly bond with and nurture your child in a maternal way, then yes that could help with the “environment” factor. You get what you actively give, in a sense.
Also, dads, you should just bond with your kids and nurture them and studd just because that’s a good thing for both parents to do, no matter what. Just an idea. You do you.
Haha. Sorry, I’m laughing again. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop. Oh well.
Original by: Lane Moore
