One-fourth of the sibling-control difference in IQ was reducible to childhood trauma, whereas for patients this was only 5%. Over the 6-year follow-up, those with trauma exposure showed significantly less learning effects with repeated cognitive assessments (b = 1.36, 95% CI: 0.80‒1.92, P < .
A number of investigations have examined the association between trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and measured intelligence. Several studies have reported that PTSD is associated with lower performance on intelligence tests.
Interestingly, although significant correlations between stress and EI and between EI and IQ were found, no significant correlation between stress and IQ was observed. We can infer that this result may be related to brain structure.
Relatively high anxiety in patients with GAD predicted high IQ whereas relatively low anxiety in controls also predicted high IQ. That is, the relationship between anxiety and intelligence was positive in GAD patients but inverse in healthy volunteers.
Trauma-induced changes to the brain can result in varying degrees of cognitive impairment and emotional dysregulation that can lead to a host of problems, including difficulty with attention and focus, learning disabilities, low self-esteem, impaired social skills, and sleep disturbances (Nemeroff, 2016).
Traumas like physical and emotional trauma often lead to PTSD which on average, affects roughly 8% of Americans. PTSD can typically be a lifelong problem for most people, resulting in severe brain damage.
Brain areas implicated in the stress response include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas. Traumatic stress is associated with increased cortisol and norepinephrine responses to subsequent stressors.
“The causes in IQ increases over time and now the decline is due to environmental factors,” said Rogeburg, who believes the change is not due to genetics.
Research has shown that there is a high correlation between being intelligent and socially anxious. The higher your IQ, the higher the chance your social apprehension is higher than usual.
Individuals born prematurely, of low birth weight or with other obstetric hazards have lower IQ than the general population. Growing up in a racially segregated and disadvantaged community, more than individual and familial factors, may contribute to a decline in IQ score in the early school years.
According to an article called "Where did my IQ points Go? in Psychology Today, when we get angry the light goes out in the prefrontal cortex, which is the excutive functioning and decision making region of the brain. It's like we're operating with 10 to 15 less IQ points when we're angry.
Emotional smarts and general intelligence may be more closely linked than previously thought, new research suggests. In a group of Vietnam veterans, IQ test results and emotional intelligence, or the ability to perceive, understand and deal with emotion in oneself or in others, were linked.
As I said, IQ almost certainly comes from a combination of genes and the environment. Both can explain why a child's IQ can be so different from his or her parents'. The environment makes sense.
Relative risk ratio (RRR) for PTSD associated with a one point drop in age 6 IQ among victims of assaultive violence was 1.04 (95% CI 1.01, 1.06); among victims of other stressors, it was 1.03 (95% CI 0.99, 1.06).
Trauma changes brain chemistry as well as structure, and these effects can start to impact normal functioning. Specifically, the effects of trauma on the brain seem to impact the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex the most.
Traumatic stress can change the brain's delicate chemical balance and structure. These effects, which can impact the way we function, can be minor or severe depending on the type of traumatic stress we're dealing with.
Researchers have previously shown that a person's IQ is highly influenced by genetic factors, and have even identified certain genes that play a role. They've also shown that performance in school has genetic factors. But it's been unclear whether the same genes that influence IQ also influence grades and test scores.
The European study, which was released this week, found evidence that we tend to hit our cognitive maximum around age 35 and remain there until about age 45, at which point a long, slow decline takes hold.
Scientists have long known that our ability to think quickly and recall information, also known as fluid intelligence, peaks around age 20 and then begins a slow decline.
ADHD is often also associated with lower intelligence quotient (IQ; e.g., Crosbie and Schachar, 2001). For instance, Frazier et al. (2004) reported in their meta-analysis that in comparison to individuals without ADHD, individuals with ADHD score an average of 9 points lower on most commercial IQ tests.
There are degrees of trauma. It can be emotional, mental, physical or sexual. It can occur once, or repeatedly. However, it is possible to fully recover from any traumatic experience or event; it may take a long time, but in the end, living free from the symptoms of trauma is worth every step of the journey.
It might seem like trauma does irreversible damage to your brain--that's not true. Our brains are extremely adaptable. Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form new connections, explains why we can rewire our brains to reverse trauma's damaging effects.
New Insight for Mental Health Therapies
The findings suggest that when faced with traumatic stress, the brain can activate a different system to form and suppress memories.