Latest news with #cognitiveability
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New Research Suggests Intelligence Can Be Predicted as Early as 7 Months Old
Fact checked by Sarah ScottA new study found that some kids may show signs of intelligence as babies Experts say parents shouldn't let the study worry them—intelligence also depends on environment and parental involvement Intelligence is more than just IQ, and there are ways for parents to cultivate intelligence throughout their child's lifeNew parents are notorious for looking for early signs of their infant's intelligence—a babbled first word, waving or blowing kisses, a spark of recognition when they see a familiar face. Most of the time it's just an attempt to prove their baby is just as special as their parents know they are—but it might actually be possible to predict a person's adult IQ in infancy? A new study from the University of Colorado Boulder suggests your baby will show signs of intelligence just as early as new parents are convinced they can. In fact, researchers found that it may be possible to predict how well a person will perform on a cognitive test in their 30s as early as 7 months old. So, how exactly can a baby's brain reveal its future potential? To find out, University of Colorado Boulder researchers recruited 500 families with twins (both fraternal and identical). They followed participants at 7 and 9 months, then at age 1, and every year until age 17, continuing every five years into their 30s. Analyzing the decades of data collected from their participants, the goal was to better understand how genes and environment interact to shape a child's development. By studying twins, researchers could determine the distinct roles that genes and shared environment play. Since identical twins share 100% of their genes while fraternal twins share only about 50% (like regular siblings), comparing their IQ similarities allowed researchers to infer how much of cognitive ability is due to genetics versus shared environmental factors. Daniel Gustavson, PhD, an assistant research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author on the study, says a shared environment includes 'all the aspects of their home, neighborhood, school environments.' The study found that early on, the environment (before age three) can have a measurable and lasting impact on a person's cognitive ability later in life, accounting for around 10% of individual differences in IQ, Dr. Gustavson notes. To test infant cognition, researchers used seven measures, including the 'novelty preference' task that assessed how long infants spend looking at a new toy versus a familiar one, vocalizations (babbling sounds made by the infant), visual expectation (tracking an object), tester ratings (attentiveness, activity, mood), and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. While these specific infant tests (at seven to nine months) predicted only a small percentage of an adult's IQ, the study found that by age three, the yearly follow-ups could predict 20% of what Dr. Gustavson calls 'across-person differences' in IQ. This prediction rapidly increased between ages seven and 16, a period when he says genetics 'really start to take hold.' Although the genes we inherit significantly contribute to our IQ, Dr. Gustavson wants parents to know that heritability doesn't mean 'we can't change who we're going to become.' There are always ways to intervene and learn new skills. The study emphasizes that early environment matters, but it doesn't specify how parents can best nurture cognitive growth. To bridge that gap, we spoke with Sara Douglas, PsyD, Ed.M, a psychologist specializing in neuropsychological evaluations, and pediatrician Heather Gosnell, MD, to offer helpful suggestions. IQ is often viewed as a singular number, but Dr. Douglas says it's essential to look at IQ as one's capacity 'within multiple traits and features.' Here are some simple strategies for holistically nurturing cognitive development in young kids. Viewed this way, a stimulating environment can provide exposure that enhances these traits. Dr. Douglas suggests allowing an infant 'to spend time feeling different textures, seeing different patterns, hearing different notes, [and] interacting with different people.' She adds it's a good idea to 'provide different opportunities for novel experiences. If possible, provide different experiences in the different weeks of development, so young kids have the opportunity both to learn the first [skill], and expand their interest to the next.' Parent-child interaction is also key, says Dr. Gosnell, because 'simple routines like reading, talking, and playing have a powerful impact on brain development and set the foundation for learning.' She recommends reading twenty minutes a day to your infant and continuing this routine through childhood as it supports at-home brain development. You can also narrate your day to help build language skills. And if possible, avoid screen time before 18 months. Once introduced, she says to choose quality programming, watch together, and limit screen time to one hour a day. Remember that this study does not indicate that intelligence is a binary—it's not the case that either they show signs of intelligence early on and will grow upto intelligent, or they don't, and they won't. Intelligence can develop over time, starting with parents who use some of the strategies outlined above. And it doesn't help to stress out over these milestones that will vary from child to child anyway. 'Don't worry if your baby isn't 'advanced' in every area or if they miss one milestone, as uneven development is completely typical,' says Dr. Gosnell. Late talking and short attention spans are also not a cause for concern. 'Most late talkers catch up by age 4 to 7, especially when they understand well, are developing normally in other areas, and receive speech therapy if needed,' Gosnell states. 'Toddlers naturally have very brief focus periods, which is normal and, on their own, don't predict future attention problems.'That said, if you're worried about developmental delays, early intervention will give your child the best chance to reach their full potential. Dr. Gosnell advises talking with your pediatrician if your child isn't 'picking up new skills or seems to be losing abilities they once had.'And remember—IQ and intelligence isn't everything, and definitely does not indicate that your child will be a good person or a productive member of society. 'There are personality traits (like kindness, empathy, genuineness, being a good listener),' says Dr. Douglas, 'that are not factored into intelligence testing that are, in many regards, more important than cognitive traits that are measured.' Read the original article on Parents
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Democrat's cringeworthy attempt to flip the script on Trump to deflect from Biden's glaring mental decline
A Democrat was trolled after claiming it's Donald Trump - not 82-year-old Joe Biden - who is dealing with the greater mental decline. During a spicy Republican-led hearing on Biden's rapid decline over the course of his four-year presidency, Democrat Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) tried to flip the script on his Republican colleagues. In his opening statement, Durbin attempted to paint Donald Trump, 79, as the one who is not fully mentally competent, not his predecessor Joe Biden. To prove his point, Durbin brought up the recent incident of Trump saying the UK was the same thing as the EU. A clip of Trump announcing the signing of the US/UK trade deal with Prime Minister Kier Starmer at the G7 meeting in Canada earlier this week quickly went viral. 'Now, I'd like you to see a short video that includes some other examples of cognitive ability,' Durbin stated, prior to cuing a video compilation of what he perceived to be gaffes, not from Joe Biden, but from Donald Trump. After the video, Durbin asked his next question, asking 'do any of these statements raise the question of cognitive ability?' Standing alongside Starmer, Trump said on Monday: 'We signed it and it's done', before mistakenly announcing the deal was with the European Union, rather than the UK. He added: 'It's a fair deal for both. It'll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.' And as Trump attempted to open a black folder with the signed agreement inside, several papers spilled out on to the floor, prompting Starmer to quickly bend down and intervene. 'Oops sorry about that,' the president said, before Starmer tried to brush off the gaffe by quipping: 'It's a very important document.' A majority of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee did not show up to take part in Wednesday's hearing. Senate Republicans are doubling down on the efforts of Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, which has called former top Biden White House aides to appear for transcribed interviews. A number of these former aides were subpoenaed last C ongress, and had their subpoenas blocked by the Biden White House. Joe Biden's former White House Physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor has been issued a formal subpoena to appear before the House oversight committee, after not agreeing to appear before the committee voluntarily. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer announced earlier in June that he was issuing a formal subpoena to Biden's former White House Physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor. The move was the latest escalation as the top Republican-led committee ramped up its investigation into the 'cover-up' of former President Joe Biden's mental decline. Chairman Comer ordered O'Connor to appear for a deposition on June 27 before his committee. Commenting on the importance of his investigation, Comer told members of the media earlier in June that the 'American people deserve full transparency and the House Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation to provide answers and accountability. The cover-up of President Biden's mental decline is one of the greatest scandals in our nation's history.' Comer's subpoena comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's recent announcement via executive order, demanding a federal investigation into former President Biden's staff. 'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.' 'The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts,' Trump said in the order. Under Trump's order, all of the pardons, clemency grants, executive orders, presidential memoranda, and other presidential policy decisions issued by Biden will be investigated. Actions under review would include Biden's pardons for son Hunter and other family members and orders related to a variety of areas including education, immigration, health care, climate change and more. Trump has argued the use of the autopen invalidates Biden's orders. If his administration can get the courts to agree, it could undo thousands of actions taken by the former president. It's unclear which documents from the Biden administration were signed by the then-president and which may have been signed by an electronic pen. Biden hit back at Trump hours after the executive order was signed, accusing the president of seeking out distractions to avoid criticism over bad legislation making its way through Congress. 'Let me be clear,' he said. 'I made the decisions during my presidency. 'I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false. 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans,' Biden stated. Biden added at the time that Trump and his allies 'are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.' During his time in office, Biden was pictured signing some orders while in office, including ones on the use of AI and on gun safety issues.
Washington Post
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Republicans ignore their own age issues in pursuit of Biden's frailty
One political party nominated a 78-year-old candidate for president last summer with a history of obscuring his health. The same party kept in place an octogenarian congressional leader until earlier this year, despite health battles. And that party just elevated a 91-year-old to a constitutional leadership position third in the line of presidential succession. Must be Democrats, right? No, that lineup comes from Republicans: President Donald Trump, who turns 79 this weekend; Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), 83, who stepped down as GOP leader in January; and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Senate's president pro tempore who chairs the Judiciary Committee. While Democrats are undergoing a bruising internal debate about generational change, Republicans have shown little appetite for a similar discussion. They don't want to talk about elderly politicians, just Biden's cognitive state. 'This isn't an age issue,' Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) said Thursday. 'I don't think this is so much about age as it's about cognitive ability,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also said Thursday. Schmitt, 49, and Cornyn, 73, are co-chairing an 'unfit to serve' hearing Wednesday before the Judiciary Committee examining how much Biden's senior aides concealed his condition. In less partisan times, senators might have used this moment to launch a sober discussion about creating transparent health and cognitive tests to ensure future presidents do not face similar allegations. 'I think for the country moving forward, it's important to understand how this could happen, or how this would have happened, and make sure it never happens again,' Schmitt said in a brief interview. But such a bipartisan effort is not likely when Republicans will not acknowledge any potential health risks for Trump, who is slated to turn 82 during his final year in office. 'This is really about Joe Biden, a man who was clearly incompetent,' Schmitt said. 'Some people like President Trump operate on all cylinders at 79, where Biden obviously was incapacitated,' Cornyn said. The former president, who was diagnosed last month with cancer, has denied that he was unfit to serve or that senior aides were running the government. But post-presidency books have revealed that Biden's mental state had clearly gotten worse over the four-year term, alleging that only a few senior aides and family members were fully aware of his condition. Democrats have responded to Biden's withdrawal from the race last July and Trump's subsequent victory in November with a furious debate about the standing of their party's elder statesmen. House Democrats pushed aside three committee leaders who were all over 75 years old in favor of younger lawmakers. And next week they will elect a new ranking member for the Oversight Committee, with a pair of second-term Democrats challenging two 70-somethings for the post. Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois), the No. 2 Democratic leader for 20 years, announced he would retire at the end of next year. The leading candidate to replace the 80-year-old is Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who is 52. Outside liberal activists have pledged to force older Democrats into primaries next year against next-generation challengers. Any similar look in the mirror by Republicans is not in the offing. Yes, after 18 years as leader, McConnell stepped aside in January after a bad fall in 2023 caused several other health incidents. The new majority leader, 64-year-old Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), is middle-aged by Senate standards. But of the five senators who are at least 80 years old, three are Republican: Grassley, McConnell and James E. Risch (Idaho). McConnell, who is retiring the end of next year, now chairs the subcommittee in charge of almost $1 trillion in defense spending. Risch, 82, chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and announced in early April that he is running again for a term that will end when he is 89. Grassley has remained resilient despite being 91 and is an active committee chair. But by electing him as pro tem — a mostly honorific position — Republicans placed him in line to succeed Trump, creating the possibility of a nonagenarian president at a moment of national crisis if the vice president and House speaker are not able to serve. Cornyn, who is around the same age as Biden was at the end of his vice presidency in January 2017, is running for another term that, if reelected, would end when he is just shy of 81. The average Senate Democrat, at the start of this new Congress, was 66, compared to 64.5 for a Republican, according to a Pew Research study. In the House, there's no partisan difference: The average Democrat is 57.6 years old, 57.5 for Republicans, according to Pew. By later this year, after three younger Democrats are sworn in to replace three lawmakers who died in their 70s recently, their caucus will likely be a little younger than the House GOP. That's a remarkable shift considering, until two-and-a-half years ago, the image of the Democratic caucus was three 80-somethings in the top leadership posts. Until last summer, when she entered a senior living home and missed most of her final months in office, Kay Granger (R-Texas) chaired the House Appropriations Committee and oversaw its $1.7 trillion pot for federal agencies. When Rep. Virginia Foxx (North Carolina) reached the end of her term atop the education committee, House GOP leaders installed her as chair of the critical House Rules Committee. She turns 82 in two weeks. Some younger Republicans are not surprised by the head-down approach from senior Republicans in Washington. 'That's because most people are older, they don't want to talk about it,' said Rep. Wesley Hunt (R), a 43-year-old who is considering entering the race for Cornyn's seat. GOP primary voters are also itching to find new blood, Hunt said. 'There is a national conversation, I think, that's being held for younger candidates, period. And I think that's happening on both sides of the aisle.' But in a party where fealty to Trump is so critical — and securing his endorsement is considered crucial for winning a primary — Hunt talks about the president as if Trump is half his actual age. Hunt said his own travels with Trump showed that the president is 'an anomaly' who faces no health risks. 'His mental acuity and his ability to operate is unlike anything I've ever seen before,' Hunt said. Schmitt used similar bravado. 'I was just with President Trump. I played golf with President Trump. President Trump has more energy than most 21-year-olds,' he said. In his first term as president, Trump revealed less about his health than past presidents. A book by a senior aide revealed that Trump tested positive for covid days before his late September 2020 debate with Biden, but did not disclose it after getting conflicting test results. His fight with the virus in early October 2020 was much more serious than aides ever revealed. In a rare rebuke among presidential physicians, Barack Obama's White House doctor criticized Biden's doctor for not administering a cognitive test on the then-president. But Jeffrey Kuhlman, Obama's White House physician, went a step further in a book last year by specifically calling for neurocognitive tests for all national leaders over the age of 70. In a health report released this spring, Trump's doctors did perform a neurological exam. Durbin, who has said that upon reflection Biden should not have tried to run for reelection, accused the genial Cornyn of using Wednesday's hearing as a bid to appeal to conservative voters rather than a serious debate about presidential health. 'I think this has more to do with John Cornyn's primary challenge than anything else,' Durbin said. 'He has to show a fiery demeanor, so he's decided to pick on Joe Biden.' Cornyn rejected that accusation. 'Well, he must be clairvoyant if he knows what information we're going to gather beforehand,' he said. He grew angry after a question about whether the hearing would include issues related to Trump, accusing The Washington Post and the press of a broad conspiracy to benefit Biden. 'As far as I'm concerned, you're part of the conspiracy,' Cornyn said. Durbin said the real conspiracy is age, something that comes for everyone eventually, but in uneven ways. 'I think we all have to face the reality that age is unrelenting,' he said. 'It treats some people more kindly than others.'
Wall Street Journal
28-05-2025
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
Yes, You Should Stand Up Straight—for All Sorts of Reasons
I had a second-grade teacher who used a ruler to poke slouching students between the shoulder blades to get them to stand up straight. While you might find fault with her tactics—and indeed as little kids we wished all manner of cartoonish calamities would befall her—she wasn't wrong in her concern about our carriage. Beyond basic aesthetics, good posture—an erect, balanced bearing—determines the ease and efficiency with which you move your body. Less well-known is that good posture is also essential for optimal circulation, respiration, digestion and bladder function. Increasing evidence suggests it also improves cognitive ability and enhances your mood.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jon Stewart, 'Pod Save America' question Biden's health in wake of 'Original Sin' book
The hosts of "Pod Save America" and Jon Stewart are questioning former President Joe Biden's mental acuity following the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, "Original Sin." "So everybody goes on television and goes, 'You don't understand," Jon Stewart said during a Thursday episode of his podcast, "The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart," discussing how people would try to frame concerns about Biden's health. "I sit with this guy. He's the smartest one in the room. I can't keep up with him. I'm exhausted. I went to a meeting, and he was using words I didn't even know were words! They were fantastic! I had to look them up. He's the smartest man in the world.'" On Tuesday, "Original Sin," which looks in part at the efforts made by top Biden aides and allies to hide the truth about Biden's mental and physical health, providing a depiction of a president who was routinely confused and disorientated during his term, was released. Biden Insider Was Reportedly 'Amazed' At The Media Coverage They Were Able To Spin During his podcast Thursday, Stewart talked about how he thinks those in Biden's circle tried to control what the public saw. "You know, Kamala Harris comes out, 'I sit with this man. You don't understand,'" Stewart said. "You don't see it.' And I'm like, 'Oh, has anyone filmed that? Because you should show that.' Because it was a very simple case to puncture. People are saying, 'I'm a little concerned about his stamina and cognitive ability. Here's how we can dispel that.' Just put him out there and let him show us how f---ing smart – and they wouldn't do it. Because they knew they couldn't." Read On The Fox News App Jon Favreau, former President Barack Obama's head speechwriter from 2005-2013, said that the people closest to Biden were not honest about his decline. "Throughout Biden's term, you had it with the age issue, you also had it with inflation, right," Favreau said. "In the Biden administration, a lot of elected Democrats were like, 'Oh, look at all the statistics and the numbers,'" he added. "And then poll after poll and focus group after focus group would have people be like, 'No, prices are high and it's really bothering me.' And we'd just be like, 'That's just the media.' Or 'That's just Republicans.' And I think the same thing happened around Joe Biden's age. The closer you got to Joe Biden, the closer the adviser or the family member, the more I think they were not just lying to the American people, but lying to themselves." Favreau also said that he thinks Democrats struggle with accepting and telling the truth. "I think a big problem with the Democratic Party over the last several years, decade maybe, maybe even back to the Iraq war, we have a hard time hearing hard truths and admitting hard truths to ourselves," Favreau said. "And then we have a hard time telling hard truths to the voters." Favreau is featured in "Original Sin" in an anecdote where he and his "Pod Save America" co-hosts Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Lovett met with Biden at the White House on April 26, 2024. The book described them as "deeply disturbed" after their discussions with Biden that night, with the authors describing the president as rambling and "incoherent." Flashback: White House Press Sec Karine Jean-pierre Laughs Off Question On Biden's Health In 2022 However, in a Feb. 13, 2024 episode of "Pod Save America," Favreau seemed to downplay concerns about Biden's health. "The number one concern that people have had about Joe Biden is his age. Those concerns have predated Robert Hur, they have predated anything Trump has said … it is not just about people who see like out of context clips or that the Republicans put out, or crazy TikToks or whatever else," he said. This discussion with his "Pod Save America" hosts came days after Special Counsel Robert Hur's report was released on Feb 5, 2024, looking at the former president's handling of classified documents. "If you watch Joe Biden speak, often times he sounds frail, and he sounds more frail than he used to even in 2019 and 2020," Favreau said. "Now that may, and I think it doesn't have anything to do with how sharp he is mentally, but the voice sounds frail and he shuffles more because of the arthritis in his back so for most people in the country who are just watching him be president what do they see when they turn on the television? They see him shuffle and they hear him and he is swallowing a lot more of his words now – obviously he's had a stutter but it doesn't sound like the stutter did even in 2020 – he's just soft-spoken and quiet." Co-host Tommy Vietor, who worked for Obama for almost a decade, appeared to agree with Favreau's dismissiveness. "All the commentary about the age and Biden's memory which seemed unfair or ad hominem at worst, and then second there is a debate about Biden's age and fitness for office that was already happening. This just kicked it up and focused the media's attention on it in a very damaging way via this DOJ report," Vietor said during the February 2024 episode. On Sunday, Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis was announced, with his spokesperson telling Fox News days later that the last time he received a blood test that screens for prostate cancer was in article source: Jon Stewart, 'Pod Save America' question Biden's health in wake of 'Original Sin' book
