Have you ever felt like you can tell everything about someone just by looking into their eyes? Well, research says that this intuition might not be completely unfounded, at least to find out how intelligent they are.
Intelligence is too complex to be judged by appearance alone, but our pupils seem to give off a subtle signal that may reflect how well our minds process information.
Research says you can tell how intelligent a person is by looking them in the eye
Move over, IQ test. ONE degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that there is a correlation between a person’s intelligence and their baseline pupil size. Of course, our pupils constantly dilate and contract in response to light and our emotions, but when they are in conditions where they can rest, they can reveal even more.
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The study’s researchers first addressed the phenomenon while analyzing the level of mental effort people use to perform memory tasks. Nearly 500 adults from the Atlanta area participated in the study, and as they worked, the team began to notice that their pupils dilated in response to their efforts.
An electronic eye tracker was used to measure participants’ pupil sizes. From these measurements, they recorded each person’s average pupil size at rest, which typically ranges from 2 millimeters to 8 millimeters, after staring at a blank screen for a few minutes.
The researchers found a correlation between the pupil measurements and cognitive test results.
Participants were also asked to complete a series of cognitive tests that evaluated fluid intelligenceworking memory capacity and attention control. Although not always seen as traditional forms of intelligence, these abilities are more practical thought processes and are key to being a good problem solver.
Interestingly, individuals with larger baseline pupil sizes scored higher on these cognitive tests. They had greater fluid intelligence, better control of their attention, and even a slightly larger one working memory capacity. Their overall knowledge and ability to recall facts was not considered as part of the study. As in, their “book smarts” weren’t important here, it was about real world forms of intelligence.
One of the strongest theories is that the connection happens inside the brain.
Regardless of whether intelligence is actually related to pupil size, the results still prove that there is an even deeper relationship between the brain and the eye. “One hypothesis is that people who have larger pupils at rest have greater regulation of the activity of the locus coeruleus, which benefits cognitive performance and resting-state brain function,” the researchers explained to Scientific American.
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The pupil size is controlled by locus coeruleus, which also releases norepinephrine, a hormone that, among other things, helps regulate perception, attention and memory. It is possible that individuals with larger resting-state baseline pupils may experience stronger cognitive activity in this region.
The results of the study are far from definitive, but they may still warrant further investigation. Still, you can test this in real life by simply observing patterns of problem solving and seeing if the good problem solvers you know actually have larger students.
At the very least, take it as an opportunity to learn more about the people in your life (and maybe look into their eyes, too).
Kayla Asbach is a writer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture and human interests.
