Dimming down: How the brainpower of today's 14-year-olds has slipped 'radically' in just one generation

Bright teenagers are a disappearing breed, an alarming new study has revealed. 

The intellectual ability of the country's cleverest youngsters has declined radically, almost certainly due to the rise of TV and computer games and over-testing in schools. 

The 'high-level thinking' skills of 14-year-olds are now on a par with those of 12-year-olds in 1976. 

The findings contradict national results which have shown a growth in top grades in SATs at 14, GCSEs and A-levels.  

But Michael Shayer, the professor of applied psychology who led the study, believes that is the result of exam standards 'edging down'. 

His team of researchers at London's King's College tested 800 13 and 14-year-olds and compared the results with a similar exercise in 1976.  

The tests were intended to measure understanding of abstract scientific concepts such as volume, density, quantity and weight, which set pupils up for success not only in maths and science but also in English and history. 
 

One test asked pupils to study a pendulum swinging on a string and investigate the factors that cause it to change speed. A second involved weights on a beam. 

In the pendulum test, average achievement was much the same as in 1976. 

But the proportion of teenagers reaching top grades, demanding a 'higher level of thinking', slumped dramatically. 

Just over one in ten were at that level, down from one in four in 1976.

In the second test, assessing mathematical thinking skills, just one in 20 pupils were achieving the high grades - down from one in five in 1976. 

Professor Shayer said: 'The pendulum test does not require any knowledge of science at all. 

'It looks at how people can deal with complex information and sort it out for themselves.' 

He believes most of the downturn has occurred over the last ten to 15 years. 

It may have been hastened by the introduction of national curriculum testing and accompanying targets, which have cut the time available for teaching which develops more advanced skills. 

Critics say schools concentrate instead on drilling children for the tests. 

'The moment you introduce targets, people will find the most economical strategies to achieve them,' said Professor Shayer.

'In the case of education, I'm sure this has had an effect on driving schools away from developing higher levels of understanding.' 

He added that while the numeracy hour in primary schools appears to have led to some gains, it has 'squeezed out a lot of things teachers might otherwise be doing'. 

Professor Shayer believes the decline in brainpower is also linked to changes in children's leisure activities. 

The advent of multi-channel TV has encouraged passive viewing while computer games, particularly for boys, are feared to have supplanted time spent playing with tools, gadgets and other mechanisms. 

Professor Shayer warned that without the development of higher-order thinking skills, 
the future supply of scientists will be compromised. 

'We don't even have enough scientists now,' he said. 

Previous research by Professor Shayer has shown that 11-year-olds' grasp of concepts such as volume, density, quantity and weight appears to have declined over the last 30 years. 

Their mental abilities were up to three years behind youngsters tested in in 1975. 

His latest findings, due to appear in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, come in the wake of a report by Dr Aric Sigman which linked the decline in intellectual ability to a shift away from art and craft skills in both schools and the home.



Dr Sigman said practical activities such as building models and sandcastles, making dens, using tools, playing with building blocks, knitting, sewing and woodwork were being neglected.  continues here

How becoming a mother can boost your brainpower

Many new mothers battling with tiredness and struggling to carry out the simplest of tasks would beg to differ. 

But according to scientists, giving birth supercharges brain power to equip women for the challenge of rearing their child. 

Having a baby produces a sudden surge of memory and learning ability that makes them more vigilant and alert, a study concluded. 

And the changes in the size and shape of many areas of the brain last for decades, protecting against degenerative diseases later in life. 

Researchers found there was often a decline in mental powers during pregnancy as the minds of mothers-to-be are remodelled. 

But hormonal fluctuations during birth and breastfeeding increase the size of cells in some areas of the brain leading to dramatic improvements in mental capacity. 

Studies on animals including rats and primates found mothers become much braver, are up to five times faster at finding food and have better spatial awareness than those without offspring. 

Craig Kinsley, professor of neuroscience at the University of Richmond, Virginia, said he believed the same results applied to humans. 'Pregnant women do undergo a phase of so-called baby brain, when they experience an apparent loss of function,' he said. 

'However, this is because their brains are being remodelled for motherhood to cope with the many new demands they will experience. 

'Many benefits seem to emerge from motherhood, as the maternal brain rises to the reproductive challenge. When the going gets tough, the brain gets going. 

'The changes could last for the rest of their lives, bolstering cognitive abilities and protecting them against degenerative diseases.' 

A 2002 study by Angela Oatridge, from Hammersmith Hospital in London, reported that brain scans of pregnant women showed a 4 per cent decline in size.

Last year, two Australian researchers found that pregnant women consistently performed worse on tests for memory and verbal skills. 

But Dr Kinsley believes this is because they are growing new sets of brain cells that he calls 'maternal circuits'. 

Nerve cells in areas known to be linked to parenting also expand and develop more connections with neighbouring cells during pregnancy to give mothers supercharged 'computing' power, he said. 

He added: 'Although most studies have so far focused on animals, it is likely women also gain long-lasting benefits from motherhood. Most mammals share similar maternal behaviours controlled by the same brain regions.' 

Another study by the University of Toronto has found rats that had given birth were protected against degenerative diseases, with lower levels of a protein linked with Alzheimer's disease in humans.  continues here