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US researchers have found that people with higher IQs are slow to detect large background movements because their brains filter out non-essential information.

Instead, they are good at detecting small moving objects.

The findings come in a study of 53 people given a simple, visual test in Current Biology.

The results could help scientists understand what makes a brain more efficient and more intelligent.

In the study, individuals watched short video clips of black and white bars moving across a computer screen. Some clips were small and filled only the centre of the screen, while others filled the whole screen.

The participants’ sole task was to identify in which direction the bars were drifting – to the right or to the left.

Participants also took a standardized intelligence test.

The results showed that people with higher IQ scores were faster at noticing the movement of the bars when observing the smallest image – but they were slower at detecting movement in the larger images.

People with higher IQs are slow to detect large background movements because their brains filter out non-essential information

People with higher IQs are slow to detect large background movements because their brains filter out non-essential information

Michael Melnick of the University of Rochester, who was part of the research team said the results were very clear.

“From previous research, we expected that all participants would be worse at detecting the movement of large images, but high IQ individuals were much, much worse.”

The authors explain that in most scenarios, background movement is less important than small moving objects in the foreground, for example driving a car, walking down a hall or moving your eyes across the room.

As a person’s IQ increases, so too does his or her ability to filter out distracting background motion and concentrate on the foreground.

In an initial study on 12 people, there was a 64% correlation between motion suppression and IQ scores. In this larger study on 53 people, a 71% correlation was found.

In contrast, previous research on the link between intelligence and reaction times, color discrimination and sensitivity to pitch found only a 20-40% correlation.

But the ability to ignore background movements is not the only indicator of intelligence.

“Because intelligence is such a broad construct, you can’t really track it back to one part of the brain,” says Duje Tadin, who also worked on the study.

“But since this task is so simple and so closely linked to IQ, it may give us clues about what makes a brain more efficient, and, consequently, more intelligent.

“We know from prior research which parts of the brain are involved in visual suppression of background motion.

“This new link to intelligence provides a good target for looking at what is different about the neural processing, what’s different about the neurochemistry, what’s different about the neurotransmitters of people with different IQs.”

Three-year-old Emmelyn Roettger of Washington D.C. loves writing, spelling and counting and is fascinated by science and space.

Despite her tender age Emmelyn Roettger, known as Emme, is familiar with the concept of mitosis and can explain the process of metamorphosis in butterflies.

In fact her outstanding thirst for knowledge and academic competency is such that she has earned herself a place in Mensa, becoming the high-IQ society’s youngest U.S. member.

Emmelyn Roettger was accepted into the club in March, aged two years and 11 months, with an IQ of 135.

The little girl suffers from poor vision, causing “unspecified delays” in her development which doctors had initially mistaken for signs of autism.

But when her mother, Michelle Horne, thought to get her vision checked everything fell into place and Emme’s talents took off.

Emmelyn Roettger was accepted into Mensa on March this year, aged two years and 11 months, with an IQ of 135

Emmelyn Roettger was accepted into Mensa on March this year, aged two years and 11 months, with an IQ of 135

Wearing glasses the youngster immediately showed an unusually high appreciation for the world around her.

“She showed an obvious want for things,” her mother told MSNBC, “grabbing at things, trying to get to toys, fussing for things that she couldn’t reach — and she started crawling within a few weeks.”

By 15 months she was recognizing letters and could write them before turning two. She learnt to write her name and count to 100 shortly after her second birthday and simple maths puzzles came naturally to her.

But paediatricians continued to refer to the toddle as “delayed” so her mother sought support from other avenues.

Emmelyn Roettger came across the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, a standardized intelligence test designed for children between the ages of two and a half and seven.

Emme scored so highly (in the 99th percentile on all measures) that Michelle Horne submitted her score to Mensa.

“My husband thought it was a silly idea at first,” Michelle Horne said.

“I was looking for support, though, and I thought Mensa could be another resource for us.”

The society accepted Emme into its family, as the youngest U.S. member. Her parents hope her unusual talents will be nurtured and challenged by being in the club.

Frank Lawlis, American Mensa’s supervisory psychologist and author of The IQ Answer, told MSNBC that while life can be easier in some ways for kids with sky-high IQs, in other ways it is limiting.

“There’s a social stigma to being very smart, just like there’s a stigma to being retarded,” he said.

“It can limit a person’s potential for social relationships.”