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The truth about intelligence: Can I become cleverer?

Brain-training is thriving despite doubts it can actually boost your smarts. But there is a way to increase your IQ score and keep your brain sharp for longer

By Linda Geddes

18 July 2018

intelligence artwork 1

Gaston Mendieta

During the early 1990s, a paper was published in Nature revealing that students performed better on an intelligence test if they listened to Mozart while taking it. So was born the billion-dollar brain-training industry. Sadly, other researchers have been unable to replicate the “Mozart effect”. Studies of computer games that claim to improve mental performance have produced mixed results too. “Brain training, Baby Einstein, and so on have been fairly disappointing in terms of being able to boost IQ,” says Stuart Ritchie at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

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