Children who are able to draw people by the age of four may be better than their contemporaries when taking intelligence tests later in life, according to a new study.

King's College psychologists, working at the school in London, carefully examined 15,504 pictures created by children. They discovered that those young people who possessed the greatest artistic skill performed best on examinations of intelligence in their teen years. The study of 7,752 non-identical twins revealed a strong link between intelligence and genetics.

Four-year-olds were asked by their parents to create a drawing in the "Draw-a-Child" contest. Drawings of people made by the children in the study were graded from zero to 12, based on how accurately they represented the human form. Researchers checked to see if all the major body parts - head, arms, legs and more - were represented in the figure.

Intelligence tests were performed on children at age four and 14. A moderate correlation was found between the exams at each age, and grades on pictures produced.

"The correlation is moderate, so our findings are interesting, but it does not mean that parents should worry if their child draws badly. Drawing ability does not determine intelligence, there are countless factors, both genetic and environmental, which affect intelligence in later life," Rosalind Arden of King's College and lead author of the study said.

The Draw-a-Child test was first developed for youngsters in the 1920's. Arden and her team were not surprised at the effect shown early in life, but the correlation seen a decade later was not expected.

Fraternal twins only share about 50 percent of their DNA with their sibling, whereas the genetic code of identical twins is 100 percent matched. However, the non-identical twins in the study were each raised together in the same household, with the same upbringing.

"Drawing is an ancient behavior, dating back beyond 15,000 years ago. Through drawing, we are attempting to show someone else what's in our mind. This capacity to reproduce figures is a uniquely human ability and a sign of cognitive ability, in a similar way to writing, which transformed the human species' ability to store information, and build a civilization," Arden told the press.

Researchers were quick to caution that this new study does not mean they uncovered a central gene controlling artistic talent. Many other factors in addition to genetics also help to determine drawing skills in children.

Study of four-year-olds and how the Draw-a-Child test can help predict future intelligence was profiled in the journal Psychological Science.