New research shows that brain scans can fairly accurately predict just how intelligent we are. Or at least, how good we are at abstract reasoning, which is much of what makes a person seem smart. 

The researchers call it "fluid intelligence," but it's basically a term for how well our brain talks to itself, how quickly it can form connections between concepts and stimuli. Here's a classic example: Look at the sentences below.

How are bats like birds? 

How are bats like cats?

You can probably answer the first question faster. Bats are like birds in that they can fly. (Or maybe you're a real smartass, and you said they have wings, or have good night vision.) The second question might have taken you an extra second or two: Bats are like cats in that they are both mammals. The neuroconnection between bats and "flying" is very strong. The connection between bats and "mammals" is a bit weaker. People with strong "fluid intelligence" have stronger connections between concepts—in this example, perhaps they associate bats with being mammals almost as strongly as they associate bats with flight.

And these connections in the brain can actually be seen on a brain scan. You would guess that scientists could spot them the best if the person was actually engaging in some sort of mental activity (say, the bat experiment above), but it turns out that the person can be doing anything, even resting, and the experimenters could see these neuro-connections. Similarly, Albert Einstein's brain, which was famously harvested after his death, shows incredibly strong brain connectivity, which may account for his legendary intelligence.

Which means that (uh-oh) intelligence is probably mostly hard-wired in there. 

As a result of this increased understanding of how the neuroconnections work, the researchers could foresee how well subjects would do on motor, memory, and intelligence tests, just by looking at their brain scans.

In fact, the scans seem to be so precise that the researchers predict that, in time, we will be able to anticipate who will be a good writer, who excels at auditory learning, or even who is most predisposed to addiction, violence, or crime. 

That's where the research is ultimately headed—to using what we learn from all this scanning to predict whether patients will develop mental illness or other disorders that could then be spotted and treated early on. But it also means they may be able to scan your brain and tell whether you will do well on the SAT (provided, of course, that you get a solid education along with your inherent potential). 

Until then, the research will serve to creep bloggers out for decades.

The study was published today in the science journal Nature. The research was conducted by a team comprising researchers from the Human Connectome Project, Yale University, and the WU-Minn Consortium. It was funded in part by the NIH and the U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. 

Photo: Allan Ajifo | Flickr