A major study carried out in Norway suggests IQ scores among men there have been falling since the mid-1970s. The study involved more than 700,000 men born to Norwegian couples between 1962 and 1991. The research was carried out by Oslo’s Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research. Results were published last week in the U.S.-based scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The men were given tests around age 18 to measure IQ - or intelligence quotient – as part of required military service in Norway. IQ tests are designed to measure intelligence based on areas such as vocabulary knowledge, verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills, and working memory.

In the Norwegian study, results showed the average IQ score increased about three percent for men born between 1962 and 1975 – from 99.5 to 102.3.

But the scores began dropping for men born after 1975. By 1989, the average IQ score had returned to 99.4.

The study is related to something known as the Flynn effect. This is the idea that if the same IQ tests are given to people born at different points in time, the scores will generally rise.

Aliqismet BADALOV,

“Khalq qazeti”