Guidance for selecting academic research project topics

Testing and Measurement

According to Colom, Jung and Haier (2006, p. 1359), human intelligence incorporates more than sixty individual cognitive abilities. Yet, regardless of which particular ability is being tested, there is one common factor that incorporates all of them in a general factor of intelligence (g). This is based upon the discovery that all cognitive tests tend towards a positive correlation with one another, regardless of which cognitive domain is being tested. The authors particularly note the fact that g is significantly related to a number of psychological, social, biological, and genetic factors, which implies that it is not only related to the physiological structure of the brain itself, but also to the ways in which the organ is allowed to develop and relate with internal and external factors that influence it. Other researchers, such as Proskosch, Yeo and Miller (2005, p. 204), have suggested that the g factor also relates to an organism's body symmetry and physical fitness. One might therefore pose the question: To which degree does physical fitness correlate with general intelligence (g)?

While Colom, Jung and Haier (2006) suggest that the g-factor relates to the physiological amount of grey matter as opposed to white matter in the brain itself, Proskosch, Yeo and Miller take this a step further and propose that g significantly influences, and is influenced by, the physical development stability of the organism involved. Better body symmetry, in other words, relates to a higher g-factor than development defects.

Like Colom, Jung and Haier (2006), Prokosch, Yeo and Miller (2005, p. 204) also indicate the reliability and validity of the g-factor among intelligence test items. They go a step further by adding heritability to the common factors that determine g. Furthermore the latter group of authors also suggest that g is the most reliable indicator of educational, occupational, economic and social success in a more powerful way than any other constructs. In terms of heritability, this factor is most highly demonstrated in adult intelligence than any other factor. The authors then found that there was a significant overlap between developmental stability, body symmetry, and the g-factor, where candidates with a higher g-factor showed higher body symmetry and a higher degree of developmental stability.

This type of research suggests that there is a correlation between general intelligence (g) and physiological factors such as development stability and general physical fitness. One might develop the research question further by investigating whether intelligence can be manipulated by means of increasing actual physical fitness levels by means of exercise, for example. Since it has long been an accepted fact that the body and mind function as a mutually influencing unit within the human organism, it follows that manipulating the human body would also manipulate the mind, and by association the g-factor.

A comparison can also be made between existing, natural fitness, without any manipulation efforts by the individual, and the degree of g manifest in the individual. By making such a comparison, a conclusion can be drawn regarding the degree of correlation between g and natural body symmetry. This can then be used as a springboard for further investigation into the manipulation of the body, as mentioned above, and the influence of this on cognitive outcomes.