Specialists in the field of rocket lighting and neurosurgeons are not smarter than the average person, that is, they have the same level of intellect, as well as the population as a whole. Scientists of London University College and other UK Scientific Centers came to this conclusion. They published their own conclusions at British Medical Journal.
Researchers compared the indicators of intelligence 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons with 18,257 ordinary people. All participants have passed an online test for measuring six different indicators associated with intelligence, including planning, reasoning, work memory, attention and emotional intelligence. At the same time, such third-party factors as the floor, the prevailing hand and work experience in the specialty are taken into account.
It turned out that aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons differed only in two aspects. The first were characterized by the best ability to mental concentration and attention, and the second to the processing of semantic information. When compared with the general population, rocket students did not stand out by any features. Neurosurgeons faster solved problems than the population as a whole, but their recovery rate of memories was lower.
The authors of the work recognize that the study is observational, that is, it does not reveal the causal relationship between the level of intelligence and the profession, and does not include the entire spectrum of aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons.