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“It’s not rocket science” is a phrase usually used to suggest that a task or concept is not actually so difficult but fairly simple to do or understand.
But a new study suggests aerospace engineers and brain surgeons are not necessarily brighter than the general population – and that a career in either field is within anyone’s reach if they apply themselves.
Researchers compared the intelligence of 329 aerospace engineers, 72 neurosurgeons – recruited through the internet from across the UK, mainland Europe, the US and Canada – and 18,257 members of the British public.
The participants were asked to complete 12 tasks online using the Great British Intelligence Test (GBIT) from the Cognitron platform, along with questions related to their gender, age, where they live, and level of experience in their speciality.
The tasks examined aspects of cognition, spanning planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion-processing abilities.
The study pointed to a sketch by British comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb during which a boastful neurosurgeon is put in his place by a rocket scientist who says: “Brain surgery… it’s not exactly rocket science is it?”
Researchers said the purpose of the study – in part – was to settle this debate once and for all – and question whether public perceptions of rocket science and brain surgery were borne out in reality.
Their findings of their assessments suggest that contrary to belief, there were little difference between the intelligence of neurosurgeons, aerospace engineers and the general population.
Aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons were equally matched. However, aerospace engineers scored higher when assessed on their attention and mental manipulation abilities, whereas neurosurgeons were better at semantic problem solving, such as defining the meaning of rare words.
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Source : skynews
