New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intellectual giftedness

Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. Giftedness is a trait that starts at birth and continues throughout the life-span. Giftedness is not a marker of success, but rather of aptitude or the inherent ability to learn. Gifted children often develop asynchronously; their minds are often ahead of their physical growth, and specific cognitive and emotional functions are often at different stages of development. Gifted individuals also experience the world differently, resulting in unique social and emotional issues. Some research suggests that gifted children have greater psychomotor, sensual, imaginative, intellectual, and emotional "overexcitabilities". Many schools use a variety of measures of students' capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single measure can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child. Most IQ tests do not have the capacity to discriminate accurately at higher IQ levels, and are perhaps only effective at determining whether a student is gifted rather than distinguishing among levels of giftedness. Although the Wechsler tests have a ceiling of about 160, their creator has admitted that they are intended to be used within the average range (between 70 and 130), and are not intended for use at the extreme ends of the population.

Related Stories
 


Mind & Brain News

September 9, 2026

Semaglutide, the drug behind Ozempic and Wegovy, may have benefits that extend well beyond weight loss and diabetes. In a large Swedish study of nearly 15,000 people with bipolar disorder, its use was linked to a 21% lower risk of psychiatric ...
Starting statins soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis may do more than protect the heart. In a nationwide Danish study of more than 132,000 people, those who began statin treatment within a year of diagnosis had a 15% lower relative risk of ...
A large study involving more than 270,000 people has linked higher blood levels of the amino acid tyrosine to a shorter lifespan in men. Using both observational data and genetic analysis, researchers found that elevated tyrosine could potentially ...
Older adults at risk of dementia improved their memory and thinking after following lifestyle programs combining exercise, healthy eating, cognitive training, and social engagement. Those who received regular coaching and structured support improved ...
Researchers may have found a new way to weaken glioblastoma’s defenses against treatment. Blocking a protein called SET prevented tumors from forming in preclinical models, while targeting related proteins made cancer cells more vulnerable to ...
A substance found in edible sea squirts appeared to reverse several signs of aging in older mice. Plasmalogen supplements improved memory and learning, strengthened connections between brain cells, reduced inflammation, and even helped the mice grow ...
UCLA researchers have discovered two powerful influences that help guide how the human brain forms before birth. Radial glia, stem cells responsible for producing much of the cerebral cortex, change their behavior depending on how they process ...
Duke researchers developed an injectable scaffold that helped stroke-damaged brains grow new blood vessels, support nerve regrowth, and recover movement in mice. The treatment appears to work partly by recruiting the body’s own immune cells, ...
Aging may be partly fueled by immune cells losing their ability to clear away damaged, inflammation-promoting cells. Blocking a single receptor restored that cleanup process in mice, reducing inflammation and helping their organs, muscles, and ...
Some of the attention patterns that make ADHD challenging may also help spark creativity by allowing the brain to explore more ideas and unexpected connections. Researchers think creative activities could potentially channel this “defocused ...
Brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s may begin at least seven years before amyloid plaques become detectable with current PET scans. Researchers uncovered the signal by tracking healthy older adults with repeated brain imaging over nearly 20 ...
Mindfulness, gratitude, and optimism training may improve blood pressure, inflammation, and other heart-health measures within just eight to 12 weeks. The strongest programs paired daily practice with regular reinforcement, suggesting that improving ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET