At least based on the popular imagination, you’d think having a big head would be an indication of greater intellect. Just look at the ultra-intelligent, bulbous-headed character Megamind (pictured above), from the movie of the same name. As with many neuromyths, there is a grain of truth to all this – among humans, brain size and intelligence (as measured by IQ tests) are correlated, albeit modestly (estimates place the correlation at around 0.3 to 0.4, where 1 would be a perfect correlation). But of course, correlation does not imply causation and there are many reasons to be careful about how we interpret the link. For starters, the modest correlation is based on an average of many people, and head/brain size will tell you nothing about a particular individual’s intelligence (bear in mind that Albert Einstein’s brain size was unexceptional, perhaps even on the small side). Consider too, that many animals have brains that are dramatically larger than human brains and yet we do n...
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