Answer: IQ scores
Clues: “Measure” and “Dumb”
Is America getting dumber? That’s the burning question after a study revealed a troubling trend: American IQ scores have dropped across most cognitive domains.
A recent study from Northwestern University points to a reverse Flynn Effect in the United States. Over a span of twelve years—from 2006 to 2018—the study shows significant drops in IQ scores across four out of five measured cognitive areas.
- Verbal reasoning(logic and vocabulary)
- Matrix reasoning(visual problem-solving)
- Letter and number series(math and computation)
- Verbal memory(word recall)
There’s no single explanation for this downward trend. Some experts speculate that a range of factors could be at play, including poor nutrition, deteriorating health, and even increased media exposure. However, the study authors suggest that a significant shift in education may also be contributing.
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on STEM education—science, technology, engineering, and math—which may come at the expense of other cognitive skills, such as abstract reasoning and critical thinking.
Another theory is that Americans may simply be worse at taking these tests.