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

October 8, 2025

Scientists have discovered that DMT, a natural compound found in plants and even the human brain, can dramatically reduce brain damage caused by stroke. The psychoactive molecule, long known for its hallucinogenic effects, restored the blood-brain ...
Researchers in Japan have pinpointed a biological cause of Long COVID brain fog using advanced PET brain imaging. They discovered widespread increases in AMPA receptor density linked to cognitive ...
Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region called the paraventricular nucleus of the ...
A University of New Mexico scientist is revealing what might be one of the most overlooked causes of dementia — damage in the brain’s tiny blood vessels. Dr. Elaine Bearer has created a new way to classify these changes, showing that many people ...
A new study shows glioblastoma isn’t confined to the brain—it erodes the skull and hijacks the immune system within skull marrow. The cancer opens channels that let inflammatory cells enter the brain, fueling its deadly progression. Even drugs ...
Stanford scientists found that aging disrupts the brain’s internal navigation system in mice, mirroring spatial memory decline in humans. Older mice struggled to recall familiar locations, while a few “super-agers” retained youthful brain ...
Researchers from Leeds found that overeating is driven more by what people believe about food than by its actual ingredients or level of processing. Foods perceived as fatty, sweet, or highly processed were more likely to trigger indulgence. ...
Scientists discovered that lifelong social support can slow biological aging. Using DNA-based “epigenetic clocks,” they found that people with richer, more sustained relationships showed younger biological profiles and lower inflammation. The ...
Researchers have uncovered how a protein called MRAP2 acts as a key regulator of hunger. It helps move the appetite receptor MC4R to the cell’s surface, allowing it to send stronger “stop eating” signals. The discovery offers new hope for ...
A massive new study combining observational and genetic data overturns the long-held belief that light drinking protects the brain. Researchers found that dementia risk rises in direct proportion to alcohol consumption, with no safe level ...
Researchers uncovered a key cellular regulator, PP2A-B55alpha, that controls both the cleanup of damaged mitochondria and the creation of new ones. In Parkinson’s disease models, reducing this regulator improved symptoms and mitochondrial health. ...
New research from Houston Methodist reveals how obesity may directly drive Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists discovered that tiny messengers released by fat tissue, called extracellular vesicles, can carry harmful signals that accelerate the buildup ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET