研究發現 西方人智商水平呈下降趨勢

A new study from researchers in Europe claims that the average IQ in Western nations dropped by a staggering 14.1 points over the past century.

據歐洲研究人員的一項最新研究顯示，在過去一個世紀裏，西方國家的平均智商下降了14.1分。

"We tested the hypothesis that the Victorians were cleverer than modern populations using high-quality instruments, namely measures of simple visual reaction time in a meta-analytic study," the researchers wrote in the study, which was published online in the journal Intelligence.

該項研究在期刊《Intelligence》上在線發表，研究人員寫道：“我們對維多利亞時代的人比現代人更聰明這一假設進行了檢驗，使用的是一種高水平的研究工具--即簡單視覺反應時間meta分析。”

"Simple reaction time measures correlate substantially with measures of general intelligence and are considered elementary measures of cognition."

“簡單視覺反映時間的長短與一般智力測量有極大關係，被認爲是測試認知的基本方法。”

The results might surprise some. Especially if the researchers were simply measuring visual response times.

而這項研究的結果卻有些出人意料。尤其是如果研究人員只是簡單地測量視覺反映時間的話。

After all, in a digital world constantly competing for our attention, it would seem people generally respond more quickly to visual stimuli. However, the results appear to indicate something different.

畢竟，在一個不斷考驗我們注意力的數字時代，人們似乎對視覺刺激的反應應該更快一些纔對。但是，研究的結果卻與這一設想不同。

The Victorian era ran roughly from 1837 to 1901, coinciding with the reign of England's Queen Victoria.

維多利亞時代大致在1837年到1901年之間，正好與英國維多利亞女王統治的時代相吻合。

Some have credited the Reform Act of 1832 with sparking an era of previously unprecedented peace and prosperity in the U.K.

一些人認爲當時的《1832年改革法案》開啓了英國前所未有的和平與繁榮時代。

The results were measured using data from 1889 to 2004 and were analyzed by Michael A. Woodley of Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Jan te Nijenhuis of the University of Amsterdam and Raegan Murphy of the University College Cork in Ireland.

而此次研究使用的是從1889年到2004年的數據，由來自布魯塞爾自由大學的邁克爾·伍德利、來自阿姆斯特丹大學的簡以及愛爾蘭科克大學的萊根·墨菲共同研究分析。

So why has there been such a steady drop? As UPI notes, previous research studies have found that women of higher intelligence tend to have fewer children on average, meaning that population growth may be driven by those with a lower IQ.

那麼爲什麼西方人的智力水平會下降呢？正如合衆國際社所指出的那樣，之前的研究表明高智商的女性往往平均傾向於有更少的孩子，這就意味着人口增長的主體是那些智商較低人的後代。

And over time, the abundance of less intelligent offspring would affect the overall IQ average.

隨着時間的推移，大量智力低下者的後代就會影響整體智商水平。

On average, the general intelligence of those populations measured dropped by 1.23 points per decade.

平均來看，人口整體智商水平每十年就會下降1.23分。