Scientists Find Neurosurgeons and Rocket Engineers Are Not Smarter Than Most People

The aim of the study was to dispel stereotypes and established perceptions of "complex" professions.

According to a new study by British scientists, people working in neurosurgery and rocket science are not necessarily much smarter than the general public, as was previously believed.

The researchers asked 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons to complete a series of tasks to test their abilities.

The results, published in the British Medical Journal, show that the differences between them and other Britons are insignificant.

According to the researchers, their goal was to find out which professions have an intellectual advantage.

They also wanted to determine how well-founded our perceptions of different professions are.

Forecasts suggest that both sectors, neurosurgery and rocket science, will face staff shortages in the coming decades.

So the researchers suggested that, for future hiring, it would be useful to question the stereotypes about these professions.

Specialists from both professions were assessed online in six cognitive areas using the "Big British Intelligence Test" developed at Imperial College London.

The test targeted areas such as working memory, attention and the influence of emotions. Respondents were asked about their age, gender and experience in the industry.

The results of both groups were then compared with each other, as well as with previously collected data from 18,000 Britons.

It turned out that neurosurgeons scored significantly higher than rocket scientists in solving semantic problems, such as explaining rare words.

Aerospace engineers outperformed their rivals when it came to attentiveness and mental manipulation exercises, such as mentally rotating images of objects.

However, compared with the general public, rocket scientists showed no significant differences in any of the areas.

Neurosurgeons, on the other hand, stood out in two areas: their problem-solving speed was higher, but their memorization was slower.

"It is entirely possible that neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers should not be put on a pedestal," the study says.