The Link Between Childhood Drawing and Intelligence

Researchers at King’s College London have found a correlation between childhood drawings at the age of 4 and intelligence. Using what they called the “Draw-a-Child Test,” researchers studied 7,752 pairs of identical and non-identical twins. At the age of 4, subjects were given verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests. Children were asked to draw a picture of a child. Drawings were rated on a 0-12 scale based on accuracy as far as presence and correct number of features. Subjects were also given verbal and non-verbal intelligence tests at age 14. Researchers discovered that children who scored higher on the Draw-a-Child Test also tended to have higher scores on the intelligence tests at age 4 as well as a decade later.

Dr. Rosalind Arden, the lead author of the paper, explains: “The correlation is moderate, so our findings are interesting, but it does not mean that parents should worry if their child draws badly. Drawing ability does not determine intelligence, there are countless factors, both genetic and environmental, which affect intelligence in later life.” The purpose of studying twins was to learn more about the role genetics plays in drawing ability and intelligence. Identical twins share 100% of their genes, while non-identical twins share around 50% of their genes.

Besides genetics, other factors such as environment and education would be similar for both twins. The study found that at age 4, drawings done by identical twins were more similar than drawings done by non-identical twins. Although this does suggest that genetics plays a part in drawing ability, Dr. Arden states: “This does not mean that there is a drawing gene – a child’s ability to draw stems from many other abilities, such as observing, holding a pencil etc. We are a long way off understanding how genes influence all these different types of behaviour.” You can read this very interesting study in its entirety here.

Originally, I had hoped to conclude this post by embarrassing myself publicly on the internet by sharing a few of my drawings from age 4 and giving you all the opportunity to score them from 0-12. However, as my parents are preparing to move, all of my precious childhood art is residing in boxes in storage. Instead, I’ll share with you some art by my amazing niece, who is a better artist (and more intelligent) than I ever was:

If the test involved drawing sheep, Hannah would have scored a 12, no doubt about it!