Brain surgeons and rocket scientists are no more intelligent that the general population, according to an analysis published today.
Researchers at the Department of Neurosurgery, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, and colleagues compared the intelligence of 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons with 18,257 members of the general population to see if the phrases “It’s not brain surgery” or “It’s not rocket science” were deservedly used.
Their findings are published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ – traditional home of quirky research. The researchers claim both specialties could have been “put on a pedestal” unnecessarily.
All participants completed a validated online test to measure six distinct aspects of cognition, spanning planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities.
The results showed that aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons were equally matched across most domains, but aerospace engineers showed better mental manipulation abilities, while neurosurgeons were better at semantic problem solving.
When these scores were compared to the general population, aerospace engineers did not show significant differences in any domains, but neurosurgeons solved problems faster than the general population. However, they showed a slower memory recall speed.
The researchers say despite the stereotypes depicted by the phrases “It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery,” all three groups showed a wide range of cognitive abilities.
According to recent Health Education England analysis, based on 2018 training recruitment, neurosurgery is one of the most competitive specialties for doctors – but not the most. At ST1 level there were 4.5 applicants for every place. This was outstripped by public health medicine, cardiothoracic surgery and child and adolescent psychiatry.
Usher I, Hellyer P, Siang Lee K et al. “It’s not rocket science” and “It’s not brain surgery”-“It’s a walk in the park”: prospective comparative study. BMJ 14 December 2021; doi: 10.1136/ bmj-2021-067883
Leave a Reply