This appears to show that the mean IQ of pandemic cohorts is down by nearly 20 points to around 80, compared to the pre-pandemic testing averaging IQ of 100. This is almost impossible to believe, unless perhaps "social distancing" is just extremely devastating to early childhood education--is there any other previous studies showing such a drastic impact on isolated children though?
> Moreover, we find that males and children in lower socioeconomic families have been most affected.<p>But arent these the same groups that ignored social distancing the most?<p>People could then interpret this paper exactly as they want: (a) lockdown made people dumb or (b) being in contact with the virus makes people dumb.
Is this really that surprising? Human beings are social animals and learn by imitation. Locking newborns into a room and preventing them from interacting with the world will stunt their development.<p>The effects of “long lockdown” are almost certainly going to be worse than those of “long covid.”
This is a bullshit study. IQ measurement among 1-year olds is less reliable than astrology.<p>And even if it weren’t, they were wearing masks when interacting with these toddlers, which, at this age, makes a lot of difference in how well you can elicit the response you want from them.<p>An IQ of 80 is borderline pathological. There is no way for something of this magnitude to happen, on average no less, without violence, substance abuse, or similar.