This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don't apply and where socioeconomic status is not a significant factor?
Wine knowledge is a case in point. Intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University has investigated whether intelligence can predict the acquisition of deep knowledge in a specialized domain. The findings have now been published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities in an article co-authored with Professor of Psychology Timothy C.
Bates of the University of Edinburgh. "Intelligence tests can predict how well someone will perform at school and at work. But in both school and work environments, we are either required to learn or are paid to do so, and both settings are closely associated with socioeconomic background.
It is therefore difficult to determine whether intelligence itself drives learning or merely indicates that someone is more likely to find themselves in environments in which learning is either required or facilitated," says psychologist Krolo. He therefore chose a field of knowledge that most people engage with voluntarily and without financial reward: in-depth knowledge of wine. "Viticulture, winemaking and the diversity of wines do not feature on conventional school curricula, and knowledge about them is required in very few occupations.
For most people, wine knowledge offers neither salary nor career prospects," Krolo says. At the same time, acquiring a broad understanding of wine and winemaking is intellectually demanding. It requires familiarity with grape varieties and wine-growing regions, as well as an understanding of production methods and different wine styles.
"Because wine occupies a prominent and culturally visible role in many countries, we assumed that a substantial number of people engage with the subject voluntarily," says Krolo, a research associate at Saarland University. The study, conducted by lead author Krolo in collaboration with Professor Bates of the University of Edinburgh, UK, involved participants first completing the established ICAR intelligence assessment (International Cognitive Ability Resource). The participants took short cognitive ability tests that assessed their verbal and matrix reasoning, together with their ability to complete number and letter sequences.
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