“Short looker” or a “Long looker”

     Psychologists have also found that some babies are “short lookers” and others are “long lookers.” That  is, some fix their attention for a longer period of time on a new object the first time they see it. You might think long lookers are taking in more. In fact, though, short lookers may have an advantage. Long lookers need more time to investigate the same amount of information as short lookers, and sometimes even take in less information overall than short lookers. Short lookers may be more adept, in other words, at taking in and processing new information.

     Many neuropsychologists think this kind of speed of information processing might translate into better performance on an IQ test a few years down the road, assuming that information processing speed is something built into our brains from birth and, therefore, fairly stable throughout life. Some researchers even propose that a positive response to novelty defines intelligence. There does seem to be evidence that some brains operate relatively more quickly, in this way, than others. Researchers have found that infants who are quicker in the novelty tests also, on average, perform better on IQ tests in early and middle childhood. So some people may have an advantage over other from infancy.