Want smart kids, leave many books in the house

The larger the number of books that children have the ability to interact with in the home, the higher their thinking ability.

Professor Brian Avants, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in the US, and his colleagues analyzed information about the lives of 64 people. These people were followed for 20 years, meaning that when they were young until they became adults, Fox News reported.

When the subject is small, experts focus on objects that can stimulate mental activity - such as toys or books. They then regularly observed the subject's brain with magnetic resonance imaging in the following years for analysis.

The more children are exposed to books and toys, the more their thinking ability develops.

The results showed that the cortex of people living in the environment had many thought-provoking objects from the age of 4 thinner than other children. This trend does not depend on the parents' intelligence index. The thinner the cortex, the greater the ability to think.

The thickness of the cortex changes constantly throughout a person's life. The younger the child, the thicker the cortex. But in human development, the cortex removes unnecessary cells and becomes thinner. The remaining cells will specialize to suit the surrounding environment.

"The more people are exposed to books, toys and neurotransmitters the thinner the cortex. The more active the brain cells are, the more they become specialized to perform some functions. Certainly, the cortex of people with high IQs is usually thinner than the brain of people with low IQ , ' explains Avants.

Interestingly, the indoor environment does not affect a child's cortex from the age of eight. Therefore, parents should care about the indoor environment right from the young age.

"The reason is that the human brain is very sensitive to the environment during the period before the age of eight. But we also think that, since the age of eight, the child's time at home is less than the previous time. " , the team argues.