Can You Increase IQ?

Can you really increase your IQ? Spoiler: big lasting jumps are rare. Discover what actually moves the needle (and what’s just hype).

Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist

IQ reflects an individual’s position within their age group rather than a fixed quantity of knowledge. Research shows that this relative ranking remains largely stable after adolescence. Although scores can fluctuate slightly across a lifetime, broad changes are uncommon. This consistency comes from both genetic influence and the enduring structure of cognitive ability, which remains stable even as people gain experience or education.

Environmental and Developmental Factors

While genetics provides the foundation for intelligence, the environment shapes how that potential is expressed. Early exposure to language, stimulating activities, and quality education supports higher performance on cognitive tasks. Adoption and early intervention studies show that children from enriched environments perform better than those raised in deprivation, though the gains are usually modest and taper once circumstances equalize.

Over longer timescales, population-wide improvements in living conditions have led to gradual increases in average IQ scores, which is a trend known as the Flynn Effect. Learn more about the concept of the Flynn Effect here.

Education and Cognitive Growth

Formal schooling enhances reasoning, vocabulary, and numeracy, all of which overlap with abilities measured by IQ tests. Each additional year of education corresponds to a small rise in average IQ, especially during early childhood when cognitive development is most dynamic. However, education probably improves the expression of intelligence rather than altering its underlying structure. Population averages may rise with educational expansion, but individuals typically maintain their relative rank if they’re all going to school (as occurs in many countries).

The Limits of Training and “Brain Games”

Short-term interventions often claim to raise IQ through memory exercises or computerized training, but the effects are narrow. Research shows that participants only improve on the specific tasks they practice and similar tasks and that there is no improvement on overall intelligence.

Gains in familiarity with a task or focus do not represent genuine increases in cognitive ability, and performance typically returns to baseline once training stops. Because IQ tests are designed to measure reasoning rather than learned strategies, substantial, lasting improvement from practice is unlikely.

Health and Biological Factors

Physical well-being influences cognitive functioning. Adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, and avoidance of toxins support optimal performance, while illness, malnutrition, or substance exposure can temporarily reduce test scores. Improvements in health restore prior ability rather than create new capacity. The same holds for supplements or medications that affect alertness. They can sharpen performance in the moment but do not raise intelligence itself.

Although lasting IQ increases are rare, detecting genuine differences requires reliable testing. The Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test (RIOT), developed by Dr. Russell T. Warne, was designed to measure reasoning ability with professional accuracy.

Watch “The Hidden Problem in Every Classroom: Why Teaching by Age Doesn’t Work” with Karen Rambo-Hernandez on the Riot IQ YouTube channel to explore how environment and learning can influence intellectual growth.