Researchers, based at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London have been analysing archived data from former US soldiers who underwent intensive testing for intelligence, detailed medical examinations and provided semen samples.

The results, published in the journal Intelligence showed that in the men who performed better on intelligence tests, total sperm count was higher, as well as sperm concentration and motility. This suggests that in our ancestors, intelligence and sperm quality were linked, so intelligent men were more likely to reproduce.

It might be argued that brighter people would be less likely to smoke, and more likely to take exercise, both of which are known to impact on mental performance. But, even when lifestyle factors such as body mass index, use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and hard drugs were taken into account, there was still a statistically significant correlation between intelligence and sperm quality.

Lead researcher Dr Rosalind Arden said:

We are not trying to say that under modern conditions intelligent men are going to have more children.

We wanted to test the idea that intelligence is favoured by natural selection.

We look forward to seeing if the results can be replicated in other data sets, with other measures of intelligence and other measures of physical health that are also strongly related to evolutionary fitness.

Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield commented:

The fact that it’s possible to detect a statistical relationship between intelligence and semen quality in adult men probably says more about the co-development of brain and testicles when the man was in his mother’s womb, and therefore how well they both function in adult life, rather than suggesting that playing Sudoku can somehow stimulate more sperm to be produced.

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Posted by Jonathan in Biology, Sociobiology

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