Female child in preschool classroom

s18_ss_headstart309239285_inline.jpg

Photography: 
WaveBreakMedia/Shutterstock.com

Louis Matzel, a psychology professor at the School of Arts and Sciences, and Bruno Sauce GSNB’15, SGS’18, as a graduate student, published a study in Psychological Bulletin finding that the inherited IQ of children can increase, especially during early childhood, with the right kind of sustained educational stimulation and attention that complements preschool instruction such as Head Start. “Genetic influences don’t run the show, nor do environmental effects,” says Matzel. “It’s the genetic-environmental interplay that is the ringmaster.”