Family history may help mental agility, study reveals

A new study suggests that identifying with the lives of your ancestors can help to improve mental agility

Focusing on your ancestors can help to improve mental agility, the results of a new study suggest.

A series of pilot studies carried out by Peter Fischer, professor of social psychology at the University of Graz in Austria, revealed that thinking about their ancestors led to a "moderate increase in performance" in a series of intelligence tests. This improvement was greater than the impact of thinking about either friends or other recent life experiences.

Fischer believes that knowing more about our ancestors may lead to a greater sense of power and security, leading to an increased sense of mental control. "People should try to think about ancestors before exams, for instance – this technique should help," he told Radio 4's All In The Mind programme. Indeed, the effect is still evident even if our forebears did not turn out to be the most reputable characters: "If people think about negative experiences with their ancestors the effect goes down, but it's still there," says Fischer.