For decades, every high school nerd has at least been able to cling to the fact that even though jocks might be more popular, at least they’re stupid. But a new study shows that top-flight sports players actually have real brains after all. Dammit.
The study, conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that there is a a strong correlation between a person’s athletic and cognitive abilities. It looked at soccer players, but the results scale across all similar team sports.
It turns out that there’s a significant correlation between cognitive function — including creativity and cognitive flexibility — and the number of goals and assists a player nails, according to the research that is published in PLoS One. Basically, this all means that the jocks you knew at school in the first team probably rivaled your geeky arse in terms of brain power. Sigh. [PLoS One via EurekAlert]