What is Intelligence Quotient (IQ)?

Q: What is IQ? How does IQ differ from one person to another? What should one do to improve his IQ? How can I remember things/incidents/knowledge for a longer period of time? It is very important for me to know this, kindly help.

A:IQ or Intelligence Quotient is the measure of cognitive ability of an individual and is measured in terms of mental vs. chronological age of a person. It is usually called the intelligence of a person. However, it is much more complex than that. IQ can be influenced by a combination of many factors like education, environmental influence, genetic component etc. Whether it is specifically determined by genes or by the environment is still a debatable issue. Many researchers believe that it is a combination of both. A person with high IQ parents and raised in a safe and secure environment with lot of mental stimulation is likelier to have a higher IQ than others. Thus all factors combine to make different peoples IQs different. IQ has to be differentiated from memory. IQ cannot be increased or decreased at will. Reading and problem solving abilities can be improved upon by practice but there is a definite element of geneticity in them. What you can do is be aware of things happening around you so that you can make intelligent conversations with people. It helps to have a good general knowledge. Consumption of some foods over others to increase IQ have not been sufficiently researched to warrant advice. Memory, on the other hand, can be improved by trying to make connections between things that you wish to remember and by breaking down complex information into simpler and smaller parts so that remembering them is easier. Understanding of a concept usually aids memory more rather than just mugging it up.