The
Psychological
Clinic
Copyright, 1923, by Lightner Witmer, Editor.
Vol. XV, No. 5
January, 1924
THE RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH.
Lutz, A.M. University of Pennsylvania.
By William Filler
y
This paper is the result of an investigation ot the relation between physical and mental growth on more than a hundred boys who were given an intelligence examination (Binet, Cylinders, Auditory and Visual Memory Span), combined with a very complete physical on examination, including blood pressure and pulse readings, and, the
physician physiological age.
suggestion
of the
under whom I
was
woiking,
an
The full examination took about estimation of the physical examan hour and a half, but often, to avoid fatigue, ination was given on one day and the mental on another. On in reviewing the data obtained, I think the time was well spent this small but intensive study, as the results are in agreement with I previous investigations in this line, and also because they are,
think, the
first in which
an
intelligence examination by
an
appro\ed
made on a physical examination of such detail have been so many boys of these ages. Dr. J. H. IvIcCurdy1 at Clark University did some work in correlating physical and mental growth, but as his "Intelligence rating was more a scholarship rating based on school grades and by different teachers with different standards, it does not give a definite or standard grade for the estimation of intelligence. In his work, the items studied were heart rate, blood pressure, pubescence, height, weight, strength, lung capacity, and scholarship. 1 scale and
have
used the same items with the exception of strength tests. In the matter of height-weight, this study is in agreement with that of other observers?that a high percentage of those superior
in height-weight indices are also superior in intelligence; that weight alone is a less positive factor, for the over-weight boy is not usually over-weight mental^; that in chest capacity there is the same agreement, in that nearly all the boys of superior intelligence had a chest capacity above the average. 1 McCurdy, J. H. "Physical Efficiency Tests During Adolcsccncc." the loth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography.
of Reprinted from the Transactions
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
126
investigation of systolic blood pressure and intelligence clear; so many factors must be taken into consideration? nervousness, fatigue, physical condition and also the fact that blood pressure in boys is greatly influenced by physiological age, the normal pressure in the various stages of pubescence having a considerable range?in P 1 (beginning of pubescence) from 94 to 108; in P 2 (mid-pubescence) from 100 to 128; in P 3 (post-pubescence) from 96 to 118, although there is considerable variation even here; there was evident a gradual but not an abrupt rise of blood pressure in pubescence. As a general rule, the duller boys ran a lower systolic blood pressure at the corresponding physiological age than the boys The
is not
so
of the
superior intelligence group, which agrees with the small amount of previous work in this field. McCurdy says:1 "It may
noted, however, in a few cases, that a high rate, a large variation changing from the horizontal to the standing position, and also a low blood pressure, went with poor scholarship." Very little work has been done in this line, but it seems a very reasonable hypothesis to assume that the activity of the central nervous system operating on its highest level (Hughlings-Jackson's threelevel theory2 of intellectual activity is not uninfluenced by the force "The higher centers are built upon and rate of the blood supply. the lower ones; intelligence and morality are related to the physical integrity of the lower centers."3 be
in heart rate in
As the result of the observation of blood pressure in 2300 cases, Dr. Judson and Dr. Nicholson4 state that "Systolic blood pressure varies from 91 mm. in the 4th year to 105.5 in the 14th year; the widest variations are from 10th to 14th year, with a rapid elevation in 14th year will furnish a
during adolescence," and, "Blood of determining physical tone
means
of children who
are
below par but have
no
pressure readings of a large number
demonstrable
pathological
lesion." It may also
give an index of mental tone, especially in alertness and dullness as related to normal, bright and dull types. Dr. Faught5 makes this observation which is probably of diagnostic value both in mental and physical fields?"Essential Hypotension: occasionally there are cases which seem to have a constitutionally low blood pressure. These cases show no definite signs
of disease and
no
discoverable
cause can
be
assigned
for this
1 McCurdy, J. H. "Adolescent Changes in Heart Rate and Blood Pressure," p. 10. (Thesis Presented at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., June, 1909, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master's Degree.) 2 The Three Level Theory. Journal of Mental Science, 1887-1888, XXXIII, pp. 25-28. ! McCurdy, J. H. Op. cit., p. 3. * Judson and Nicholson. American Journal Diseases of Children, VIII, 1914, p. 267. 5 F. A. Faught, M.D. "Blood Pressure from the Clinical Standpoint." 1914.
RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH. 127
condition, though
sometimes it may develop later that this state reality an early sign of tuberculous infection. Such individuals are frequently unequal to any particular ejjort either mental or physical. This is in agreement with the suggestion advanced in this paper that the "dull" group has usually a blood pressure below the average was
in
for their age. The investigation of
definite results.
age and mental
physiological
That there is
growth
a
age seemed to
direct relation between
has been
suggested by
several
yield more physiological investigators,
but very little work has been done and few positive statements are " to be found. Baldwin1 says, Physiological age is, the writer believes,
directly correlated with stages of mental maturation," and, ''another experimental study just completed shows that the mental age of
the individual bears a direct relationship to the physiological age as indicated by height and weight. The results show that at each chronological age the physiologically accelerated bo\s and giils have a higher mental age than those of the average 01 below the average physiological age." Dr. C. Ward Crampton2 says, "Earlier pubescence favors good Irving King scholarship; later pubescence, poorer scholarship. "
over-age individuals in all the three physiological stages aie to those of normal growth." The results of this investigagation show, to remarkable degree, that almost all the earlier pubescent group were of intelligence type with Intelligence says
inferior
superior Quotients ranging from 110 to 169; that those who "Dull"?I. Q. under 90?had a retarded pubescence;
may be called in the normal
?90-109
Intelligence Group?the pubescence was as a rule normal In the normal group, pubescence begins at 13.5 years, and post-pubescence at 15.5-16. (Godin4 states that the average time from P-l to P-3 is about 18 months.) In the dull group, pubescence starts at 14.5, but none of this group have reached postpubescence In the
at 15 years, and some not at 17 years.
Superior Group, pubescence had begun in the majority 12.5, and had been, or would have been completed at 13-13.5?apparently 4 to 6 months less time is taken in maturing
of cases at
in this group than in the others.
boys,
taken
So that in this group ot 100 average
as
they come, from different social groups but all oi American parentage and medically in good health, post-pubescence 1
Baldwin, Bird T. " The Physical Growth of Children from Birth to Maturity." University of Iowa Studies Child Welfare. Vol. No. I, 1. June, 1921. 2 Crampton, C. W. "The Influence of Physiological Age Upon Scholarship." The Psychological Clinic, Vol. I, 1907, pp. 115-120.
in
8
King, Irving.
PP. 222-229. 4
"Physiological
Age and School Standing."
Godin, P. Recherches anthroporactriquep
sur
The Psychological Clinic, Vol. VII, 1914,
la Croissance, Paris, 1902, pp. 180-197.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
128
is reached as follows: in the average (normal) intelligence group 15; in the inferior group at 16, and in the mentally superior group at 12.9 to 13 years. This is in agreement with the views advanced by Crampton and Baldwin, who have done the most, and almost the onfy work at
early pubescence favors good scholarship, and later scholarship, and that the over-age individuals in all three stages of Physiological Growth are inferior to those of normal growth; that superiority in height-weTght and lung capacity are directly favorable to mental growth and school efficiency, so that a sound mind is most likely to be found in a sound body. Binet says that native intelligence appears to improve but little after the age of 15 or 10?" although the location of this point is not exactl}'- known." May not this point be the establishment of physiological maturity? At this time the whole endocrine system is functioning. May not the full establishment of this system be necessary for the attaining of the maximum level of individual intelligence? Basic intelligence then is established with the attainment of adult endocrine function, the chronological time of which varies with the individual, and cannot be fixed at a definite chronological age. Therefore, in adolescence, before a definite diagnosis of mental retardation be made, the physiological age of the individual should be established; for it is possible for a child to be of normal mental growth for his phj^siological age, and yet fall short of the mental age required by the tests for his age in years. In such cases of late physiological growth, a final statement of mental age must await physiological maturity. Dr. Crampton1 says, "We cannot tell from the number of years which the individual has lived what stage of development he may be in. The pedagogical and chronological The age based upon it do not give us trustworthy information. change from an asexual to a sexual life may occur at any age from 0 to 20, and when it does occur the changes are profound. In the in this
line, pubescence,
that
poorer
short space of six months the child becomes a man or woman. New mental abilities appear while others disappear. At this time the most important epoch in life, second only in significance to birth, the child commences a period which can only be likened to an explosion of
growth
a
or year
and
of
and
and the
development. After a variable length a half, a slowing down process arises year mind and body proceed with a period of ripening that
time,
we
call
adolescence."
If these facts be of
on
definitely
established
by
farther
i"The Significance Physiological Age in Education." Transactions of the Hygiene and Demography. 1912, p. 225.
15th
investigulions International Congress
RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH. 129
which are on the way, it would clearly indicate that those factors which tend to bring about early maturity should be more clearly established with their relations to physical and mental vigor. In the educational field, it would indicate, as Baldwin1 well says, "that tall
healthy children of accelerated physiological age be encouraged to proceed as rapidly as possible within the limits of thoroughness and endurance through school, and that the small, short, under-
height longer
children of retarded physiological development be detained in the normal and lower grades, doing supplementary work, since such children
are as a rule immature mentally, although instances precocious in superficial brightness." A brief summary of the results of the mental and physical examinations of the 100 boys who form the basis of this paper is
maybe,
in some
appended. SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
Physiologically accelerated Systolic blood pressure above average for physiological
age
Average systolic 1
1914.
blood pressure
Dull.
Normal.
Bright.
0
10%
62%
19%
0
95.5
Baldwin, Bird T. "Physical Growth and School Process." U. S.
mm.
Bureau
104 mm.
41% 108 mm.
of Education, Bulletin No. 10,
Psychological
Clinic
Copyright, 1923, by Lightner Witmer, Editor.
Vol. XV, No. 5
January, 1924
THE RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH.
Lutz, A.M. University of Pennsylvania.
By William Filler
y
This paper is the result of an investigation ot the relation between physical and mental growth on more than a hundred boys who were given an intelligence examination (Binet, Cylinders, Auditory and Visual Memory Span), combined with a very complete physical on examination, including blood pressure and pulse readings, and, the
physician physiological age.
suggestion
of the
under whom I
was
woiking,
an
The full examination took about estimation of the physical examan hour and a half, but often, to avoid fatigue, ination was given on one day and the mental on another. On in reviewing the data obtained, I think the time was well spent this small but intensive study, as the results are in agreement with I previous investigations in this line, and also because they are,
think, the
first in which
an
intelligence examination by
an
appro\ed
made on a physical examination of such detail have been so many boys of these ages. Dr. J. H. IvIcCurdy1 at Clark University did some work in correlating physical and mental growth, but as his "Intelligence rating was more a scholarship rating based on school grades and by different teachers with different standards, it does not give a definite or standard grade for the estimation of intelligence. In his work, the items studied were heart rate, blood pressure, pubescence, height, weight, strength, lung capacity, and scholarship. 1 scale and
have
used the same items with the exception of strength tests. In the matter of height-weight, this study is in agreement with that of other observers?that a high percentage of those superior
in height-weight indices are also superior in intelligence; that weight alone is a less positive factor, for the over-weight boy is not usually over-weight mental^; that in chest capacity there is the same agreement, in that nearly all the boys of superior intelligence had a chest capacity above the average. 1 McCurdy, J. H. "Physical Efficiency Tests During Adolcsccncc." the loth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography.
of Reprinted from the Transactions
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
126
investigation of systolic blood pressure and intelligence clear; so many factors must be taken into consideration? nervousness, fatigue, physical condition and also the fact that blood pressure in boys is greatly influenced by physiological age, the normal pressure in the various stages of pubescence having a considerable range?in P 1 (beginning of pubescence) from 94 to 108; in P 2 (mid-pubescence) from 100 to 128; in P 3 (post-pubescence) from 96 to 118, although there is considerable variation even here; there was evident a gradual but not an abrupt rise of blood pressure in pubescence. As a general rule, the duller boys ran a lower systolic blood pressure at the corresponding physiological age than the boys The
is not
so
of the
superior intelligence group, which agrees with the small amount of previous work in this field. McCurdy says:1 "It may
noted, however, in a few cases, that a high rate, a large variation changing from the horizontal to the standing position, and also a low blood pressure, went with poor scholarship." Very little work has been done in this line, but it seems a very reasonable hypothesis to assume that the activity of the central nervous system operating on its highest level (Hughlings-Jackson's threelevel theory2 of intellectual activity is not uninfluenced by the force "The higher centers are built upon and rate of the blood supply. the lower ones; intelligence and morality are related to the physical integrity of the lower centers."3 be
in heart rate in
As the result of the observation of blood pressure in 2300 cases, Dr. Judson and Dr. Nicholson4 state that "Systolic blood pressure varies from 91 mm. in the 4th year to 105.5 in the 14th year; the widest variations are from 10th to 14th year, with a rapid elevation in 14th year will furnish a
during adolescence," and, "Blood of determining physical tone
means
of children who
are
below par but have
no
pressure readings of a large number
demonstrable
pathological
lesion." It may also
give an index of mental tone, especially in alertness and dullness as related to normal, bright and dull types. Dr. Faught5 makes this observation which is probably of diagnostic value both in mental and physical fields?"Essential Hypotension: occasionally there are cases which seem to have a constitutionally low blood pressure. These cases show no definite signs
of disease and
no
discoverable
cause can
be
assigned
for this
1 McCurdy, J. H. "Adolescent Changes in Heart Rate and Blood Pressure," p. 10. (Thesis Presented at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., June, 1909, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master's Degree.) 2 The Three Level Theory. Journal of Mental Science, 1887-1888, XXXIII, pp. 25-28. ! McCurdy, J. H. Op. cit., p. 3. * Judson and Nicholson. American Journal Diseases of Children, VIII, 1914, p. 267. 5 F. A. Faught, M.D. "Blood Pressure from the Clinical Standpoint." 1914.
RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH. 127
condition, though
sometimes it may develop later that this state reality an early sign of tuberculous infection. Such individuals are frequently unequal to any particular ejjort either mental or physical. This is in agreement with the suggestion advanced in this paper that the "dull" group has usually a blood pressure below the average was
in
for their age. The investigation of
definite results.
age and mental
physiological
That there is
growth
a
age seemed to
direct relation between
has been
suggested by
several
yield more physiological investigators,
but very little work has been done and few positive statements are " to be found. Baldwin1 says, Physiological age is, the writer believes,
directly correlated with stages of mental maturation," and, ''another experimental study just completed shows that the mental age of
the individual bears a direct relationship to the physiological age as indicated by height and weight. The results show that at each chronological age the physiologically accelerated bo\s and giils have a higher mental age than those of the average 01 below the average physiological age." Dr. C. Ward Crampton2 says, "Earlier pubescence favors good Irving King scholarship; later pubescence, poorer scholarship. "
over-age individuals in all the three physiological stages aie to those of normal growth." The results of this investigagation show, to remarkable degree, that almost all the earlier pubescent group were of intelligence type with Intelligence says
inferior
superior Quotients ranging from 110 to 169; that those who "Dull"?I. Q. under 90?had a retarded pubescence;
may be called in the normal
?90-109
Intelligence Group?the pubescence was as a rule normal In the normal group, pubescence begins at 13.5 years, and post-pubescence at 15.5-16. (Godin4 states that the average time from P-l to P-3 is about 18 months.) In the dull group, pubescence starts at 14.5, but none of this group have reached postpubescence In the
at 15 years, and some not at 17 years.
Superior Group, pubescence had begun in the majority 12.5, and had been, or would have been completed at 13-13.5?apparently 4 to 6 months less time is taken in maturing
of cases at
in this group than in the others.
boys,
taken
So that in this group ot 100 average
as
they come, from different social groups but all oi American parentage and medically in good health, post-pubescence 1
Baldwin, Bird T. " The Physical Growth of Children from Birth to Maturity." University of Iowa Studies Child Welfare. Vol. No. I, 1. June, 1921. 2 Crampton, C. W. "The Influence of Physiological Age Upon Scholarship." The Psychological Clinic, Vol. I, 1907, pp. 115-120.
in
8
King, Irving.
PP. 222-229. 4
"Physiological
Age and School Standing."
Godin, P. Recherches anthroporactriquep
sur
The Psychological Clinic, Vol. VII, 1914,
la Croissance, Paris, 1902, pp. 180-197.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
128
is reached as follows: in the average (normal) intelligence group 15; in the inferior group at 16, and in the mentally superior group at 12.9 to 13 years. This is in agreement with the views advanced by Crampton and Baldwin, who have done the most, and almost the onfy work at
early pubescence favors good scholarship, and later scholarship, and that the over-age individuals in all three stages of Physiological Growth are inferior to those of normal growth; that superiority in height-weTght and lung capacity are directly favorable to mental growth and school efficiency, so that a sound mind is most likely to be found in a sound body. Binet says that native intelligence appears to improve but little after the age of 15 or 10?" although the location of this point is not exactl}'- known." May not this point be the establishment of physiological maturity? At this time the whole endocrine system is functioning. May not the full establishment of this system be necessary for the attaining of the maximum level of individual intelligence? Basic intelligence then is established with the attainment of adult endocrine function, the chronological time of which varies with the individual, and cannot be fixed at a definite chronological age. Therefore, in adolescence, before a definite diagnosis of mental retardation be made, the physiological age of the individual should be established; for it is possible for a child to be of normal mental growth for his phj^siological age, and yet fall short of the mental age required by the tests for his age in years. In such cases of late physiological growth, a final statement of mental age must await physiological maturity. Dr. Crampton1 says, "We cannot tell from the number of years which the individual has lived what stage of development he may be in. The pedagogical and chronological The age based upon it do not give us trustworthy information. change from an asexual to a sexual life may occur at any age from 0 to 20, and when it does occur the changes are profound. In the in this
line, pubescence,
that
poorer
short space of six months the child becomes a man or woman. New mental abilities appear while others disappear. At this time the most important epoch in life, second only in significance to birth, the child commences a period which can only be likened to an explosion of
growth
a
or year
and
of
and
and the
development. After a variable length a half, a slowing down process arises year mind and body proceed with a period of ripening that
time,
we
call
adolescence."
If these facts be of
on
definitely
established
by
farther
i"The Significance Physiological Age in Education." Transactions of the Hygiene and Demography. 1912, p. 225.
15th
investigulions International Congress
RELATION OF MENTAL TO PHYSICAL GROWTH. 129
which are on the way, it would clearly indicate that those factors which tend to bring about early maturity should be more clearly established with their relations to physical and mental vigor. In the educational field, it would indicate, as Baldwin1 well says, "that tall
healthy children of accelerated physiological age be encouraged to proceed as rapidly as possible within the limits of thoroughness and endurance through school, and that the small, short, under-
height longer
children of retarded physiological development be detained in the normal and lower grades, doing supplementary work, since such children
are as a rule immature mentally, although instances precocious in superficial brightness." A brief summary of the results of the mental and physical examinations of the 100 boys who form the basis of this paper is
maybe,
in some
appended. SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
Physiologically accelerated Systolic blood pressure above average for physiological
age
Average systolic 1
1914.
blood pressure
Dull.
Normal.
Bright.
0
10%
62%
19%
0
95.5
Baldwin, Bird T. "Physical Growth and School Process." U. S.
mm.
Bureau
104 mm.
41% 108 mm.
of Education, Bulletin No. 10,
