Can Tapping Fingers (or Toes) Predict Intelligence?

I usually give the most accurate source for a news item, if I can. Today, I link the abstract of a report in the Journal of Neurosciences, not with the hope that you can understand it, but just to show that there is a real study on which this piece is based.

Using a simpler source, which translates the abstract, I read that “people who score high on intelligence tests are also good at keeping time”.

Swedish scientists demonstrated a link between general intelligence and the ability to tap out a simple regular rhythm, emphasizing that this ability is not related to musical rhythm. A further link they found was between high intelligence, keeping time well, and a larger volume of white matter in the brain’s frontal lobes, which are normally involved in problem solving, planning, and good time management. This suggests, say the scientists, that intelligence has a biological basis in the number of nerve fibers in the prefrontal lobes, with more fibers giving greater stability to nerve cell activity.

Do you suppose that one could stimulate the development of greater intelligence by starting rhythmic activity at an early age? Give that child a toy drum!