Providence + Worcester Named Smartest Cities 2013 By Lumosity
Thursday, June 27, 2013
It took Providence’s and Worcester’s combined intellectual powers, but together the two cities ranked #28 in a new Smartest Cities 2013 ranking from Lumosity.
In what was Lumosity’s second annual Smartest Cities ranking, using data from nearly three times as many participants as 2012, the Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Providence and Worcester earned this top 30 place out of 157 designated regions.
Intelligence testing with a difference
Rather than determine cities’ collective intelligence based on income and education levels, as economists and urban researchers often do, Lumosity ranked cities using individuals’ performances on cognitive training exercises.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe ranking ordered towns according to individuals’ scores in five “brain areas” of speed, attention, flexibility, memory, and problem solving. While neither Worcester nor Providence placed in the top 50 listings for these individual “brain areas,” they scored well across the board. In the list of aggregate scores of all “brain areas,” the region of Boston, Cambridge, and Newtown ranked #49, Worcester ranked #113, Springfield ranked #116, and the united regions of Providence and Warwick ranked #252, out of 478 designated areas.
Other New England top performers
While it didn’t quite reach the achievement level of Providence and Worcester at #28 place, the regions of Springfield and Greenfield Town, MA ranked #36 in the CSA listings.
Aside from these rankings, which combined people of all ages, Lumosity also ranked regions in separate age categories. In the under 35 years ranking, the smartest younger folk clustered in Northern New England: Claremont, NH and Lebanon, VT together earned the #24 spot, Burlington VT placed #39, and Boston, Cambridge, and Newport combined to claim the #47 spot.
Where are the smartest older New Englanders? In the over 55 years category, Barnstable, MA placed #8, Laconia, NH placed #25, and the combined region of Claremont, NH and Lebanon, VT earned the #27 ranking.
Lumosity is an organization offering online brain training programs designed by neuroscientists. Their site currently boasts over 40 million users.
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