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A Canadian psychometric consulting company, AptiQuant, recently released a report on a study it conducted to measure the effects of cognitive ability on the choice of web browser.

The Vancouver-based AptiQuant offered free online IQ tests to over a 100,000 people and then plotted the average IQ scores based on the browser on which the test was taken. The results don’t look too good the users for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, especially its massively flawed Internet Explorer 6.

With just a look at the graphs in the report, it comes out pretty clear that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average on the IQ tests. To be precise, the average IQ of those who use IE6 is lower than those who use IE7. Oddly, though, the IQ scores of those who use IE8 are higher in average than IE9 users. Alas, the average score of IE8 users is still significantly lower than the average score of those who use any other browser.

Chrome, Firefox and Safari users had just a teeny bit higher than average IQ scores. And users of Camino, Opera and IE with Chrome Frame had exceptionally higher IQ levels.

Read the full report here.

Internet Explorer and Its Notoriety

Internet Explorer has been a long-time agony for web developers. Any IT company involved in web development will acknowledge the fact that millions of hours are wasted each year to make otherwise perfectly functional websites work in Internet Explorer, which is notorious for its lack of compatibility with web standards.

The continuous use of IE’s older versions by millions of people around the world has often haunted web developers. Besides making their job tougher, the devs believe that this trend has pulled back innovation by at least a decade. With the results of this study, we should certainly hope that IT companies worldwide will start to take a new look on the time and money they spend on supporting older browsers.

(image via TECH BY JACK)