If individuals want to improve their IQ, all they have to do is adopt a more positive mindset, according to the results of a recent Michigan State University study.

These findings, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, reveal that people who think they can learn from their mistakes respond differently to errors than those who do not think they can improve after they err.

During the study, researchers outfitted participants with a cap that recorded electrical activity in their brains. They were then asked to complete tasks that were easy to make mistakes on, such as identifying the middle letter in a five-letter series.

Based on the results of these tasks, the researchers found that participants who felt they could learn from their mistakes did much better after making errors.

"This finding is exciting in that it suggests people who think they can learn from mistakes have brains that are more tuned to pick up on mistakes very quickly," said Jason Moser, assistant professor of clinical psychology at MSU and the study's lead researcher.

Individuals who make an effort to learn from their mistakes and are curious to see what impact this action is having on their intelligence may want to take an IQ test.