Many people feel as though they are alone in the world at some point in their lives. However, if these feelings linger and show no signs of going away, these individuals may want to take an IQ test to see if their loneliness is having any effect on their cognitive abilities.

Based on new research, which appears in the "Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry," individuals who feel alone are at a higher risk of developing dementia later in life. Researchers found that the feeling of loneliness, as opposed to actually being alone, had the potential to harm cognitive function.

After tracking the long-term health and well-being of more than 2,000 individuals who lived on their own for three years, the researchers found that 13.4 percent of those who said they were lonely had developed dementia during this time frame. Only 5.7 percent of individuals who did not feel lonely ended up developing dementia during the same period of time.

Overall, the researchers believe that it is people's perceived lack of social attachments that plays a role in their chance of developing dementia.