Study scholars have used its data to assess hypotheses about talent development and occupational preferences.
SMPY was founded by Julian Stanley in 1971 at Johns Hopkins University, with funding from the Spencer Foundation.
Subjects are identified by high scores on the SAT Reasoning Test, which they take at or before the age of 13 years.
SMPY found that talented individuals tend to pursue careers that draw upon their cognitive strengths.
Highly able youth with notably stronger mathematical than verbal ability often study and work in science and engineering, whereas adolescents with better verbal scores frequently went into the humanities, arts, social science, or law.