Do we know what the brains of academically smart vs. normal people look and act like and what the differences are? Do the smarter people have more neurons and dendrites, or are theirs closer together or both? Do smarter people have more of certain kinds of neurochemicals, are their neurochemicals more powerful or do we not really know yet what makes a brain intelligent.
They studied einsteins brain and they found that
In general, Einstein’s brain was similar to other brains except for one area called the inferior parietal region, which was 15% wider than those of the other brains studied. The inferior parietal lobe is important for processing visual and spatial cognition, mathematical thought, and imagery of movement. The unusual development of this lobe may have been a contributing factor to his genius.
In addition, Einstein’s brain was unique in that it did not have a groove, called a sulcus, that normally runs through part of this area. The absence of the groove may have increased his mental power by allowing more neurons in this area to establish connections between each other and work together more easily.
I thought they also found he had more dense dendrites.
They’ve got a non-profit group called the Mensa Education and Research Foundation; there’s probably been some honest-to-goodness research on this topic, buy I don’t know how to find it directly. Don’t know how much you’ll be able to get from the listed site, either. Sorry.
I was at a talk a few years back, and the only snippet I recall was that high-IQ kids tend to have more allergies than others. There were other points raised - I just don’t remember them.
(I’m not loosing my memory. There’s just too damned many things to remember!)
A cell-density study was done, with slices of Einstein’s brain and slices of brains from people who had died in veteran hospitals. The sample size was very small, the other brains were taken from people who had perhaps had very little stimulation for a very long time… in short, it was a dodgy study (and I don’t have a cite for it, sorry… saw it six years ago). Einstein’s brain sections did not have significantly more neurons than the others, but did have significantly more glial cells.
People who are bipolar also tend to have IQs that are notably higher than average. Not that this answers the OP in any way other than to suggest that different wiring produces different results which we all pretty much knew already.
Woohoo, doing my work and come across the Einstein-glial-cell study. Done by Marian Diamond at Berkeley. Still don’t have an actual reference, though… I wonder if it was actually published. A PBS show was made about it.
Marian C. Diamond, Arnold B. Scheibel, Greer M. Murphy and Thomas Harvey, “On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein”, Experimental Neurology (April 1985), vol. 88, no. 1.
The Witelson study mentioned in Wesley’s link is Sandra F. Witelson, Debra L. Kigar and Thomas Harvey, “The Exceptional Brain of Albert Einstein”, The Lancet, 19 June 1999, vol. 353.
[Harvey was the Princeton Hospital pathologist who conducted the autopsy and then famously had custody of most of the brain for decades.]
This is taken from a book I’m presently reading titled Stranger in the Nest, Do Parents Really Shape THeir Child’s Personality, Intelligence, or Character? – some of the quote is outside the scope of the question – but whatever
"…observations support a biological view of intelligence as estimated by standard IQ tests:
IQ correlates with attention measured at 6 months.
IQ correlates with performance on culture-fair intelligence tests.
IQ correlates with specific brain-wave patterns.
IQ correlates with brain metabolism.
IQ correlates with brain size.
IQ correlates with the IQs of biological, but not adoptive, relatives."
Also there is a correlation of myopia (nearsightedness) and higher IQ results - about 8 points.
If anyone knows, was Einstein’s brain larger than normal or just organized differently – as already suggested?
As measured by Harvey during the autopsy, it weighed 1230g. He was later to weigh both halves seperately, which gave a slightly lighter total: the left half was 550g and the right 545g. This is apparently on the small side of normal.
Both Witelson and Diamond have tried to argue that his brain was significantly differently organised from a normal sample. I’m no neuroscientist and so am in no position to judge their results, but it’s surely worrying that they both only had one “exceptional” brain to study. Although the Soviets went in for preserving and studying such brains, in the West the idea that the brains of the eminent should be preserved for study pretty much went out with the dawn of the 20th century. Einstein’s the exceptional case in this respect: his is the brain that was preserved outside the USSR in this period - under controversial circumstances - because he was regarded as a genius. The question posed by the OP, insofar as it relates to those seen as exceptionally smart, thus invariably circles back to this isolated example.
Pretty much all of these suggestions have been disputed. Including on this board - and at some length.
Actually, I don’t place much faith in this board when it comes to taboo issues like IQ. That they’ve been “disputed” on this board is no surprise. That’s a far, far cry from the conclusion that there is no validity to these observations. I mean, how can one legitimately dispute something like IQs correlation with biological relatedness? That result shows up again and again - study after study – Yet you referred to other [credible] sources. Do you mind linking?
Well, it’s pretty hard to dispute that. :rolleyes:
In other news, speed correlates with performance on time trials!
Of course this raises the point about what a ‘culture-fair intelligence test’ is, and whether they exist (Language is cultural, so how do you communicate with the subject in a ‘culture-fair’ way?). I’m not saying “IQ tests” are useless, but their limitations should be kept in mind.
Anatomy and physiology? Well, I’m about 5’10", 125-140 lb. (depending on the season and my stipend), and beyond that you’ll have to buy me dinner first.
You need to wear something sexy to show off your dense gilial cells though. I expect something in return for dinner so you’d better know how to explain alternative energy and its role in changing the hydrocarbon economy or i’m going to tell all my friends you are a cheap tease.
I’ve quite an array of jaunty chapeaux. I’m not much on energy policy, economics, and political science in general, though. Would you take an exposition on the representation theory of the category of tangles and its application to a conjectural alternative model of physics extending quantum field theory?
My high school zoology teacher, Leo Sanders, was fond of pointing out that, “Einstein had a very large brain. So do hydrocephalic children, who are usually severely impaired.”
