Kirata
Posts: 15477
Joined: 2/11/2006 From: USA Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JeffBC ignoring, of course, the fact that amount of brain matter means little when we're looking at intelligence Well hold on there... Brain size and intelligence are related "For all age and sex groups, it is now very clear that brain volume and intelligence are related," said lead researcher Michael A. McDaniel, Ph.D., an industrial and organizational psychologist who specializes in the study of intelligence and other predictors of job performance... The study is the most comprehensive of its kind, drawing conclusions from 26 previous - mostly recent - international studies involving brain volume and intelligence. However, there have been questions raised as to whether this holds true only within a species, or also in cross-species comparisons. What does brain size say about a creature's mental abilities? Emes, Grant and colleagues agree with Marino and Uhen that intelligence and differences between species are due to molecular complexity at the synaptic level. "The basic dogma says that the computational properties of the brain are based on the number of neurons and synapses," Grant says. "But we modify that by saying that the molecular complexity within those synapses is also important." That makes sense, because there are no gender differences in IQ despite the fact the men tend to have larger brains. But once you control for such factors, bigger brains win across the board. And we have a good idea why. Specific Genes Linked to Big Brains and Intelligence Brain size and smarts are, to some extent, genetic — and now, a team of more than 200 researchers has uncovered specific genes that are linked to both brain volume and IQ... At this spot, every C-allele variant was linked to not only lower intracranial volume, but also to lower IQ scores on the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery, a measure of intelligence. Unfortunately, none of this seems to have much effect on the values people hold. I know some very intelligent people that I wouldn't trust to take care of a fucking houseplant. K.
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