tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post4406611331484796988..comments2024-03-22T15:55:34.030-04:00Comments on Evo and Proud: What is g anyway?Peter Frosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04303172060029254340noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-87419300625617973092010-05-05T02:47:46.237-04:002010-05-05T02:47:46.237-04:00***Miller (1994) suggested that g might correlate ...***Miller (1994) suggested that g might correlate with myelin, i.e., the fatty sheath that surrounds neurons. More myelination means faster nerve conduction, quicker reaction time and, ergo, higher intelligence. Regrettably, this hypothesis no longer seems tenable:***<br /><br />Have you read about this study by Paul Thompson?<br /><br />"The UCLA researchers took the study a step further by comparing the white matter architecture of identical twins, who share almost all their DNA, and fraternal twins, who share only half. Results showed that the quality of the white matter is highly genetically determined, although the influence of genetics varies by brain area. According to the findings, about 85 percent of the variation in white matter in the parietal lobe, which is involved in mathematics, logic, and visual-spatial skills, can be attributed to genetics. But only about 45 percent of the variation in the temporal lobe, which plays a central role in learning and memory, appears to be inherited.<br /><br />Thompson and his collaborators also analyzed the twins' DNA, and they are now looking for specific genetic variations that are linked to the quality of the brain's white matter. The researchers have already found a candidate--the gene for a protein called BDNF, which promotes cell growth. "People with one variation have more intact fibers," says Thompson."<br /><br /><br />http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22333/?a=fObserverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14437124240243787772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-20444285455722068052008-09-17T15:55:00.000-04:002008-09-17T15:55:00.000-04:00Driving is said to be a task that can be over lear...Driving is said to be a task that can be over learned and become virtually automatic, the same goes for transcribing or typing I would think. Any adult who couldn't learn to them would be thought to be somewhat retarded. Day to day and here and now problems are basically similar to those the humand mind evolved to cope with.<BR/><BR/>The sort of thinking where one mulls over an intellectual problem for a several days is not measured in one hour tests, but nor does it sound like the kind of thinking that someone with a low or average IQ would do.<BR/><BR/> Problems could concern anything; so fluid intelligence or <I>G</I> would be the most useful cognitive ability to have.<BR/> For lengthy monotonous tasks the trait of conscientousness is one explaination of the differences in performance. Possibly there are unmeasured aspects of performance but they are those that are put down to motovation, or the lack of it.<BR/><BR/> People tend to like doing the things that they excel at so motovation could be something unrelated to personality, a genetic mental aptitude for the work in fact.<BR/> <BR/>Yes, IQ tests are frozen in time with the <I>G</I> concept, there is a reason for that.<BR/>Harvard dropped a patent application for an intelligence test that used Bruce Lahn's work, he went into another area saying "it's getting too controversial".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com