Shenk states, “Intelligence is not
an innate aptitude…but a collection of developing skills driven by interaction
between genes and environment” (34) but the problem is that “few adults come
close to their true intellectual potential” (34). Some believe that one’s
intelligence is a fixed quantity but that isn’t necessarily true. What are some
ways one can increase his or her intelligence? What term proves that no ability
is fixed and explain that term thoroughly. Also, on page 35, Shenk states that
London taxi drivers are able to maneuver their way around the intricate road
system because of their enlarged posterior hippocampus. Eleanor Maguire
discovered a correlation between the size of the posterior hippocampus and the
length of a driver’s career. So, state what that correlation is and explain how
one could use that information to increase his or her intelligence. Shenk also
states, “The cortex has a remarkable capacity for remodeling after
environmental change” (35). Try to relate the biological theme, evolution to
Shenk’s statement. Also, try and use terms like operant and classical
conditioning from chapter 51 of the Campbell biology book and relate them to
evolution and Shenk’s previous statement.
(Krish Desai) Kjdesai5@mac.com
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ReplyDeleteYale psychologist Robert Sternberg says, “Intelligence represents a set of competencies in development” (51). Shenk further states that, “intelligence is a dynamic, diffuse, and ongoing process” (51) and therefore, intelligence changes with every passing day and new experience. The human muscles and brain regions adapt to the demands that we make of it. Therefore, the way someone can increase his or her intelligence is by simply being in an environment that contains challenges and failures to force the brain to change. Developmental biologists state that “all of human development is set up to be a response to problems and failures” (142). Associative learning also serves as an example to prove that intelligence is a process. There are two types of associative learning: classical condition and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is when a “stimulus becomes associated with a particular outcome” (Campbell 1127). Operant conditioning is also called trial-and-error learning where “an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior” (Campbell 1127). Clearly, both of these shows that animals can constantly improve their intelligence through these experiences and proves that intelligence cannot be a fixed quantity as animals increase their intelligence constantly as organisms learn more and more about their surrounding environment.
ReplyDeleteThe term that is used to describe the ability to change proficiency in skills or the ability for the brain to change to match the individual’s demand of it is plasticity. Maguire found that the longer that the career of a London taxi driver was, the larger the size of the posterior hippocampus. This clearly shows the plasticity of the brain in action as the brain in London taxi drivers must enlarge its hippocampus in order to memorize the thousands of streets in London. Similarly, our brain changes form in order to meet the demands that we make of it. For example, in a study done at Harvard in 1979, scientists took a cat that had use of both eyes since birth and a cat which had one eye sutured since birth and measured the bands formed in the visual cortex from radioactive amino acids. They found that in a normal cat the columns were equal in width. However, in the cat without vision in one of its eyes, the columns representing the active eye were expanded, while the columns for the deprived eyes were reduced.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841150/
The brain’s plasticity clearly supports Shenk’s GxE model which clearly hurts the credibility of the old idea of evolution: that organisms whom have a certain selective advantage can survive and reproduce pass along their genes while the ones who cannot die out, natural selection. However, this idea of plasticity shows that even if one is not born with the same level of abilities in genes that an individual’s brain will alter its form in order to alter its function in order to better suit itself to the individual’s environment. This clearly also directly connects with the biological theme of structure matching function which says that the structure of an object is directly related to its function. As the structure of the brain changes, so does its function in order to adapt to the environmental requirements.
-Josh Choi (joshchoi95@yahoo.com)