From: Eugen Leitl (eugen@leitl.org)
Date: Wed Jul 21 2004 - 05:18:32 MDT
----- Forwarded message from Eugen Leitl <eugen@leitl.org> -----
From: Eugen Leitl <eugen@leitl.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 13:13:48 +0200
To: transhumantech@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [>Htech] hint for a trivial mod to boost IQ
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http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1187
Human intelligence determined by volume and location of gray matter tissue in
brain
Single .intelligence center. in brain unlikely, UCI study also finds
Irvine, Calif. , July 19, 2004
General human intelligence appears to be based on the volume of gray matter
tissue in certain regions of the brain, UC Irvine College of Medicine
researchers have found in the most comprehensive structural brain-scan study
of intelligence to date.
The study also discovered that because these regions related to intelligence
are located throughout the brain, a single .intelligence center,. such as the
frontal lobe, is unlikely.
Dr. Richard Haier, professor of psychology in the Department of Pediatrics
and long-time human intelligence researcher, and colleagues at UCI and the
University of New Mexico used MRI to obtain structural images of the brain in
47 normal adults who also took standard intelligence quotient tests. The
researchers used a technique called voxel-based morphometry to determine gray
matter volume throughout the brain which they correlated to IQ scores. Study
results appear on the online version of NeuroImage.
Previous research had shown that larger brains are weakly related to higher
IQ, but this study is the first to demonstrate that gray matter in specific
regions in the brain is more related to IQ than is overall size. Multiple
brain areas are related to IQ, the UCI and UNM researchers have found, and
various combinations of these areas can similarly account for IQ scores.
Therefore, it is likely that a person.s mental strengths and weaknesses
depend in large part on the individual pattern of gray matter across his or
her brain.
.This may be why one person is quite good at mathematics and not so good at
spelling, and another person, with the same IQ, has the opposite pattern of
abilities,. Haier said.
While gray matter amounts are vital to intelligence levels, the researchers
were surprised to find that only about 6 percent of all the gray matter in
the brain appears related to IQ.
.There is a constant cascade of information being processed in the entire
brain, but intelligence seems related to an efficient use of relatively few
structures, where the more gray matter the better,. Haier said. .In addition,
these structures that are important for intelligence are also implicated in
memory, attention and language..
The findings also suggest that the brain areas where gray matter is related
to IQ show some differences between young-adult and middle-aged subjects. In
middle age, more of the frontal and parietal lobes are related to IQ; less
frontal and more temporal areas are related to IQ in the younger adults.
The research does not address why some people have more gray matter in some
brain areas than other people, although previous research has shown the
regional distribution of gray matter in humans is highly heritable. Haier and
his colleagues are currently evaluating the MRI data to see if there are
gender differences in IQ patterns.
Haier.s colleagues in the study include Dr. Michael T. Alkire and Kevin Head
of UCI and Drs. Rex E. Jung and Ronald A. Yeo of the University of New
Mexico. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
supported the study.
About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California,
Irvine is a top-ranked public university dedicated to research, scholarship
and community. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University
of California campuses, with approximately 24,000 undergraduate and graduate
students and about 1,300 faculty members. The third-largest employer in
dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3
billion.
-- Eugen* Leitl leitl ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE http://moleculardevices.org http://nanomachines.net ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl leitl ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE http://moleculardevices.org http://nanomachines.net
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