This just in: Big brains make you smart!

The science debate is kinda lame.

Let me know when scientist learn how to do brain transplants
we should start preserving the brains of really important people.

I do not think the size of brain makes sense. Actually, we human beings never make full use of 10% of brain. In my mind, the interacting with the outside world is very important, especially during childhood. Just like the vision of cat: Scientists kept cats in dark room after they were born, and their vision system did not get enough development because they did not get enough light stimulates. The same idea make sense of the development of the brain too. To have a smart kid, the thing you need to do is spend lots of time together with him, play game, not to let him alone. Then, is that mean: the guys from high population are smarter than guys from low population?

>Intelligence actually has closer ties to nurture then to genetics

I'll grant that both are factors, sure...but regardless of the care and nurturing provided to a houseplant, it's probably not going to be as intelligent as a human raised in a sensory deprivation tank.

>dolphins are highly intelligent and there phonetic system is being debated
>in higher circles for admission as an official language......yup.....they talk

I remember reading a few years ago about a project in which a dolphin was fitted with devices that stepped down his tones comfortably into the human range, and the transmitted it to a machine in their little glass observatory, in which they had a similar device which stepped up human conversation from a microphone into the dolphins range, and transmitted it back. No "language translation" or anything science fiction like that, just a simple pitch and time change.

Supposedly after a few years they managed to teach the dolphin to speak english using the deivce. Not just "get the ball and go through the hoop" but fluently enough that they could have full-on conversations. Them to the surprise of the researchers, that doplhin taught all the other dolphins in the tank.

I've often wondered what happened to that group, but I've not read anything about them in quite some time.

I'm looking forward to your links.

Some interesting things to add to the subject here.....

In addition to brain size and surface area maximized (as mentioned in a previous post) The relationship by percentage of the size of the brain to the total weight of the organism comes into play as well.

The less mass of the total organism to the brain by percentage. The more area of the brain that can be dedicated to higher though process (cerebral cortex).

With the exception of dolphins.........humans have the distinct advantage here.............

Even though whales have larger brain than humans they are dedicated to a much more massive creature.

Interesting enough, with the appentages that humans have and that opposable thumb position to our fingers in our hands.... we are able to exercise our intelligence more effectively than the dolphin...........

But.......with all that brain mass verses body size, the dolphin has some things going for it..............especially in communication..............I'll wager that dolphins (and even whales too) have a much more sophisticated way of communicating to each other in their language..........

Now you can increase the size of your brain......through environment stimulous........

.....the most profound results have been found by those learning to play musical instruments................The piano being the instrument of choice here with the best results..........

However, the increase in brain size is seen when you begin practice of the instrument at a young age...........the younger the better........seems after 12 or so the effect on the brain is not as pronounced..........

Now the size increase of the brain from creating music at that age appears within the brain area associated with spacial relations, geometry and mathematic logistics............

Some interesting stuff indeed.............

Could you imagine if dolphins had human like arms with hands and legs with feet what they might be able to do?

There is something going on with those creatures that we should really try to understand...............

well, I'm not to sure about this. I think a hummingbird which visits my garden regularly is smarter than my neighbor. Further, when I get on a golf course, my brain shuts down because I only have as much concentration as a knat.

Originally posted by LordBucket
I'll grant that both are factors, sure...but regardless of the care and nurturing provided to a houseplant, it's probably not going to be as intelligent as a human raised in a sensory deprivation tank.

Plants do not have any brain.....but they will grow in the direction that sunlight is being recieved.

Put a plant in an area of a room that only recieves a portion of sunlight and it will grow the most in that direction. Put a plant in an area that recieves constant sunlight, it will grow the most in more directions.

Same thing with the brain. Stimulate in all aspects of sensory perception and interpretation....as well as reflection and memory....and you will end up with a more intelligent person than one who was raised on television, where many higher cognitive aspects are actually discouraged.

Originally posted by LordBucket
I'm looking forward to your links.

Working on it.......should have 'em back soon

So someone who lives out in the jungle with no TV or PC would be samrter than someone who lives in the city with all those things?

Well, I don't know about the jungle part, but I'm sure having no television would help people to be a little smarter, yes.

Lord Bucket....here you go. I apologize for the time delay...especially after I realized that an ATS thread contained all the information I was heralding.....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Check out the Dolphins and Autism link in the second post of the thread......excellent review of the physical capacity of dolphins with regards to sonic manipulation.....that in itself is highly suggestive towards an evolved dolphin sociology.....at any rate....enjoy!!

Originally posted by the_individualist
haha, how do you make it bigger?

Go to PhysOrg.com and look through their archives and you'll find a research article showing exactly how.

It's TRUE...I can prove it....we all know how smart Pamela Anderson is right...well here is a picture of the big 'headed' Pam....





wait...nevermind!

[edit on 18-8-2005 by 12 12 2012]

Originally posted by the_individualist
haha, how do you make it bigger?

That wouldn't necessarily be in your best intrests. If the size of the average human brain was to become any larger, nerve impulses would take longer to travel from one point to another, thus slowing down thoughts and reactions. The human brain has already evolved to its optimum size.

Originally posted by Atomix
So someone who lives out in the jungle with no TV or PC would be samrter than someone who lives in the city with all those things?

It could be argued that a person who gains most of their knowledge from TV and the internet learns only to regurgitate the ideas of others, rather than learning from personal experience. Having access to such technology will probably make you better informed, but not necessarily more intelligent, any more capable of forming an individual opinion, or any less naive.

Actually, it hasn't been proven.

straight from the website source. www.livescience.com...

"A new study suggests it does"
"brain volume and intelligence are related"
"When intelligence is correlated with a biological reality such as brain volume, it becomes harder to argue that human intelligence can't be measured or that the scores do not reflect something meaningful...Do IQ tests really reveal intelligence?"
"The human mind eludes complete understanding, however"

Looks nothing like a final answer to me. Wanna us a life line?