Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Highbrow Highjinks Come to an End

Posted by Hemos on from the scopes-comes-around dept.

nickynicky9doors writes "The Sidney Morning Herald has an article debunking the long standing theory of our specie's dominance based on a proportionally greater development of the frontal lobe. MRI scanning suggest... 'proportionately, there is no major difference in the relative size of the frontal cortex among humans and their closest relatives.'"

10 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Quality, Not Quantity by cybrpnk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The key to consciousness is in the ORGANIZATION of the neurons in the "proportionally sized" area of interest. When they show us micrographs that indicate the wiring is identical between men and other apes, then maybe I'll change my mind, but not before. You have some people (hulking linebackers) with big heads and brains (literally) and others (petite cheerleaders) with small heads and brains - but they both are equally intelligent humans (sort of...)

  2. does someone remember this? by Bossofall · · Score: 2

    I would like to bring something else to everyones attention that seems relevant; a study done in England. During the 1960s doctors gave shunts to some patients with "water on the brain." These poor people didn't have much hope for a quality life as others do. When researchers went back to see how these children were doing in the 1980s, they found, astonishingly, that they had IQ's of around 120 and were all able to finish university. After further investigation it was found that only a very small portion of their brains were functioning (a small bit in the cerebellum I believe). I am sorry to say I don't remember who did this study, but I hope someone who reads this will and post more details. I am sure I have gotten some details wrong, so please don't flame me. I just remember this as very interesting since it seemed to be a radicaly change from the way we see the brain.

    --
    hey who stole my nic?!?
  3. Language by crow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've heard it suggested that what makes us different is the use of language. I think the theory goes that our species existed for a long time with little sign of intelligence. Then language was developed, and everything changed almost overnight. Key factors include not just the brain capacity for language, but the vocal capacity for language. Or so goes the theory.

    I've heard of them teaching other primates to use sign language, and the results are fascinating.

    So perhaps we aren't that much smarter than other primates, and hence, people studying brain mechanisms won't find the differences they're looking for.

    1. Re:Language by Nf1nk · · Score: 2, Funny

      I forget his name, but there was a 19th century french philospher who said that the apes remained mute to avoid being put to work.

      does this show that he was right?

      --
      I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
    2. Re:Language by wrt2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, the experiments with teaching sign language to chimpanzees and gorillas demonstrated that human language acqusition and use are different from other primates. People are specialized to learn language; a child will learn spoken language barring severe neurological damage or neglect. (Interestingly, deaf babies have been observed babble-signing with their hands.) Further, children not only acquire pronunciation and vocabulary, but are able to fit them into syntactical grammatical frameworks of arbitrary complexity. Chimpanzees can sign "give drink fruit," but cannot tell a story. "Smarter," though, is a different issue. Chimpanzees and bonobos are brilliant at being chimpanzees and bonobos. Assuming that we don't end life on our planet, we might just be brilliant at being us.

      --
      -- "Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep voting? Do you think you're voting for something?"
  4. Spina Bifida / Hydrocephalus Info by cybrpnk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here's more than you ever want to know about spina bifida / hydrocephalus and how it generally affects those who have it - one of whom talks about it here. One study on IQ follow-up is here but it only says the expected problems result. My wife is a labor / delivery nurse and sees this pretty frequently, it's not pretty and just about always causes neurological damage....

  5. Sidney ? by ChrisGuest · · Score: 2, Funny

    what kind of cortex development, caused this typo.

  6. Re:Oh for Cliff's Sake! by Detritus · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Secondly, the so-called 'dominance' of our species is really self-evident in the way it's just our species that rapes the planet.

    Elephants and goats can do a great job of destroying an ecosystem.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  7. Is this for real? by ramb · · Score: 2, Informative

    I was just trying to find this paper in Nature Neuroscience (as referenced in the article) and all that's returned is...

    No documents matched the query.
    Search query:Author: Semendeferi
    Your search yielded no results. You may refine this query or perform a new query

    It's not in Nature either. The newest paper I can find is: Am J Phys Anthropol 2001 Mar;114(3):224-41 which is only area 10 and is hardly new enough to be "news for nerds". Anybody have the correct cite?

    --
    --everytime you learn something a piece of your brain is replaced by something that someone else said
  8. Re:we know nothing ... yet by beanerspace · · Score: 2

    You may have a point there. I just read an interesting article entitled "Earth formed quicker than thought."

    While findings could be used by "either side of the origins debate", as you so interestingly put it, it does support your claim that we're merely at the end of the beginning of scientific discovery.

    A prospect that both thrills me and frightens me all at once.

    --

    healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?