Are champions born or are they made? Science still cannot settle that debate. But one thing is clear: Certain brain injuries can produce super geniuses. This is not an invitation to throw yourself down the stairs head first. Science has yet to figure out why specific brain injuries can give people remarkable abilities.
Jason Padgett, a furniture salesman from Tacoma, Washington, was attacked one night by a pair of unknown assailants outside of a karaoke bar. After the assault, he suffered PTSD and social anxiety. But he also experienced a mathematical awakening: He saw the world in complex geometrical equations. Now he’s back in college, studying math, and being studied by doctors who believe that his condition strongly indicates that we might all have the ability to attain savant skills.
What do super geniuses have that the rest of us algebraically-challenged do not? “Well, first of all a lot of them had injuries to the left temporal lobe,” says Michio Kaku, Big Think’s resident expert on the brain and author of The Future of the Mind. “One individual had a bullet as a child go right through the left temporal lobe. Another person dived into a swimming pool and injured very badly the left temporal lobe. And these people wound up with incredible mathematical abilities as a consequence.”
But what about Einstein? As far as we know, he never suffered a brain injury. Luckily, his brain was preserved and studied. “You can’t tell by looking at [Einstein’s brain] that it’s so remarkably different but you realize that the connections between the prefontal cortex and the parietal lobe – a connection that is accentuated in people that do abstract – reasoning is thickened,” explains Kaku. “So there definitely is a difference in the brain of Einstein.”
He adds that brain scans of those who excel in mathematics reveal brains that are slightly different than average. Asperger syndrome—also known as the “genius disease”—also seems to grant extraordinary cognitive abilities, as Kaku points out in the video below. He uses the beloved, awkward characters of “Big Bang Theory” and Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist who ever lived, as examples.
Clearly, the human brain remains as mysterious as the cosmos. Speaking of “Cosmos,” can you spot the cameo in this clip of Big Think’s interview with Kaku?
Je, mabingwa huzaliwa au hutengenezwa? Sayansi bado haiwezi kusuluhisha mjadala huo. Lakini jambo moja ni wazi: Majeraha fulani ya ubongo yanaweza kutokeza watu wenye kipawa sana. Hii si mwaliko wa kujitupa chini ya ngazi kichwa kwanza. Sayansi bado haijagundua ni kwa nini majeraha maalum ya ubongo yanaweza kuwapa watu uwezo wa ajabu. Jason Padgett, mfanyabiashara wa fanicha kutoka Tacoma, Washington, alishambuliwa usiku mmoja na washambuliaji wawili wasiojulikana nje ya baa ya karaoke. Baada ya shambulio hilo, alipatwa na PTSD na wasiwasi wa kijamii. Lakini pia alipata ufahamu wa hisabati: Aliona ulimwengu katika hesabu tata za kijiometri. Sasa amerudi chuo kikuu, akisoma hisabati, na akichunguzwa na madaktari ambao wanaamini kwamba hali yake inaonyesha kwa nguvu kwamba sisi sote tunaweza kuwa na uwezo wa kufikia ujuzi wa savant. Nini super geniuses kuwa kwamba mapumziko ya sisi algebraically-challenged hawana? "Kwanza kabisa, wengi wao walikuwa na majeraha katika sehemu ya kushoto ya kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji cha kipaji.""" <unk>Mtu mmoja alikuwa na risasi akiwa mtoto kwenda haki kupitia lobe ya kushoto ya temporal. Mtu mwingine aliruka ndani ya dimbwi la kuogelea na kujeruhiwa vibaya sana kwenye sehemu ya kushoto ya kipaji cha kipaji. Na watu hawa walimaliza na uwezo wa ajabu wa hisabati kama matokeo. Lakini vipi kuhusu Einstein? Kwa kadiri tunavyojua, hakuwahi kupatwa na jeraha la ubongo. Kwa bahati nzuri, ubongo wake ulihifadhiwa na kuchunguzwa. "Huwezi kusema kwa kuangalia [ubongo wa Einstein] kwamba ni tofauti sana lakini unatambua kwamba uhusiano kati ya cortex ya kabla ya mbele na lobe ya parietal - uhusiano ambao ni accentuated katika watu ambao kufanya sababu abstract - ni thickened, "Kaku anaelezea. "Kwa hiyo, kwa hakika kuna tofauti katika ubongo wa Einstein. "" Anaongeza kwamba uchunguzi wa ubongo wa wale wanaostahili katika hisabati unafunua ubongo ambao ni tofauti kidogo na wastani. """ Asperger syndrome - pia inajulikana kama "ugonjwa wa kipaji" - pia inaonekana kutoa uwezo wa ajabu wa utambuzi, kama Kaku anaonyesha katika video hapa chini. Yeye hutumia wahusika wapendwa, wasio na busara wa "Theory of Big Bang" na Isaac Newton, mwanasayansi mkuu zaidi aliyewahi kuishi, kama mifano. Ni wazi kwamba ubongo wa mwanadamu unabaki kuwa fumbo kama ulimwengu. Kuzungumza juu ya "Cosmos", unaweza kuona cameo katika kipande hiki cha mahojiano ya Big Think na Kaku?