Thursday, June 24, 2010

Concert pianists as genius models?

Not likely in my case.... but I will mention an article by Charles Ambrose in the July-August issue of American Scientist, pointed out to me by a friend who is a loyal MindBlog reader. I started this blog post at the same time I plunged into read the article, assuming I would be passing on some juicy clips, but alas have to report coming up short of much substance - although the article is worth a link because of its review of brain plasticity, and notes specific brain changes associated with development of various skilled activities. Ambrose mentions the increased areas in the parietal lobe found in Albert Einstein's brain, and then goes on to note other examples of increases in brain areas associated with expertise, as for example in professional musicians who have enlarged areas in their auditory cortex. The article doesn't even begin to engage the teaser sentence at its beginning: "What accounts for highly intelligent and greatly gifted individuals?" and is disjointed and wandering enough that I'm surprised that editors at American Scientist let it through their filters.

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