Are geniuses Brain damaged?

This might look like a straight candidate for the Cess Pit, but some recent experiments indicate it may be true. A scientist is zapping people's brains with magnetic pulses to cause temporary "brain damage". The result is an increased ability to complete verbal tests that require avoiding assumptions, a massively increased ability to look at a number of dots and guess the number of them, and an increased ability to portray items artistically.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

source?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Damn. I was being lazy. That's the first question I would have asked. Will be back later, if no-one posts it before me.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Try these two. This is one person's theory, not the facts.
Interesting nevertheless.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html#article_continue

http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/000666.html

 

no facts, just a thought.. maybe they burned off some distracting factors..

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

*************
M*W: I've read (somewhere) about this type of cranial nerve stimulation to propel the signals that help autistic children to read and speak if they have a speech defect. I cannot remember where I read it. I've read studies on prenatal ultrasound which is known to cause fetal speech and hearing defects that may not be known until the child reaches school age. Stimulating the cranial nerves through massage has been known to help with ADD/ADHD cases. It's an interesting therapy and needs further research. If it doesn't help, it doesn't hurt.

 

so they are like idiot savants?

 

The theory is that we take in so much information that the brain filters it out.
For example if you were to look at a tree, instead of seeing the particular tree, with thousands of individual leaves, a unique pattern of branches etc, you see the concept instead. You see "a tree" not "the tree".
What makes us able to perform makes us dull as human beings. We never see anything new.

 

Since our brains work with electricity any type of magnetic interference could cause things to change. Sleeping with your head pointing due north aligns your body with the earths magnetic field and will help with your brains ability to work. That hasn't been proven but it sure can't hurt you in sleeping with that popsition could it. Just what type of activities inside the brain will be affected will be found out as more studies are made but I feel this is a very positive direction in wghich to allow for helping people with many different disorders. Only time will tell but lets hope this experimentation continues for the benifit of those in need.

 

One Savant (They don't call them idiot savants any more) had the ability to name the day of the week on which any date in history, or any date in the future, falls on.

 

I've heard of this study too. This was done a while ago... several years?

 

Moved to Science and Society. It's more suitable forum for this topic.

 

They've studied savants for many years. It is a mystery how people with very low intelligence can duplicate, and sometimes excel people of high intelligence, albeit in a very limited capacity.

The experiment this scientist carried out was to impede the normal operation of the brain with high magnetic fields, and then carry out tests of the type which savants are good at. When he did this, normal people produced extraordinary results.

 

by the way, who volunteers to have their brain zapped to give them temporary brain damage?

 

Probably the same kind of people who agrre to zap their own brains with illegal drugs to experience unusual brain states.

 

Actually a shock to the frontal lobes does help those who are severly depressed to relieve themserlves of that feeling of depression and it does work but only temporarily. By using a magnetic field at a certain gauss will eliminate there depression completly and one day doctors will see this as a way to help the depressed.

 

I sleep with my head pointed toward the southeast due to advice derived from feng shui.

 

Just working from memory here, but I believe that one of the main effects of damage to the frontal lobes is the opposite of this, pseudodepression. ie the persons activity is that of a depressed person , but there is no emotional distress. Does not mean that you are correct in what you say.

 

No, we're not brain damaged. Just - alternative focused.

 

Who says we are a genius.

What the hell is a genius.

I guess the guy is talking about... iq tests and so forth.
That would be an interesting conclusion if it is true.