Why are intelligent people smarter?

Question

Is it greater number of neurons, more connections per neuron, greater number of instructions processed per second (MIPS), better brain architecture?

How hard-wired is it? (pardon the pun)

What would happen if Albert Einstein was born in Plato's cave with genius-level genes? Will he be stifled and bored to death, or learn more about the deepest intricacies of shadows on rock faces than anyone could ever imagine?

Answer 1

The really intelligent people I've known share one characteristic. They are able to inter-relate a multitude of seemingly unrelated subjects. Their understanding thus seems to multiply exponentially and very quickly. A musician may listen to his creation and recongize it as spectacular , but a mathemetician can hear the harmonic interplay, the reversals, the foils etc. A physicist will hear the same music and see the waveforms also. A chemist will see it as a reaction. When one achieves a certain level of understanding, the world seems to exist on that level. Thus everything is either immediately understood or can be easily figured out. A mathematician will likely also be a good mechanic and a good carpenter, even though he (or she) may have never had the training.
I believe it has to do with perception and the way a persons brain is organized from birth. We hear of child prodegies in math and music, but rarely if ever in the 'learned' disciplines like medicine. Those truely great in the learned disciplines are also far above average in the innate skills.

Answer 2

A good understanding of intelligence continues to elude our most intelligent neuroscientists, ironically enough.

It's not the number of neurons or the number of connections per neuron. Those are good ideas and were considered, but it has been shown that both of those numbers are extremely similar among everyone: 10^11 neurons, 10^4 connections for an average neuron. An extra few million neurons, although it sounds impressive, really doesn't make a dent in 10^11.

I like the MIPS idea as a possible *mechanism* for intelligence, but it doesn't account for the *cause*. WHY might somebody process information faster? (It's not rhetorical; I'd like to know! My only answer is increased myelination, but that seems unlikely since most important pathways are already fully myelinated.)

The architecture conjecture (fun rhyme, maybe it will catch on) is under heavy consideration right now. It's interesting that you mentioned Einstein. His brain has been preserved for the purpose of trying to find out why he was so intelligent. For the most part his neural connections and brain size are within normal parameters, but he had far more glial cells than the average person. (Glia are the "other" type of cell in the brain, besides neurons. They handle all maintenance: architecture, nutrition, immune response, that sort of thing). As far as I know, it's an open question as to whether Einstein's increased number of glia contributed to his intelligence. In theory they could have made his brain more efficient.

Also we have to consider that the brain has a tremendous capacity to adapt and change. This occurs throughout life, but is most pronounced during brain development in childhood. There may be certain environmental factors that cause the brain to configure itself in a manner that allows for greater intelligence. So as to your "hard-wiring" question, at any given moment your intelligence is a direct result of neural configuration, but neural configuration itself is not fixed in one position. It can shape itself according to need.

It's too bad we can't really do the Einstein-in-a-Cave experiment. That might help us figure out whether his intelligence was mostly innate or mostly developmental. As it is, I don't think we can say much about how that experiment would go. Both of the outcomes you mentioned seem possible.

Answer 3

Yeah it's because of the greater number of neurons. Basically when somebody has more connections (neurons) they are able to get what they need out of the filing cabinet faster because the more neurons the faster they connect to it.

Answer 4

very important. Intelligence is amazingly horny! :) besides, who might want to opt for to this point someone who won't be able to make smart judgements or who begins fights over the smallest and stupidest issues? no longer me besides :) i'm a proud Leo :)

Answer 5

Why some people has more bytes than others? Could it be genetic,environment nobody knows. Hans Albert did not follow his foot steps. IT is still yet to be proven.

Answer 6

Why is the pope catholic?

Good question. But we don't know.

Tom: Number of neurons is not the number of connections.

Answer 7

I think some of those elements can be taken into consideration. But I think it's their ability to obtain more information. If they read a book, they remember more of it. It's all about retaining information in your brain.
I'm not an expert that's just my best guess

Answer 8

Some of us are just lucky. High intelligence doesn't always translate to street smarts so they may know a lot of facts but not be really smart.