Smarter people's brains have better wiring that helps with flow of information

Daily Mail ^ | 2 December 2017 | Daniel Roth

[mairdie]

The researchers, who examined the brains of 199 females and 110 males, found that individuals with better wiring of the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex - two areas of the brain associated with the cognitive processing of task-relevant information - demonstrated better cognitive function.

The university defined intelligence as the 'general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, to think abstractly, and to learn quickly from experiences,' and consulted graph theoretical network analysis methods to draw their conclusions.

'The different topological embedding of these regions into the brain network could make it easier for smarter persons to differentiate between important and irrelevant information— which would be advantageous for many cognitive challenges,' Ulrike Basten, the lead researcher for Goethe University study, argued.

The anatomy of an individual's brain also played a role in higher intelligence, which helped increase the capacity of an individual to focus and avoid distraction.

[ADemocratNoMore]

> The different topological embedding of these regions into the brain network could make it easier for smarter persons to differentiate between important and irrelevant information

I have found, however, that one of the commonalities in creative endeavors I personally consider to be works of pure genius is the artist’s, (or creator’s) ability to take two totally unrelated concepts and merge them into something totally new, with the result not only being “different” but aesthetically pleasing.

[Yaelle]

No, knowing languages or music is no hedge against Alzheimer’s. Neither is staying brain active with high level reading, studying, or puzzles, games, or keeping mentally engaged. My parents were two of the busiest, most mentally engaged people you could imagine and they both came down with it. My mom read 2-3 huge historical tomes a week. Sadly, with Alzheimer’s, she still tries to. But she will read one day to page 205, say, and the next day I find her on page 32, because she loses her place and just keeps starting over.

All of what they say that keeping active and your brain active to avoid dementia is TOTAL BULL. My parents traveled, my dad did medical practice accounting for FUN as a retired doc, played the stock market, they had a ton of activities and kept their brains active. They built a vacation home in their 70s. And still Alzheimer’s came.

Back to music. Many good senior homes have grand pianos. The seniors with Alzheimer’s can sit and play beautiful pieces from memory. They are transported into a world they understand, with music. They don’t know how to do simple tasks, they don’t remember anything basic, but they can still play piano like anything. Even listening to music brings people with dementia great joy. But music doesn’t prevent Alzheimer’s.

[Trillian]

Leftists are currently working on a way to damage that part of the brain in pursuit of more democrat voters.

[mairdie]

Clever and, sadly, probably true.