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When the article mentioned brain size, it reminded me of a story about Einstein's brain. He donated his brain to science and one of the first things noted afte

When the article mentioned brain size, it reminded me of a story about Einstein's brain. He donated his brain to science and one of the first things noted after his death was that his brain was roughly average sized. This was a big setback for the "brain size correlates with IQ" crowd and was one, of many data points, showing that brain size and volume did not correlate with IQ. Years later, as we got better understandings of the brain and its sub-components, it was realized that he was actually MISSING a part of his brain. I forget the exact piece but what was most interesting is that it was the portion of the brain that "pushes" up against another of the brain believed to be used for visualizing problems. Because he was missing the first component, it allowed the visualization portion to grow to roughly double the size of a normal person's. It's thought that this "supercharged" his ability to mentally visualize complex physics and math problems in a way average people couldn't. To me, it's fascinating that missing part of you might lead other parts of you to becoming more efficient and/or more powerful. EDIT: Fixed some grammar.

YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago
Wikipedia has an article on Enstein's brain that says that, because a region of his brain was vacant, neurons in that part of the brain may have communicated better. It also mentions Einstein used to say he always thinks visually, but from what I can tell from the article that doesn't have something to do with an enlargement of the area of the brain that is responsible for visualisation. That's how I read the below anyway. Also note that the examination that concluded a part of his brain was missing was based on photographs of the brain and not a direct autopsy. Autopsy Harvey had reported that Einstein had no parietal operculum in either hemisphere,[12] but this finding has been disputed.[13] Photographs of the brain show an enlarged Sylvian fissure. In 1999, further analysis by a team at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario revealed that his parietal operculum region in the inferior frontal gyrus in the frontal lobe of the brain was vacant. Also absent was part of a bordering region called the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). Researchers at McMaster University speculated that the vacancy may have enabled neurons in this part of his brain to communicate better. "This unusual brain anatomy...[missing part of the Sylvian fissure]... may explain why Einstein thought the way he did," said Professor Sandra Witelson who led the research published in The Lancet. This study was based on photographs of the whole brain made at autopsy in 1955 by Harvey and not a direct examination of the brain. Einstein himself claimed that he thought visually rather than verbally. Professor Laurie Hall of Cambridge University, commenting on the study, said, "To say there is a definite link is one bridge too far, at the moment. So far, the case isn't proven. But magnetic resonance and other new technologies are allowing us to start to probe those very questions."[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain Also, note: Selection bias may have influenced published results, which means that results showing differences between Einstein's brain and other brains tend to get published while results showing that in many respects Einstein's brain was like other brains tend to be neglected. Researchers knew which brain was Einstein's and which were controls, allowing possible conscious or unconscious bias and preventing impartial research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain#Crit... I'd think that, indeed, one has to be very careful about confirmation bias in this kind of study. Not least because Einstein was very famous and having some grounds to claim that "he was a genious because of how his brain was made" is something that can grant some publicity to a researcher's otherwise obscure work.

YeGoblynQueenne 6y ago

Wikipedia has an article on Enstein's brain that says that, because a region of his brain was vacant, neurons in that part of the brain may have communicated better. It also mentions Einstein used to say he always thinks visually, but from what I can tell from the article that doesn't have something to do with an enlargement of the area of the brain that is responsible for visualisation. That's how I read the below anyway. Also note that the examination that concluded a part of his brain was missing was based on photographs of the brain and not a direct autopsy. Autopsy Harvey had reported that Einstein had no parietal operculum in either hemisphere,[12] but this finding has been disputed.[13] Photographs of the brain show an enlarged Sylvian fissure. In 1999, further analysis by a team at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario revealed that his parietal operculum region in the inferior frontal gyrus in the frontal lobe of the brain was vacant. Also absent was part of a bordering region called the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). Researchers at McMaster University speculated that the vacancy may have enabled neurons in this part of his brain to communicate better. "This unusual brain anatomy...[missing part of the Sylvian fissure]... may explain why Einstein thought the way he did," said Professor Sandra Witelson who led the research published in The Lancet. This study was based on photographs of the whole brain made at autopsy in 1955 by Harvey and not a direct examination of the brain. Einstein himself claimed that he thought visually rather than verbally. Professor Laurie Hall of Cambridge University, commenting on the study, said, "To say there is a definite link is one bridge too far, at the moment. So far, the case isn't proven. But magnetic resonance and other new technologies are allowing us to start to probe those very questions."[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain Also, note: Selection bias may have influenced published results, which means that results showing differences between Einstein's brain and other brains tend to get published while results showing that in many respects Einstein's brain was like other brains tend to be neglected. Researchers knew which brain was Einstein's and which were controls, allowing possible conscious or unconscious bias and preventing impartial research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_brain#Crit... I'd think that, indeed, one has to be very careful about confirmation bias in this kind of study. Not least because Einstein was very famous and having some grounds to claim that "he was a genious because of how his brain was made" is something that can grant some publicity to a researcher's otherwise obscure work.