<p>I’d like to elaborate upon ee33ee’s point about the brain’s plasticity. I recommend the book ‘The Brain That Changes Itself’ by Norman Doidge; it has several fascinating stories describing how people’s brains can be successfully ‘rewired.’ </p>
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Actually, the brain can be altered such that it is more capable of understanding thought processes. Cindysphynx’s story illustrates this phenomenon (assuming, of course, that she wasn’t regurgitating example problems), although she didn’t mention (and possibly wasn’t aware of) the neuropathology behind her change in ability – the physical differences that likely occurred in her brain due to her hard work.</p>
<p>Doidge’s book describes a very similar situation, actually, not localized to math ability. (Here’s where I’m going to skim the chapter for facts and blatantly rip off Doidge, but I totally recommend checking out the book for yourself, if anyone finds this interesting.) He describes a woman who was born with severe damage to the left side of her brain (which manifested in damage to the right side of her body) and who, in childhood, was practically incapable of critical thought, also suffering problems with spatial reasoning and kinesthetic perception. </p>
<p>She had auditory and visual and memory tested in the 99th percentile, but she did not possess basic logical ability; she didn’t understand the concept of cause and effect, she could not understand the relationship between “left” and “right” or the difference between “the father’s brother” and “the brother’s father,” and she could not read a clock. She got through school relying on her memory; the most striking example of her disparity in ability is this sentence: “Before tests she prayed they would be fact-based, knowing she could score 100; if they were based on understanding relationships, she would probably score in the low teens.” </p>
<p>She graduated and went to a university, where teachers soon recognized her inabilities but noticed her gifts in other areas; she was incredibly observant in the child-observation laboratory and was asked to teach the course. She then attended graduate school, where she typically had to read a research paper twenty or so times, and consult many of its sources, before she could grasp its meaning. </p>
<p>One day, in graduate school, she read of neuroscientists’ work on similar patients. She read of a case in which a soldier had been shot in the head and survived but with massive damage to the left side of his brain; after the injury, he was unable to grasp the idea of prepositions, logic, spacial relationships, etc. Luria, the neuroscientist who wrote of this man, realized that the bullet had lodged in the left hemisphere, at the place where the temporal lobe (which processes sound and language), the occipital lobe (which processes visual images), and the parietal lobe (which processes spatial relationships and other sensory information) meet. This man was capable of perceiving properly but could not appropriately make sense of his perceptions. </p>
<p>Back to the main character in the story: Now, she knew where the problem was in her brain. But while she had an explanation, she didn’t have anything to do about it. But one day, when she was twenty-eight and still in graduate school, she read an article about neuroplasticity (demonstrated in an experiment in which the brains of rats brought up in more stimulating environments had a greater number of neurotransmitters, were heavier, and had better blood supply than those of rats brought up in less stimulating environments.) She realized that the brain could be modified.</p>
<p>K, so if you were skimming the post until now, start reading here. After this woman realized that the brain could be modified, she decided to work on her own. She isolated herself and worked hard for weeks and weeks, practicing her greatest challenge: relating symbols to each other. One of her exercises involved reading cards picturing clock faces with different times; she spent hours trying to understand the relationship between the picture and the time without memorization. Many of the posters in this thread probably believe that someone who is incapable of reading clocks at twenty-eight is hopeless in terms of succeeding at anything that involves basic reasoning ability. But this woman tried and tried until she understood the concept and could eventually read clocks faster than a normal person. And as a result of this understanding, she began to understand grammar, math, and logic. After this success, she designed exercises for her other disabilities, like her trouble with spacial reasoning and knowing where her limbs were, and brought them up to average or above-average level. She wasn’t memorizing – she was developing ability by stimulating her brain. </p>
<p>She went on to found The Arrowsmith School, a special-education program dedicated not to compensation for lack of ability but to developing reasoning ability; one of its primary exercises is a computerized version of the clock practice that she used to train herself. </p>
<p>I know that I could have summarized this in like a paragraph, lol, but I find it fascinating and hope other people will find it interesting, too. (The woman’s name is Barbara Arrowsmith Young, if you want to read more about her.) </p>
<p>So, yeah, just wanted to demonstrate that it is literally possible to build yourself a better brain. Countless animal studies demonstrate the physical manifestation of mental stimulation, and it’s no doubt observable in humans, too. Improvement can be quantified by measuring number of connections among neurons, brain mass, etc. </p>
<p>Of course, in the context of this thread, it is necessary to acknowledge that people who are naturally capable of higher reasoning skills are at an advantage. Buttt you can’t say that someone who gets a bad score on a test will, without fail, be unsuccessful in this area, because he or she is just not capable of higher thinking.</p>