scholarly journals A tehetség eredete

Author(s):  
Bereczkei Tamás

Tanulmányunkban a tehetség két aspektusát elemezzük. Az egyik szinten arra a kérdésre keresünk választ, hogy milyen örökletes tényezők tehetők felelőssé a lángész kialakulásáért. Megállapítjuk, hogy a jelenlegi kutatások szerint a tehetség mögött nem fedezhetők fel specifikus gének, de lehetségesek olyan genetikai hatások, amelyek egyfajta emergens szerveződése teremti meg az alapját a lángész kialakulásának – természetesen a különböző környezeti hatásokkal kölcsönhatásban. A másik szintű elemzésben a tehetség evolúciós eredetére kérdezünk rá, és négy olyan humánspecifikus kognitív képesség kialakulását elemezzük, amelyek fontos szerepet játszhatnak a szellemi kiválóság megjelenésében. Nevezetesen arra teszünk kísérletet, hogy megértsük az elmeolvasás, rugalmas gondolkodás, nyelv és kreativitás evolúciós létrejöttét. Ehhez olyan magyarázó model-leket veszünk igénybe, mint a Szociális Intelligencia, Machiavelli Intelligencia, Szexuális Szelekció és Fluid Intelligencia hipotézisek. E magyarázatok megerősítése további kutatásokat igényel.In this paper, two aspects of talent are analyzed. On the one level, I am looking for an answer to what hereditary factors would be responsible for the development of talent. In the light of the current studies, no specific genes have been found to prescribe talent. However, possible genetic effects with an emergent property of their mutual relationships may create the basis of formation of genius – obviously interacting with the environmental effects. On the other level of analysis I am focusing on the evolutionary background of talent. Four human specific cognitive abilities are analyzed that play important roles in the formation of intellectual excellence: mind reading, flexible thought, language, and creativity. The explanations to the evolution of these abilities include Social Intelligence Hypothesis, Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis, Sexual Selection Theory, and Fluid Intelligence Hypothesis. The confirmation of these explanations requires further studies.

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1740) ◽  
pp. 3027-3034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke McNally ◽  
Sam P. Brown ◽  
Andrew L. Jackson

The high levels of intelligence seen in humans, other primates, certain cetaceans and birds remain a major puzzle for evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists. It has long been held that social interactions provide the selection pressures necessary for the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities (the ‘social intelligence hypothesis’), and in recent years decision-making in the context of cooperative social interactions has been conjectured to be of particular importance. Here we use an artificial neural network model to show that selection for efficient decision-making in cooperative dilemmas can give rise to selection pressures for greater cognitive abilities, and that intelligent strategies can themselves select for greater intelligence, leading to a Machiavellian arms race. Our results provide mechanistic support for the social intelligence hypothesis, highlight the potential importance of cooperative behaviour in the evolution of intelligence and may help us to explain the distribution of cooperation with intelligence across taxa.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-187

Emerging scientific evidence indicates that frequent digital technology use has a significant impact—both negative and positive—on brain function and behavior. Potential harmful effects of extensive screen time and technology use include heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, impaired brain development, and disrupted sleep. However, various apps, videogames, and other online tools may benefit brain health. Functional imaging scans show that internet-naive older adults who learn to search online show significant increases in brain neural activity during simulated internet searches. Certain computer programs and videogames may improve memory, multitasking skills, fluid intelligence, and other cognitive abilities. Some apps and digital tools offer mental health interventions providing self-management, monitoring, skills training, and other interventions that may improve mood and behavior. Additional research on the positive and negative brain health effects of technology is needed to elucidate mechanisms and underlying causal relationships.


2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1756) ◽  
pp. 20170288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Ashton ◽  
Alex Thornton ◽  
Amanda R. Ridley

The prevailing hypotheses for the evolution of cognition focus on either the demands associated with group living (the social intelligence hypothesis (SIH)) or ecological challenges such as finding food. Comparative studies testing these hypotheses have generated highly conflicting results; consequently, our understanding of the drivers of cognitive evolution remains limited. To understand how selection shapes cognition, research must incorporate an intraspecific approach, focusing on the causes and consequences of individual variation in cognition. Here, we review the findings of recent intraspecific cognitive research to investigate the predictions of the SIH. Extensive evidence from our own research on Australian magpies ( Cracticus tibicen dorsalis ), and a number of other taxa, suggests that individuals in larger social groups exhibit elevated cognitive performance and, in some cases, elevated reproductive fitness. Not only do these findings demonstrate how the social environment has the potential to shape cognitive evolution, but crucially, they demonstrate the importance of considering both genetic and developmental factors when attempting to explain the causes of cognitive variation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities’.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Susan D. Healy

The first discussion of a relationship between sociality and intelligence came in the middle of the twentieth century, especially by Humphrey who suggested that living socially demanded intellectual abilities above and beyond those required by an animal’s ecology. This led to the Social Intelligence Hypothesis, and then the Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis, both proposing that sociality was the main driver of the superior intellect of primates, especially humans. Two key challenges for this hypothesis are that sociality is difficult to quantify and cognition is not well tested by problem solving. More importantly, as data from more species have been examined, the analyses increasingly fail to show that sociality explains variation in brain size, even in primates. I conclude that appealing as this hypothesis is, it does not do a very compelling job of explaining variation in brain size.


2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1882) ◽  
pp. 20181017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Pardo ◽  
Emilee A. Sparks ◽  
Tejal S. Kuray ◽  
Natasha D. Hagemeyer ◽  
Eric L. Walters ◽  
...  

According to the social intelligence hypothesis, understanding the cognitive demands of the social environment is key to understanding the evolution of intelligence. Many important socio-cognitive abilities, however, have primarily been studied in a narrow subset of the social environment—within-group social interactions—despite the fact that between-group social interactions often have a substantial effect on fitness. In particular, triadic awareness (knowledge about the relationships and associations between others) is critical for navigating many types of complex social interactions, yet no existing study has investigated whether wild animals can track associations between members of other social groups. We investigated inter-group triadic awareness in wild acorn woodpeckers ( Melanerpes formicivorus ), a socially complex group-living bird. We presented woodpeckers with socially incongruous playbacks that simulated two outsiders from different groups calling together, and socially congruous playbacks that simulated two outsiders from the same group calling together. Subjects responded more quickly to the incongruous playbacks, suggesting that they were aware that the callers belonged to two different groups. This study provides the first demonstration that animals can recognize associations between members of other groups under natural circumstances, and highlights the importance of considering how inter-group social selection pressures may influence the evolution of cognition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 20160108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay E. Holekamp ◽  
Sarah Benson-Amram

Although intelligence should theoretically evolve to help animals solve specific types of problems posed by the environment, it is unclear which environmental challenges favour enhanced cognition, or how general intelligence evolves along with domain-specific cognitive abilities. The social intelligence hypothesis posits that big brains and great intelligence have evolved to cope with the labile behaviour of group mates. We have exploited the remarkable convergence in social complexity between cercopithecine primates and spotted hyaenas to test predictions of the social intelligence hypothesis in regard to both cognition and brain size. Behavioural data indicate that there has been considerable convergence between primates and hyaenas with respect to their social cognitive abilities. Moreover, compared with other hyaena species, spotted hyaenas have larger brains and expanded frontal cortex, as predicted by the social intelligence hypothesis. However, broader comparative study suggests that domain-general intelligence in carnivores probably did not evolve in response to selection pressures imposed specifically in the social domain. The cognitive buffer hypothesis, which suggests that general intelligence evolves to help animals cope with novel or changing environments, appears to offer a more robust explanation for general intelligence in carnivores than any hypothesis invoking selection pressures imposed strictly by sociality or foraging demands.


1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Burley ◽  
John McGuinness

The study examined the effects of social intelligence on the Milgram (1963) paradigm. 24 male subjects were commanded by the experimenter to administer electric shocks (simulated to appear real) to a confederate. Social intelligence as measured significantly mediated the degree to which subjects were prepared to obey the experimenter's commands and inflict suffering on another. The finding was interpreted as suggesting that broader personality differences relating to obedience-disobedience and altruistic acts, such as alleviating the plight of a suffering victim, are more likely to be found in the realm of cognitive abilities than with traditional temperament traits.


1928 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy J. Jackson

It is well known that in many orders of typically winged insects species occur which in the adult stage are apterous or have the wings so reduced in size that flight is impossible. Sometimes the reduction of wings affects one sex only, as in the case of the females of certain moths, but in the majority of cases it is exhibited by both sexes. In many instances wing dimorphism occurs irrespective of sex, one form of the species having fully developed wings and the other greatly reduced wings. In some species the wings are polymorphic. The problem of the origin of reduced wings and of other functionless organs is one of great interest from the evolutionary point of view. Various theories have been advanced in explanation, but in the majority of cases the various aspects of the subject are too little known to warrant discussion. More experimental work is required to show how far environmental conditions on the one hand, and hereditary factors on the other, are responsible for this phenomenon. Those species which exhibit alary dimorphism afford material for the study of the inheritance of the two types of wings, but only in a few cases has this method of research been utilized.


2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1480) ◽  
pp. 719-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Sterelny

This paper is about the evolution of hominin intelligence. I agree with defenders of the social intelligence hypothesis in thinking that externalist models of hominin intelligence are not plausible: such models cannot explain the unique cognition and cooperation explosion in our lineage, for changes in the external environment (e.g. increasing environmental unpredictability) affect many lineages. Both the social intelligence hypothesis and the social intelligence–ecological complexity hybrid I outline here are niche construction models. Hominin evolution is hominin response to selective environments that earlier hominins have made. In contrast to social intelligence models, I argue that hominins have both created and responded to a unique foraging mode; a mode that is both social in itself and which has further effects on hominin social environments. In contrast to some social intelligence models, on this view, hominin encounters with their ecological environments continue to have profound selective effects. However, though the ecological environment selects, it does not select on its own. Accidents and their consequences, differential success and failure, result from the combination of the ecological environment an agent faces and the social features that enhance some opportunities and suppress others and that exacerbate some dangers and lessen others. Individuals do not face the ecological filters on their environment alone, but with others, and with the technology, information and misinformation that their social world provides.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
Norsuhaila Rosmimi Rosli ◽  
◽  
Tengku Shahrul Anuar engku Ahmad Basri ◽  
Mohd Ilham Adenan ◽  
Roziah Mohd Janor ◽  
...  

Academic achievement may be influenced by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) polymorphism. A common functional polymorphism of COMT, the rs4680 is consistently being involved in the modulation of dopaminergic pathway and prefrontal cortex function which may predominantly affect cognitive functions. A total of 197 female participants were recruited in this study. The score of student’s grade point average (GPA) from the latest previous semester was used as the measurement of academic achievement. The COMT polymorphism was genotyped using tetra primer allele specific polymerase chain reaction. The findings indicated that there were 8 (4.1 %), 72 (36.5 %), and 117 (59.4 %) participants harbouring Met/Met, Met/Val, and Val/Val genotype for COMT polymorphism respectively. All the genotype distributions of COMT polymorphism were consistent with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (χ2 = 0.495, p > 0.05). The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) result demonstrated that participants bearing Met/Met genotype had a better achievement in GPA as compared to the other COMT genotypes (p = 0.001). These findings support evidence that the affective role of COMT polymorphism might overwhelm cognitive abilities in measures of academic achievement like GPA.


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