THE MIND MACHINE? Although intellig

THE MIND MACHINE?

Although intelligence has been studied, and the brain has been studied, there is
little understanding of how the brain works to produce intelligence. This has something to
do with the fact that the brain contains around 100 billion cells (about the number of stars
in the Milky Way).
Оne of the continuing myths about the relationship between intelligence and the
brain is that the brains of very clever people are, somehow physically different from
those of ordinary people. At the beginning of the century an American scientist called
E A Spitzka produced a list of the weights of the brains of important, well-known men.
The heaviest brain on the list was that of Turgenev, the Russian novelist, at 2000g.
However, the brain of another great genius, Walt Whitman, weighed only 1282g.
There are no significant differences between the intelligence levels of males and
females. However, girls under seven score a little higher than boys in IQ tests and the
highest IQ recorded is that of Marylin vos'Savant at 230. However, men and women do
differ in the way they think. Generally, women are more skilled verbally and men do
better on visual-spatial tasks.
Interestingly, the fibres which join the two halves of the brain have been found to be
larger in women than in men. This supports the theory that women can change from
.'practical' to 'emotional' thinking more quickly than men.
People with mental problems have often been treated extremely badly. Two
hundred years ago, the mentally ill were swung around in revolving chairs, or holes were
drilled in their skulls to release evil spirits. From the 1930s, the mentally ill were
subjected to electric shock .therapy and lobotomy - the removal of part of their brain. In
the 1960s and 70s, thousands of people were given drugs to cope with anxiety and then
became addicted to them.
The brain needs ten times as much blood as other organs of the body, as it can't
store glucose for later use. This is different to muscles and other organs and although the
adult brain makes up only two per cent of the body weight, its oxygen consumption is
twenty per cent of the body's total.
There are similarities between brains and computers. Computers can do
complicated calculations at incredible speeds. But they work in a fixed way, because
they can't make memory associations. If we need a screwdriver and there isn't one, we

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will think laterally and use a knife or coin instead. Computers can't do this. In fact, it is
claimed that when it comes to seeing, moving and reacting to stimuli, no computer can
compete with even the brain power of a fly.
Most of our mental processes are deeply formed habits. Challenging your brain to do
things differently helps it develop. Try changing routines as often as you can: take a bus
instead of going by car, sit in a different chair. An extreme but useful exercise is to
read something upside down - you can actually feel your brain at work.
Exercise more. Good health and fitness levels give you overall improved energy
which leads to better concentration.
Cooking is a good all-round mental exercise. It needs mathematical,
organizational and scientific skills as well as challenging memory and creative ability.
Use recipes at first and then learn to guess amounts, combinations reactions of ingredients
and timing. Do puzzles and play games. Teach yourself to work out codes and expand
your vocabulary at the same time.

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