DailyDirt: Learning More About Our Brains

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Dec 13th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

We've discovering interesting things about the way our brains work all the time. Maybe someday we'll fully understand how our brains actually think, but we're a long way from that now. But in the meantime, here are a few more fascinating tidbits from studying our brains that might lead to smarter humans in the distant future.

Studies of human brains and closely related primate brains have shown some differences that could point to specific genes responsible (or at least relevant) for the evolution of brain intelligence. Next stop, planet of the apes, folks. [url]
Software can track what you've learned by constantly quizzing you, and apparently the best time to review something you want to memorize is right before you're about to forget it. Use it or lose it... and now you can precisely quantify when you're about to lose it. [url]
Brain imaging techniques could replace IQ tests someday by predicting intelligence based on "global brain connectivity" that seems to correlate with the ability to perform challenging tasks. Taking the SAT in the future might not involve number 2 pencils, but instead a few hours in an MRI machine.... [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: brains, fmri, intelligence, learning, memory
Companies: cerego

7 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2012 @ 5:25pm

slave monkeys!
Everyone will want a cyborg monkey servant in the future. Do cyborg monkeys dream of electric sheep?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2012 @ 5:46pm

"Taking the SAT in the future might not involve number 2 pencils, but instead a few hours in an MRI machine."

This is a very bad idea.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2012 @ 6:22pm

One thing I learned about brains is that copyright maximists don't have them.

Why else contridict your own logic so often?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wally (profile), 13 Dec 2012 @ 7:36pm

"Studies of human brains and closely related primate brains have shown some differences that could point to specific genes responsible (or at least relevant) for the evolution of brain intelligence. Next stop, planet of the apes, folks."

Chimpanzees and Bonobo's in particular fit this category. We seem to be sharing about 99% of their brain power. Both use complex forms of communication and honestly we would be stuck like them if it weren't for our shrunk down tongues and our voice boxes being put further down and back into our throats.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wally (profile), 13 Dec 2012 @ 7:39pm

Re: slave monkeys!
It has been rumored that Ridley Scott has written at least a treatment for a reboot movie of "Bladerunner" otherwise known as "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick.....will be very interesting to see how the ASPCA handles the part where Isador kills a real cat trying to repair what he thought was a replicant cat.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wally (profile), 13 Dec 2012 @ 7:42pm

Re:
Agreed. Scholastic Amplitude Tests measure your real life aptitude in handling real life situations (like if you want to race a train to the crossing in your car...kidding just kidding). MRI scans cannot measure how well you would do in the field.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2012 @ 8:51am

Re:
"we would be stuck like them if it weren't for our shrunk down tongues and our voice boxes being put further down and back into our throats."

Not to mention a brain 3.5 times the weight of a chimp ....
[ link to this | view in thread ]