The Neuroscience of Intelligence (Cambridge Fundamentals of Neuroscience in Psychology) Illustrated Edition

Intelligence research is controversial. Anyone who has followed the field knows it, and the author of this book certainly doesn't hide it. Instead, he acknowledges that the field is complicated but presents an overview of the current state of the research, pointing out where the evidence is conclusive, where it's questionable, and where it's non-existent. After decades of work, many questions remain, but the combination of psychometric, genetic, and brain imaging studies has shed considerable light on the structure of human intelligence. This book doesn't go into great detail on all of these subjects but provides a moderately-deep survey of the neuroscience research on the topic.I've long complained that one of the biggest problems in scientific writing is that the "actual" scientific writing (peer-reviewed journal articles) has become so dependent on advanced training that even professional scientists from slightly different disciplines struggle to make heads or tails of its content (thus hampering interdisciplinary collaboration) while even intelligent lay audiences stand no chance at all (thus hampering public understanding of cutting-edge science). Meanwhile, much of the "popular" scientific writing is produced by journalists who either don't understand their subjects or dumb them down to the point of inaccuracy. This book seems to find a near-perfect compromise and I would dearly love to see much more work in its genre.The ideal audience for this book seems to be the student of either psychology or neuroscience with an interest in intelligence research. The author makes no apologies for inclusion of a fair amount of semi-technical information, but also gently introduces the reader to many of these topics, making the work accessible to as broad an audience as is possible for such a work. By the time you finish reading, you'll come away with a bird's eye view of the current state of neuroscience research on intelligence, some interesting questions for future research, and a sense of the field's development through history.Nothing as complicated as the human brain can be thoroughly examined in only 200-some pages, but the reader will gain a more-than-passable understanding for non-professionals and a well-documented road map to further reading for students or professionals in the field.Not only is this a work of academic interest, it's also quite practical. Political discussions regarding education policy are ubiquitous and often, in the authors own words, rancorous. Though the author does make a couple of political observations (some of which I agree with and some of which I don't) in the final couple of pages, this book isn't a text on education policy. It does, however, provide the requisite scientific background necessary for a productive discussion of education policy. If we want to make people smarter, we need first to understand the biological reasons why some people are already smarter than others. It's an open question, but this book helps to point us in the right direction.Highly recommended.

Discussion of intelligence can be highly emotional and treacherous. Look at any number of examples where the topic becomes inflammatory and leads to cancelation, shaming, career altering dynamics. This volume attempts to lay out the facts, plain and simple, without an agenda or bias. It's a carefully constructed book.What it avoids - thankfully - is a lot of prescriptions about "what to do about it" and the societal aspects of the general subject.There are some natural extensions that do present themselves. For instance, suppose that intelligence can be correlated strongly with "processor speed" in the brain, or other biochemical elements that are directly measurable. Suppose that it can be shown how genetics affects that biology. That would be a more direct path to understanding diversity in intelligence.Suppose there are pharmaceutical interventions that can affect those biochemical processes. How does society deal with that, or should it?In the end, my hope is that the clarity of this book serves to open a rational, less emotional understanding and dialog.

What exactly is intelligence and how can intelligence possibly be measured and quantified? Is intelligence genetic or is it a product of environment and educational attainment? Are there really IQ differences between the sexes and ethnic groups? Can brain scans identify intelligence at work? Can IQ really be boosted through intensive early education, breast feeding, listening to Mozart, or by taking supplements?These questions and more are concisely answered head-on in this new book by Richard J. Haier, Professor Emeritus at UC Irvine, who has been on the forefront of intelligence research for over 40 years. As Haier closes in on the end of his long and distinguished career, he uses this book to summarize the current state of intelligence research and suggests that there is an exciting “golden age” of discovery that he foresees emerging in this field. The primary target audience is students of psychology and neuroscience, educators, and education policy makers.Perhaps no field of study in psychology, let alone in the social sciences, is as misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented as is the study of intelligence. This being the case, Haier clearly states in the Preface that three laws govern this book:1. No story about the brain is simple2. No one study is definitive3. It takes many years to sort out conflicting and inconsistent findings and establish a compelling weight of evidence“Weight of evidence” is actually the key to this book and to understanding the state of intelligence science. Haier writes “If the weight of evidence changes for any of the topics covered, I will change my mind, and so should you.” He reminds the reader of this point throughout the book to underscore that outlier studies do not necessarily nullify prior data and that the complexity of the science makes it difficult to establish a weight of evidence on the basis just one or two studies.The book is divided into 6 chapters, each ending with bullet point recaps of the main topics covered and some questions for review.Chapter 1 covers what we know about intelligence and the weight of evidenceChapter 2 covers nature vs. nurture and the genetics of intelligenceChapter 3 covers the early brain scanning studies and their discoveriesChapter 4 covers the current state of brain scanning and intelligence at workChapter 5 covers whether intelligence can be boostedChapter 6 covers new research into intelligence and what is on the horizonThroughout the book, Haier consistently remains cautious, conservative, and measured in his presentation of the evidence and the conclusions drawn from it, and provides extensive citations to the major studies that have established the current weight of evidence.Some major takeaways from this book are:*General intelligence is indeed measurable to an accurate degree and it is the best predictor of one’s educational and economic success*Intelligence is largely genetic - approximately 80% genetic by early adulthood*Many genes are now being identified which are related to intelligence*Intelligence does vary between ethnicities, but not so much between the sexes*Brain scans are showing intelligence at work in greater detail than ever before, and physical differences in brain structures between higher and lower IQ subjects are being discovered*Arthur Jensen’s controversial findings regarding IQ and education are largely validated by the current weight of evidence*IQ is not permanently increased by early education, breast feeding, listening to Mozart, educational video games, or by taking cognitive supplements*”Neuro-poverty” is a real phenomenon that has significant implications for education policy and how social welfare programs are designedWhile the above takeaways are established by the weight of evidence, Haier does not shy away from presenting the studies which report conflicting data and discussing what those studies mean in terms of whether they are statistical outliers or the result of poorly designed studies and poor peer review.The enthusiasm which Haier seems to infuse this book with is directed towards those just entering the field and the incredible discoveries that are sure to come in the next few decades with the improving scanning technology and the decoding of the genome. The possibility of applying these new discoveries to inventing methods of boosting intelligence for lower IQ people to help level the playing field is one of the major goals and benefits to society for the study of intelligence.This book should be required reading for education policymakers who continue to approach disparate educational gaps, particularly by ethnicity, only as failures in educational bureaucracy, or worse, as a result of institutional racism. This book should also be required reading for students of the social sciences, particularly for Sociology students who are ostensibly studying a “science”, but are far too often indoctrinated into an ideological viewpoint that all differences in life outcomes are strictly due to one’s environment and cultural institutions.

like the book it is well done there's a lot of good information