Shenk's Misconceptions

With all of the technological and medical advancements over simply a few decades, scientists have been able to discover so many mysteries of the brain and how it functions. Even with all of these advancements in mind, many remain convinced that one's intelligence is tied to their DNA. People remain convinced that genius and genes go hand-in-hand. In Shenk's (2011) book, he delves into some of the misconceptions people have when it comes to intellectual capabilities. Shenk challenges people to consider the idea that intelligence is obtained via a process, rather than by inheriting a “genius gene” from your parents. In his writings, one of the most interesting examples in support of his “intelligence is a process” notion was about taxi drivers in London. Shenk stated that In contrast with non-cabbies, experienced taxi drivers had a greatly enlarged posterior hippocampus – that part of the brain that specializes in recalling spatial representations. On its own, that finding provided nothing; theoretically, people born with larger posterior hippocampi could have innately better spatial skills and therefore be more likely to become cabbies. What made Maguire's study so striking is that she then correlated the size of the posterior hippocampi directly with each driver's experience: the longer the driving career, the larger the …show more content…
With this example, I believe that it is important to point out that the brain is a malleable organ (or as the author describes, it has immense plasticity). I believe that very single person has an equivalent capacity to increase their intelligence. The only factor that can vary from one person to another is how difficult it may be; some people face more barriers, and some are simply not quick learners, yet at the end of the day everyone shares the same potential capacity of