Steen Human Intelligence and Medical Illness

Assessing the Flynn Effect
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4419-0092-0
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 218 Seiten

Reihe: The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality

As critics will note, psychometric tests are deeply flawed. Person-to-person differences in performance on a psychometric test are not informative about many things of great interest. An intelligence quotient (IQ) cannot characterize creativity or w- dom or artistic ability or other forms of specialized knowledge. An IQ test is simply an effort to assess an aptitude for success in the modern world, and individual scores do a mediocre job of predicting individual successes. In the early days of psychology, tests of intelligence were cobbled together with little thought as to validity; instead, the socially powerful sought to validate their power and the prominent to rationalize their success. In recent years, we have ob- ated many of the objections to IQ that were so forcefully noted by Stephen Jay Gould in The Mismeasure of Man. Nevertheless, IQ tests are still flawed and those flaws are hereby acknowledged in principle. Yet, in the analysis that follows, individual IQ test scores are not used; rather, average IQ scores are employed. In many cases - though not all - an average IQ is calculated from a truly enormous sample of people. The most common circ- stance for such large-scale IQ testing is an effort to systematically sample all men of a certain age, to assess their suitability for service in the military. Yet, it is useful and prudent to retain some degree of skepticism about the ability of IQ tests to measure individual aptitudes.

R. Grant Steen has written 5 books and 70 research articles, mostly about the human brain in health and disease. He has been a professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, biomedical engineering, and radiology (brain imaging), and he worked for 20 years in clinical research at various medical schools and hospitals. He earned a Doctorate in Biology from UCLA, held a National Research Service Award at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and he has been a faculty member at the University of Washington, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of North Carolina. Dr. Steen now consults and writes about the brain full-time.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Steen, R. Grant

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Steen_FM_O.pdf;1
1.1;Anchor 1;5
2;Steen_Ch01_O.pdf;10
2.1;Chapter 1;10
2.1.1;Are People Getting Smarter?;10
2.1.1.1;What Is Intelligence?;10
2.1.1.2;The Flynn Effect;11
2.1.1.3;How Real Is the Flynn Effect?;14
2.1.1.4;What Could Explain the Flynn Effect?;15
2.1.1.5;Hypothesis: IQ Tests Tend to Measure Achievement, Not Aptitude;15
2.1.1.6;Hypothesis: IQ Is Not an Accurate Reflection of Intelligence;15
2.1.1.7;Hypothesis: IQ Tests Do Not Measure “Average” Intelligence of the Population;16
2.1.1.8;Hypothesis: Brain Evolution Is Very Rapid and It Is Happening Right Now;16
2.1.1.9;Hypothesis: Child Development Is Happening Sooner or Faster than in the Past;16
2.1.1.10;Hypothesis: The Family Environment Is Improving, Thereby Enabling Intellectual Growth;17
2.1.1.11;Hypothesis: Children Are Healthier and Better able to Demonstrate Intellectual Ability;17
3;Steen_Ch02_O.pdf;18
3.1;Chapter 2;18
3.1.1;Human IQ and Increasing Intelligence;18
3.1.1.1;What Is an Intelligence Test?;18
3.1.1.2;IQ Testing of Minorities;20
3.1.1.3;Hypothesis: IQ Tests Tend to Measure Achievement, Not Aptitude;23
3.1.1.4;Hypothesis: IQ Is Not an Accurate Reflection of Intelligence;25
3.1.1.5;Hypothesis: IQ Tests Do Not Measure “Average” Intelligence of the Population;27
4;Steen_Ch03_O.pdf;30
4.1;Chapter 3;30
4.1.1;Evolution and Increasing Intelligence;30
4.1.1.1;What is Evolution?;30
4.1.1.2;What If There Was Stringent Selection Against the Dull-Witted?;32
4.1.1.3;What If Very Intelligent People Tended to Have More Children?;34
4.1.1.4;What If Selection for Intelligence Was Indirect?;36
4.1.1.5;Hypothesis: Brain Evolution Is Very Rapid and It Is Happening Right Now;37
4.1.1.6;Human Brain Evolution Is Recent and Rapid;39
5;Steen_Ch04_O.pdf;41
5.1;Chapter 4;41
5.1.1;Brain Development and Increasing Intelligence;41
5.1.1.1;Patterns of Brain Growth and Development;42
5.1.1.2;Brain Myelination and Developmental Maturity;44
5.1.1.3;Is Education Now Better Able to Compensate for Differences in Developmental Maturity?;46
5.1.1.4;Is Increasing Environmental Complexity Producing a Rise in IQ?;48
5.1.1.5;Hypothesis: Child Development is Happening Sooner or Faster than in the Past;49
5.1.1.6;The Timing of Puberty in Adolescence;50
6;Steen_Ch05_O.pdf;53
6.1;Chapter 5;53
6.1.1;Environment and Increasing Intelligence;53
6.1.1.1;Hypothesis: The Family Environment is Improving, Thereby Enabling Intellectual Growth;53
6.1.1.2;Is the Social Environment Contributing to the Rise in IQ?;54
6.1.1.3;A New Concept of the “Environment”;56
6.1.1.4;Hypothesis: Children are Healthier and Better Able to Demonstrate Intellectual Ability;57
6.1.1.5;A New Concept of the Environment: The Example of Lead Pollution;57
6.1.1.6;The Effect of Parasitic Infestation on Growth and Intelligence;59
6.1.1.7;A Medical View of the Environment Through Time;60
6.1.1.8;The Medical Environment and the Brain;63
7;Steen_Ch06_O.pdf;66
7.1;Chapter 6;66
7.1.1;Evidence of Physical Plasticity in Humans;66
7.1.1.1;A Proof of Principle;67
7.1.1.2;What is Physical Plasticity and How Do We Measure It?;68
7.1.1.3;Unambiguous Evidence of Physical Plasticity;70
7.1.1.4;Recent Evidence of Physical Plasticity;72
7.1.1.5;Demographic Evidence of Physical Plasticity;75
7.1.1.6;Physical Plasticity and Human Disease;78
7.1.1.7;Early Life Stresses and Chronic Illness;80
8;Steen_Ch07_O.pdf;82
8.1;Chapter 7;82
8.1.1;Evidence of Mental Plasticity in Humans;82
8.1.1.1;A Proof of Principle: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder;83
8.1.1.2;Studying Mental Plasticity;86
8.1.1.3;Malnutrition and CI;87
8.1.1.4;Trace Nutrients and CI;89
8.1.1.5;Diarrhea and CI;91
8.1.1.6;Very Low Birth Weight and CI;92
8.1.1.7;Poverty and CI;93
8.1.1.8;Childhood Neglect and CI;95
8.1.1.9;Lessons from Lead Poisoning;96
9;Steen_Ch08_O.pdf;98
9.1;Chapter 8;98
9.1.1;Evidence of Cognitive Plasticity in Humans;98
9.1.1.1;The Importance of Language to Humans;98
9.1.1.2;Genes and Language Ability;99
9.1.1.3;Language Impairment;100
9.1.1.4;The Heritability of Language;101
9.1.1.5;Can the Environment Have an Impact on Language Learning?;103
10;Steen_Ch09_O.pdf;106
10.1;Chapter 9;106
10.1.1;Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ in the United States;106
10.1.1.1;What Medical Problems Can Impair Language Ability?;107
10.1.1.2;Can Cognitive Impairment from Poverty Be Prevented?;114
10.1.1.3;Can CI in General Be Prevented?;115
11;Steen_Ch10_O.pdf;117
11.1;Chapter 10;117
11.1.1;Impact of Medical Conditions on Human IQ Worldwide;117
11.1.1.1;What Medical Challenges Depress IQ Worldwide?;117
12;Steen_Ch11_O.pdf;134
12.1;Chapter 11;134
12.1.1;Medical Interventions for Cognitive Impairment;134
12.1.1.1;Testing a Medical Intervention;135
12.1.1.2;Language Remediation after Stroke: A Proof of Principle;135
12.1.1.3;Pharmacologic Treatment of Aphasia in Stroke;138
12.1.1.4;Why Language Learning is So Hard to Study;141
12.1.1.5;Why Clinical Trials for Language Impairment are So Hard to Do;142
12.1.1.6;Clinical Trials of Language Remediation in Children;143
12.1.1.7;Methylphenidate in Children with ADHD;146
12.1.1.8;What does Language Remediation Teach Us about Medical Intervention?;150
13;Steen_Ch12_O.pdf;153
13.1;Chapter 12;153
13.1.1;Increasing IQ in the United States;153
13.1.1.1;The Head Start Program;154
13.1.1.2;The Early Head Start Program;158
13.1.1.3;School Readiness and the ABC Project;160
13.1.1.4;Other Early Childhood Interventions;167
13.1.1.5;Can We Intervene to Augment IQ in Disadvantaged Children?;169
14;Steen_Ch13_O.pdf;170
14.1;Chapter 13;170
14.1.1;Increasing IQ and Social Justice;170
14.1.1.1;IQ and Social Justice;170
14.1.1.2;Why No Child Left Behind Is a Failure;172
14.1.1.3;Why Charter Schools Are Not the Way Forward;173
14.1.1.4;What Should We Do?;174
14.1.1.5;The Costs and Benefits of Cognitive Remediation;176
14.1.1.6;What Difference Can We Make in the United States?;178
14.1.1.7;What Difference Can the “Rising Tide” Hypothesis Make Overall?;179
15;Steen_BM1_O.pdf;181
15.1;Anchor 1;181
16;Steen_Index_O.pdf;214