Idiot Brain Read Online Free PDF

less-intelligent people who freely admit their limited mental powers with grace and humility. It may also have a cultural aspect; the studies behind the Dunning–Kruger effect almost always focus on Western societies, but some East Asian cultures have shown very different patterns of behavior, and one explanation put forward for this is these cultures adopt the (healthier) attitude that a lack of awareness is an opportunity for improvement, so the priorities and behaviors are very different. 6
    Are there actual brain regions behind this kind of phenomenon? Is there a part of the brain responsible for working out: “Am I any good at this thing that I’m doing?” Amazing as it may seem, there might well be. In 2009, Howard Rosen and his colleagues tested a group of about forty patients with neurodegenerative diseases and concluded that accuracy in self-appraisal correlated with the volume of tissue in the rightventromedial (lower part, towards the middle) region of the prefrontal cortex. 7 The study argues that this area of the prefrontal cortex is needed for the emotional and physiological processing required when evaluating your own tendencies and abilities. This is relatively consistent with the accepted functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which is largely all to do with processing and manipulating complex information and working out the best possible opinion of it and response to it.
    It’s important to note that this study in and of itself is not conclusive; forty patients isn’t really enough to say that the data obtained from them is relevant to everyone ever. But research into this ability to assess your own intellectual performance accurately, known as a “metacognitive ability” (thinking about thinking, if that makes sense), is considered to be quite important, as an inability to perform accurate self-appraisal is a well-known feature of dementia. This is particularly true of frontotemporal dementia, a variation of the disorder that attacks largely the frontal lobe, where the prefrontal cortex is. Patients with this condition often show an inability to assess their performance on a wide variety of tests accurately, which would suggest their ability to assess and evaluate their performance has been seriously compromised. This wide-ranging inability to judge one’s performance accurately isn’t seen in other types of dementia that damage different brain regions, suggesting an area of the frontal lobe is heavily involved in self-appraisal. So this adds up.
    Some propose that this is one reason why dementia patients can turn quite aggressive; they are unable to do things but cannot understand or recognize why, which must be nothing short of enraging.
    But even without a neurodegenerative disorder and whilein possession of a fully functioning prefrontal cortex, this means only that you are capable of self-appraisal; there’s nothing to say your self-appraisal will be correct. Hence we end up with confident clowns and insecure intellectuals. And it’s apparently human nature that we pay more attention to the confident ones.
    Crosswords don’t actually keep your brain sharp
    (Why it’s very difficult to boost your brain power)
    There are many ways to appear more intelligent (using pompous terms such as “ au courant ,” carrying The Economist ), but can you actually become more intelligent? Is it possible to “boost your brain power”?
    In the sense of the body, power usually means the ability to do something or act in a particular way, and “brain power” is invariably linked to abilities that would come under the heading of intelligence. You could feasibly increase the amount of energy contained within your brain by using your head to complete a circuit connected to an industrial generator, but that’s not going to be something that benefits you, unless you’re especially keen to have your mind literally blown (to bits).
    You’ve