The Genius Gene

        How do we understand things?  In a geometry class, the student is first exposed to what is known as a postulate.  A postulate is a statement that is so simple and basic in nature that it is axiomatic, and can be considered as such without the need for evidence.  For example, the ruler postulate dictates that every point on a line can be assigned a real number.  After the student becomes acquainted with several postulates, he will then be introduced to what are known as theorems: statements which are proven by use of previously established statements, or, in this case, postulates.  The process of using previously known statements regarded as fact in order to prove something else, more complex in nature, to be true is how we learn.  At a young age, children are taught basic principles of mathematics, such as numbers.  They are taught to accept that each number has its own value, and that each number that supersedes any other given number has a greater value.  Based on these two statements, they can then conclude that if two numbers were to be combined together, their collective value would increase at a rate relative to the values of the original, independent numbers.  Needless to say, it is not explained in this manner, however therein lies a question: how does this manifest on a neurobiological level?
       Refer back to the example of the child learning basic principles of math.  In order to understand that two numbers such as two and three equate to five, his brain must first establish the original two statements as fact, and does so by storing them as memories.  In the same way, the brain uses the memory of the experience of, for instance, seeing the clear sky as blue, to set what might be considered an intellectual precedent, and thereafter the individual will always make the assumption that he will see the clear sky as blue.   It will then use the memories of the aforementioned mathematical principles to conclude that two and three equate to five.  In other words, the brain connects the two memories together, and combines them, and will understand the more complex concept of addition due to this memory combination.  The newly conceived concept will then enter into the process of becoming a long-term memory (not relevant to this post).  The connections between the two memories are made by what are known as axons: long, slender tubes which project from the cell body of a neuron (a cell of the nervous system that transmits information) which transmit information between different regions of the nervous system.  For the purposes of this entry, simply assume that there are a pair of axons which allow for intercommunication between the two memories. The axons are known collectively as white matter, because they are coated in a fatty substance (known as the myelin sheath) that is coloured white.  Furthermore, we can assume that because the axons of the white matter form connections between memories, allowing more complex concepts to be conceived and understood, the ability of an individual to understand these concepts, which is known as intelligence, is directly correlated to the amount of white matter in that individual's brain.  But what dictates the amount of white matter in a person's brain?
       While intelligence has been known to change throughout childhood development, the amount of white matter in an individual's brain is dependent on the genes which control the development of the brain of a baby during pregnancy, development which is referred to as neonatal neural development.  Neil R. Carlson's The Physiology of Behaviour describes the process in which the nervous system forms.  Early in embryonic development, a portion of the ectodermal (out layer) tissue of the embryo hardens into a plate, which then curls into what is called the neural tube.  This tube will develop into the spinal cord, and the cells at the top of the tube will begin to divide and produce neurons and other nerve cells in the brain, which will then also be positioned by the cells from whence they divided.  After these cells fall into their designated places, they will begin to sprout axons as well as small, branchlike processes known as dendrites (refer to the figure below).  These axons will attempt to find other neurons to connect to, and ones that fail to do so will undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death.  The cells, of course, are programmed to do so by their genes.  I stipulate that if one of the genes responsible for causing neurons whose axons do not make connections with other neurons to undergo apoptosis was perhaps faulty in some way, then maybe some or all of those neurons might remain alive, and they could then be able to form connections with other neurons (as neurons continuously do throughout life) after the child is born.  This increase in white matter due to the faulty gene (or genes) would therefore correlate to an increase in the potential intelligence of the child, or perhaps even allow for the possibility of what might be interpreted as genius. 

A basic visual of a neuron, a nerve cell, which displays the axon and dendrites.

      As I had said in my last post, my stipulation as to the possibility of this "genius gene" is just that- stipulation.  It is a hypothesis I do not yet have evidence for or against, nor do I at the moment have means of acquiring any beyond reading the work of others.  As with my post on the 'decision reflex,' though, I find this concept as well entirely plausible, and will continue to broach my ideas concerning neurobiology and the state of what we perceive to the internet using this blog.

References

Carlson, Neil R. Physiology of Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2011. Print.

Felten, David L., Anil Narsinha. Shetty, and David L. Felten. Netter's Atlas of Neuroscience. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders/Elsevier, 2010. Print.