ohsojourner at aol.com (OhSojourner) wrote in message news:<ce660175.0207131154.6cd860c1 at posting.google.com>...
> Chronos wrote:
>> >Shadow Dancer wrote:
>> >> It is now a generally accepted belief that the smaller gross weight
> of the
> >> female brain has no significance other than that of the smaller
> average size
> >> of the female.
> >
> >Does this mean the fatter a chick gets, the dumber she gets?
>> I think what they're trying to say here is that women have a skeletal
> structure that is generally smaller in proportion to a man's. A
> smaller skull would obviously have to contain a smaller brain,
> although the structures may also be proportionately smaller.
>> However, there are more factors to consider than brain weight itself:
> brain folding and convolutions; neural complexity; neural connections;
> types of brain cells; size and complexity of the different brain
> structures governing behavior; etc.
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Addendum: here's an additional link of interest showing that brain
mass is not necessarily the ultimate indicator of intelligence:
http://members.tripod.com/Dolphinity/intelligencebrain.htm
The Dolphin Brain
Dolphins have very large and folded brains, which (besides the large
body mass) suggest exceptional intellectual capacity. According to
brain researcher Pilleri, it can be called into question whether or
not the brains of Homo Sapiens(human) are the highest in the rankings.
Dolphins are easily trained and they learn exceptionally fast.
However, recent research has shown that the amount of braincells found
in dolphins is comparatively small. Scientists are coming to the
conclusion that the dolphin is probably less intelligent than once
thought. Humans have many more braincells and can therefore learn and
think a lot quicker.
[...]
Some of the most extensive modern comparative studies have been made
by Jerison (e.g.1978), who has developed an index, the encephalization
quotient (EQ), to express the brain weight/body weight relationship.
His studies do show some cetaceans (e.g. toothed whales like the
killer whale and sperm whale) with an EQ similar to humans. However,
other studies conclude that relative brain size is not necessarily
related to "intelligence". Pilleri, Gihr and Kraus (1985) made an
exhaustive study of rodent brain size in relation to behavior and
concluded that "intelligence", whether human or animal, is not a
unified brain function, but one which is too complex to be
characterized with a single numerical index. They found that cerebral
quotients (various ways of expressing relative brain and body size)
are generally inconclusive as criteria for mammalian "intelligence".
[...]
