"Matthew Kirkcaldie" <Matthew.Kirkcaldie at removethis.newcastle.edu.au> wrote
in message
news:Matthew.Kirkcaldie-68C229.17514721112003 at seagoon.newcastle.edu.au...
> In article <3fbd9960 at dnews.tpgi.com.au>,
> "John H." <johnh at faraway.com.au> wrote:
>> > Another myth bites the dust, though the evidence of ADHD being a real
> > condition has rarely been in dispute by those who read the research.
> > Hopefully this finding will further our understanding of this condition,
> > which I have no hope of understanding.
> >
> >
> > John H.
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3284629.stm> >
> > Scientists have found differences in the brains of children with
> > attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
> > University of California Los Angeles researchers found some areas of the
> > brains of the children were smaller, and but others had more grey
matter.
> >
> > .....
>> London cabbies have different grey matter volumes in the hippocampus
> than matched controls. As far as I know, nobody has used this to argue
> that cabdriving is genetically controlled, or that being a taxi driver
> is a "real condition".
>> My point being, if a child behaves consistently differently, or is given
> neuroactive drugs for a long period, their experience of the world
> differs. That difference can show up in brain structure, without the
> need for a genetic or pathological basis. If you raise a kitten with
> one eye closed, the large scale structure of its visual cortex is
> radically different, despite the lack of a genetic difference or a
> pathogen.
>> This is one of the most common misconceptions about brain development -
> and it's common because it's very subtle and perhaps counterintuitive.
> However, if we regard the brain as an organ whose primary function is to
> adapt its structure to the experience it receives, the issues become
> clearer.
>> I'll get off my hobbyhorse, this is a topic I frequently get into when
> lecturing!
>> Cheers,
>> Matthew.
Hear! Hear!
Of course the position you've taken is easily-verified, but thank you for
"getting on your [high] horse". There's so much tragic ignorance being
aflicted, in particular, upon Children that just contemplating it is
physically 'painful'.
BTW, your "London cabby" example is extremely-informative in light of NDT's
reification of the "internal frame of reference" [IFR; see my previous reply
to John].
The Cabbies are 'required' to exist in a relatively "passive-phase" {AoK,
Ap5, 7 & 8] experiential realm because they must 'move toward' acting upon
instructions received from external sources. TRhe structural 'divergences'
to which you've referred =definitely= derive in this one thing [which has
been reified in NDT for more than two decades [1974-5 academic year]].
Analogous structural 'divergences' will be observed all over the place, and,
if folks look for them, the position you've taken will =definitely= be
sustained [and the Error of pointing-the-finger-of-'abnormality' at such
structural 'divergences' will be Corrected - and, more-importantly, the
generating experiential dynamics will be [gradually] transcended as the
'guesswork' that has dictated to prevailing analyses is eliminated].
HURRAH!
ken [k. p. collins]
