Comments on: Is Giftedness Nothing More than Good Genes?

By: Is Giftedness Nothing More Than Good Genes? | The Brainscape Blog: Learn How to Learn Faster

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:48:37 +0000

[…] Is Giftedness Nothing More than Good Genes? Most people want to believe that if they work hard, and practice, practice, practice, they can be the next great musician, artist, sports star, math genius, or whatever other fill-in-the-blank talented person they aspire to be. A new article discounts that egalitarian view of success and claims that hard work alone may not lead to greatness. […]

By: Leon Rasberry

Leon Rasberry — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:13:43 +0000

Overall musical memory is definitely a factor when it comes to the vast majority of concert and professional pianist. Not all are great sight-readers, but most do have excellent musical and informational memories. This exhibits itself sometimes as the so-called photo-graphic memory in the case of music notation, and audio-graphical in the case of those who easily and accurately remember and memorize music they have heard or played. I say this because I am familiar with much of the history Classical, Popular, and Jazz Piano and Keyboard performers and musicians. Some were blind and of course could not do visual sight-reading.

I think all of us can think of names of these “Titans” in piano and music. Maybe, I will list some this weekend (as it is time to prepare for sleep and work tomorrow).

By: Nadia Hassan

Nadia Hassan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:25:17 +0000

I think this article is deeply flawed reporting of the actual study. For starters, this article claims that the practice finding is “score one for nurture” and the finding that practice doesn’t account for more variation is “score one for nature.” This seems to deliberately misunderstand the underlying concepts behavioral geneticists are measuring. Practice is not necessarily nurture. People are not equally disposed to interest in music and working hard to practice enough, so it’s very likely influenced by genes. Genes influence discipline. Similarly, the environment likely impacts things outside of practice. Moreover, just because something is influenced by genes, it doesn’t imply that it’s immutable. Hair color is highly heretible, but Loreal can change it without much trouble.

By: Talent’s Role In Artistry – Cerebroom

Talent’s Role In Artistry – Cerebroom — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:17:41 +0000

[…] Is Giftedness Nothing More than Good Genes? (brainblogger.com) Posted in Teaching – Tagged nature vs. nurture, Teaching « Environmental Normalization » Sight-Reading And Memorizing: You Can Do Both 2 Comments […]

By: Michael Jell

Michael Jell — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:24:36 +0000

Our genes account for the biological and neurological predispositions that we have inherited from our family ancestors. They are just like seeds that may or may not germinate, depending on your childhood and current environment. And I think that its the influence of the environment who plays great role of learning. That includes parenting and schooling.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:14:24 +0000

I completely agree with what you are saying. I don’t find this a particularly scientific test. Adding sight-reading into the equation means that we’re not just talking about pure musical ability. Also there are studies that claim training the human mind around early adolescence makes a huge difference… So the ability to sit and learn a piece will be much better ingrained in those who learned to sight-read at an earlier age.

I play by ear… I can pretty much reproduce any song I’ve just heard. But I couldn’t sightread for toffee. How do I fit into the nature/nurture argument?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:32:55 +0000

There seems to me to be a lot of flaws with this study. For one, sight-reading is a skill that is part of being a musician, but is definitely not the sole defining factor of one’s musical abilities. The other issue that may have surfaced in the study but makes no appearance in the article is the role of environment outside of musical training. I think there is something to being inherently predisposed to success in certain areas, but I think that environment is an extremely powerful agent and even has the capacity to alter a person’s biology, rendering the separation of genes and environment extremely difficult, if not impossible.

By: onergk69

onergk69 — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:15:26 +0000

One of the most fascinating topics on our planet: Genotype & Phenotype. Research on prodigies suggests a genetic & environmental contribution. Parents of a prodigy provide significant enrichment. Now, how about those who exhibit autistic savant features, with amazing abilities in some with a devastating syndrome, often presumed to have below normal intelligence(IQ’s of 70 or less)!

And we know that early life experiences directly impact gene expression. The most common cause of mild mental retardation (80% of all MR) is early & protracted pscyosocial stimulation! We now know that the brain is genetically programed to proliferate dendrites. The actual trigger is psychosocial stimulation; and lots of it.

Rich