Non-motoring > Head size versus brain size Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Dave Replies: 19
View Threaded 

New Wed 24 Mar 10 14:20 
 Head size versus brain size - Dave
Assuming a larger brain generally gives more intelligence, is it safe to assume that a larger head will contain a larger brain, and therefore a larger head means generally more intelligence?

If a large head doesn't contain a large brain, then what else is in there that takes up the extra room?

So if a large head means a large brain and therefore more intelligence, does a big dog have more intelligence than a little one?

Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 14:37 
 Head size versus brain size - Crankcase
I think your proposition falls at the first, if the recent Horizon about genius is anything to go by. They addressed the (outdated years since) idea that brain size and intelligence were linked and said there was no evidence for it.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 14:43 
 Head size versus brain size - Stuartli
But we did used to say that the larger her chest the smaller the brain....

Smaller dogs can be very intelligent as our sadly now no longer with us Sheltie regularly proved.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 15:25 
 Head size versus brain size - ....
I don't think there is a relationship between head size and intelligence anymore than car size and engine.
Think Skoda Superb 1.4 & VW Golf R32.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 17:48 
 Head size versus brain size - Dave
I guess the only certaintly then, is it's impossible to have a big brain and a small head.

But if chavs have a big brain but low intelligence, what's the rest of thier brain filled with if it's not intelligence?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 17:51 
 Head size versus brain size - ....
Whatever the mobile Pharmacists are packing with Persil this week possibly ?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 18:00 
 Head size versus brain size - L'escargot
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/sep/28/research.health

"This striking conclusion is the handiwork of scientists who have uncovered a close correlation between the size of a pensioner's cranium and the results of intelligence and memory tests."
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 19:18 
 Head size versus brain size - Iffy
Common sense suggests the bigger the brain, the more processing power or intelligence it should have.

I think I read somewhere - probably in the Boys Book of Dinosaurs so it must be right - that large pre-historic mammals had small brains, which didn't help them adapt.

Then there's the phrase 'bird brain' - a bird has a small head relative to its size.



Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 19:45 
 Head size versus brain size - Focusless
Article on human brain size (3rd page 'Does size matter?):
health.howstuffworks.com/brain-size1.htm

"It's also worth noting that the strangest things seem to increase brain size. Scientists have found that the brains of London's cab drivers enlarge and change as they learn complicated routes."
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 19:54 
 Head size versus brain size - BiggerBadderDave
"Common sense suggests the bigger the brain, the more processing power or intelligence it should have."

I don't think that's the case. What about people with savant skills who can memorise volumes and volumes of data or compute complex calculations way beyond what the normal brain can manage - their brains aren't bigger, just wired differently.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 19:55 
 Head size versus brain size - Manatee
Well, I'm not going to pretend I know how brains work but I'm pretty sure that the average brain has so much capacity that anything in the normal size range isn't a constraint.

I guess it's what you do with it, and the way it's trained / programmed, that are related to 'intelligence'.

Birds may be an exception, having brains the size of a pinhead, and observation of our chickens supports this hypothesis.

EDIT - and what BBD said.
Last edited by: Manatee on Wed 24 Mar 10 at 19:56
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 20:05 
 Head size versus brain size - Crankcase
Indeed. Marcus du Sautoy said on the BBC (so it MUST be true or else) - and I'm sorry to get technical with you here - that it's not the size, it's the density of the little squiddly bits inside it that's important.







Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 24 Mar 10 at 20:06
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 20:41 
 Head size versus brain size - Dog
We have about 100 billion brain cells and our brain weighs about 3 pounds which is pretty big,
so I would say the bigger the brain, the more brain cells/intelligence.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 20:45 
 Head size versus brain size - Focusless
>> so I would say the bigger the brain the more brain cells/intelligence.

But as Manatee says, you only get extra intelligence from more brain cells if you make use of them.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 21:12 
 Head size versus brain size - Ted

It's like a sewer, you only get out what you put in !

Ted
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 22:30 
 Head size versus brain size - Dog
>>>But as Manatee says, you only get extra intelligence from more brain cells if you make use of them.<<<

If a human baby is nurtured by beasts, it will become likewise,
but if that same child is raised amongst academics, the chances are he/she will join the ranks of the intelligentsia,
so yes - that goes with what Manatee says = use it or lose it.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 22:46 
 Head size versus brain size - Kevin
>Birds may be an exception, having brains the size of a pinhead,

I'd love to see you debate that assertion on primetime TV with an African Grey I know ;-)

Kevin...
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 22:56 
 Head size versus brain size - Manatee

>> I'd love to see you debate that assertion on primetime TV with an African Grey
>> I know ;-)

I stand corrected - I was speculating based on observing the chucks ;-)
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 23:01 
 Head size versus brain size - Robin O'Reliant
John Prescott has a large head.
Reply to this message | Report message
       
New Wed 24 Mar 10 23:09 
 Head size versus brain size - swiss tony
>> John Prescott has a large head.
>>

>>>But as Manatee says, you only get extra intelligence from more brain cells if you make use of them.<<<
so yes - that goes with what Manatee says = use it or lose it.

Nuff said?
Reply to this message | Report message
       
Latest Forum Posts