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Magazine: Maclean's Issue: August 29, 1994 Title: Smart beginnings. Probing the roots of superior intelligence. Author: Mark Nichols Spotting children with exceptionally superior intellectual abilities is not all that difficult. They are the ones, educators say, who ask a lot of questions and learn quickly. They often have a well-developed sense of humor and a precocious interest in ethical issues. But figuring out what ingredients go into the making of gifted children is not quite as easy. Most experts in the field believe that two key elements are involved: genes, which determine the brain's ability to process information, and the environment in which the child grows up. Both factors are important. Every child is born with a unique brain, and scientists have only recently begun to understand why some work better than others_knowledge that may one day lead to chemically enhancing an individual's intelligence. At the same time, says Max Cynader, a professor of ophthalmology and a brain researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a child who receives a lot of attention in a stimulating environment will almost certainly have a better chance of doing well. ``But if your parents ignore you and there is no book in the whole house,'' adds Cynader, ``you may not reach your potential.'' Cynader and other experts believe that there are specific periods early in a child's life during which environmental stimuli can critically affect the brain's development. The scientist's own pioneering work in the field of vision has shown how neural pathways in the brain can be influenced by events in infancy. A minor injury that closes a child's eye for a few weeks during the first year or two of life, says Cynader, can affect the eye's ability to transmit information to the cortex_the brain's central processing system. The potential result: permanently reduced vision. Other brain functions have similar critical periods of growth. According to Cynader, the key period for language development is between the ages of three and 10, while lifelong social skills are fostered_or suffocated_by interpersonal experiences both in childhood and adolescence. ``If a child does not get the right kind of stimulus at the right age,'' adds Cynader, ``then the neurological circuits will not develop properly.'' Other researchers have uncovered evidence that demonstrates that some children are born with brains that have a superior ability to process information. Joseph Fagan, a professor of psychology at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University and an authority on infant intelligence, describes a typical experiment in which a five-month-old baby is shown a picture of a man. The picture is then shown to the baby again, paired with that of a woman. A baby with normal or above-average intelligence will focus on the woman. Others are slower to realize that they have already seen one of the faces, and may be less interested in novelty. The Case Western professor has developed a widely used test, called the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, that is based on the way infants react to new things. ``You can predict later intelligence from tests of novelty preference,'' says Fagan. ``If I measure a baby at five or six months and he does well, and I come back and test him at four or five years, the chances are he will score well then.'' Although scientists are only beginning to understand exactly how the brain works, Fagan thinks that it may eventually be possible to develop drugs that will raise intelligence levels. Mental functions are the result of biochemical processes in the brain, speculates Fagan ``and when we understand the biochemical bases of intelligence, it could be changed by putting the right chemicals in.'' So far, most scientists admit that they have little understanding of the factors that make for differences between the brains of individual babies. ``It may be that some brains are able to make stronger connections between brain cells, or that they have greater elasticity, or that they are able to produce more of the proteins used in the brain during critical learning periods,'' says Cynader. ``I do not think anybody knows yet what an efficient brain looks like.'' Still, he adds, intelligent parents do have increased odds of producing a baby possessing a superior brain. Besides being an expert in the brain's development, Cynader has learned about gifted children from his daughter Madeleine. The eldest of three children, the eight-year-old is currently enrolled in a school for gifted children where she is simultaneously in grades 6 and 7. ``She was reading when she was 16 months old,'' recalls Cynader. ``Did I teach her? I think she taught herself. But I spent a lot of time with her. I never talked down to her. I concentrated on exercising her brain in any way I could, and providing her with emotional security.'' As well, Cynader's experience appears to support the belief that gifted children are usually the first born. His two younger daughters are also gifted, but not to the extent that Madeleine is, he says. Adds Cynader: ``I think it is just that you have more time for the first one'' a suggestion that only serves to underline how genetic endowment and childhood environment combine to make some children gifted.