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Re: Austrailia
C:DEMONSPOOLMAIL (DPCHAN@kentroad.demon.co.uk)
Wed, 27 Sep 1995 20:00:21 GMT
In article: <445ubb$6es@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca> VINCENT@REG.TRIUMF.CA (pete) writes:
> Ralph L Holloway (rlh2@columbia.edu) sez:
>
> `Whoa. It's pretty rare that female Australian Aboriginal brain
> `endocasts get lower than about 900 ml, but it is true that on the
> `average, Australian Aboriginal brain weights are somewhat lower than,
> `say, Caucasian or Asian, at least from the data I've looked at.
> `And there does appear to be some evidence for some "different" wiring
> `in the Australian Aboriginal brain, in that their primary visual
> `cortices (Brodmann's area 17) are relatively larger (and statistically
> `significantly so) than for those of Caucasians.
>
...
> consequent neural attrition. The corollary was that a human
> level of intelligence would not require a full human brain weight.
> The poster pointed to examples of hydroencephalics who achieve
> normal intelligence while possessing large fluid filled voids
> in their brains (I recall one featured on a tv program, possibly
> Nova).
>
>From what I've heard about hydroencephalics, some of them have brain
capacities much lower than 900cc. Some have lower brain capacity than
chimps (I'm right, aren't I, a chimp's brain capacity is about 350cc?)
or gorillas. I even heard of one case where one sufferer, of fairly
normal intelligence, had been found to have only a few cerebral cells,
so this suggests that brain size is not neccesary for intelligent
thought. Was he thinking with his spinal cord?
--
David Chan (DPChan@kentroad.demon.co.uk)
BTW, is anyone likely to be bothered if I use a seven line sig?
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