Category: general

SharpBrains Top 30

SharpBrains, the weblog responsible for hosting the latest Encephalon (the 61st edition), also brings us a year’s end Top 30 Brain Health and Fitness Articles of 2008. I know that a lot of our readers are interested in brain health, including the health-related implications of some of the basic research that we discuss here at Neuroanthropology. Although I’m sometimes reluctant to wade into this sort of prescriptive discussion, SharpBrains does a very good job of exploring the effects of practices like brain ‘exercises,’ meditation, physical exercise, play, education, sleep, and a host of others.

There’s a number of the posts that are worth checking out, but I appreciated that were some here that I missed the first time around, including Why do You Turn Down the Radio When You’re Lost?, which used an example of something I do all the time (I get lost a lot in Sydney as I’m still unfamiliar with the city), and hadn’t really noticed; and the critical discussion of the concept of ‘brain age,’ Posit Science, Nintendo Brain Age, and Brain Training Topics. But there’s lots more good stuff in this list, especially if you are interested in ‘brain training’ of all sorts.

Annunciando la prima edizione di «I migliori dei blogs di antropologia»

Un numero crescente di antropologi ha cominciato a produrre e diffondere il loro lavorro su Internet, specialmente in forma di blog. Come risultato di questo vediamo che l’antropologia in tutte le sue forme diventa più rilevante e sicuramente più visibile per il resto del mondo. Per questo motivo «Neuroanthropology» proporre di creare una collezione dei migliori articoli dei blogs antropologici.

Per participare, si prega di seguire queste istruzioni:

Ci sono due categorie di articoli. La prima categoria è costituita degli articoli più popolari, in termini di numero di lettori per un articolo. La seconda è costituita degli articoli scelti da voi stessi, in altre parole, il vostro preferito articolo su vostro blog.

Si prega di inviare un esempio in ogni categoria (il più popolare e il più preferito di vostra scelta), compreso il titolo, il suo indirizzo su Internet, e una o due frasi spiegando il motivo per cui pensate che questi sono i migliori esempi da vostro blog.

Nel caso di blogs con più di un autore, è possibile inviare due esempi di articoli nella seconda categoria.

Per favore mandate questi dettagli a Dottor Daniel Lende a: dlende[@]nd[.]edu (eliminando le parentesi).

Si aspetta queste informazioni non più tardi del 29 dicembre di 2008. «I migliori dei blogs di antropologia» sarà pubblicata su Internet el 31 di dicembre.

Mille grazie ai nostri colleghi italiani.

How intelligent are intelligence tests?: Whitehead responds

Dear readers. Dr. Charles Whitehead wrote a long and thoughtful response to my earlier post on the Flynn Effect, but I worried that comments may not get read as often (or carefully) as the main posts, so I’m taking the liberty of giving Dr. Whitehead his own post. For more about Charles Whitehead’s work and his online activities, see Charles Whitehead: Social Mirrors here at Neuroanthropology.

From an anthropological point of view cognitive scientists are being less than rational when they treat intelligence scales as though they are measuring something fundamental and innate in human beings. No doubt innate abilities are used by people when they tackle IQ tests, but it is unlikely that such abilities evolved under selection pressure for this kind of problem solving.

Intelligence scales are culturally embedded artifacts designed to meet the idiosyncratic needs of postindustrial western societies, and reflect the equally idiosyncratic assumptions found in the west – such as our habit of referring to someone as “brainy” when we mean “intelligent”, and the widely held assumption that brains got bigger during human evolution because of selection pressure for “intelligence” (and/or language: e.g. Deacon 1992). The idea that human intelligence is the ultimate pinnacle of biological evolution may be little more than colonialist propaganda, suggesting that “scientific” societies are the ultimate pinnacle of cultural evolution – and hence morally entitled to dominate others who formerly managed perfectly well without the blessings of “modernity”.

Sir Francis Galton devised the first intelligence test in the late 19th century and this was followed by the scale developed by Alfred Binet and Théophile Simon between 1905 and 1911 (Atkinson et al., 1993: 457-8). As early as 1884 Galton examined more than 9,000 visitors to the London exhibition and found to his chagrin that eminent British scientists could not be distinguished from ordinary citizens on the basis of head size (ibid: 458). From that point on the kind of assumptions made by Galton have continued to pervade scientific thinking with little or no empirical encouragement.

Continue reading “How intelligent are intelligence tests?: Whitehead responds”

Anunciando La Primera Edición de “Lo Mejor de los Blogs Antropológicos”

Un número creciente de antropólogos está escribiendo sobre sus trabajos e ideas en línea, compartiendo antropología en todas sus formas y manifestando cuan pertinente es la antropología para el resto del mundo. Por este motivo, “Neuroanthropology” se propone crear una colección de los mejores artículos en los blogs (o bitácoras) dedicados a la antropología.

Favor seguir las siguientes instrucciones para proponer artículos:

Hay dos categorías de artículos – (1ª) los más populares (en términos de número de lectores) y (2ª) los que usted elige como el mejor ejemplo de su trabajo en línea en su blog.

Por favor, envíe un ejemplo de cada categoría (del más popular y del preferido), incluyendo el título del artículo, la dirección del artículo en línea y una o dos frases que expliquen porqué usted piensa que estos ejemplos han sido exitosos.

En el caso de blogs con más de un autor, pueden entregar dos ejemplos de sus artículos en la segunda categoría.

Por favor enviar los detalles a Daniel Lende vía dlende[@]nd[.]edu
(eliminando los paréntesis).

Esta información debe ser enviada a más tardar el 29 diciembre de 2008. “Lo mejor de…” será publicado en línea el 31 de diciembre.

Muchas gracias a ustedes nuestros colegas.

Antro-blogoskape yang paling baik untuk tahun 2008: sejenis kompetisi

Neuroanthropology.net sedang proses membuat sejenis kompetisi untuk blog tentang antrolopologi yang paling baik selama 2008. Kalau Anda tahu salah satu website tentang Antropologi yang hebat, silakan kasih informasinya kepada “Best of Anthropology Blogging 2008: Call for Submissions.”

Kalau Anda Adalah penulis blog silakan kasihtahu ‘post’ Anda yang paling dikunjungi oleh orang-orang atau ‘post’ yang Anda paling suka.

Semua pendaftaran diterima oleh orang-orang karena ini lebih dekat ‘Anthology’ daripada kompetisi. Tujuan kami adalah untuk menghubungi sebanyak blog tentang Antropologi melalui proses ini.

Le meilleur de la blogosphère anthropologique francophone: appel aux candidatures

Le blogue Neuroanthropology recueille présentement des candidatures pour réaliser une anthologie de la blogosphère anthropologique pour l’année 2008. Si vous tenez un blogue à caractère anthropologique ou si vous connaissez quelqu’un d’autre qui tient un tel blogue, veuillez nous envoyer un message par l’entremise du billet Anthropology Blogging 2008: Call for Submissions sur ce même blogue. Neuroanthropology cherche des anthropologues blogueurs de diverses communautés linguistiques pour qu’ils puissent soumettre leurs meilleurs billets selon deux critères: popularité et auto-sélection. Dans la catégorie «popularité», chaque blogue peut soumettre un lien sur billet celui qui a reçu le plus de visites au cours de l’année, accompagné par une courte description (une ligne ou deux) de ce qui, selon l’auteur, a permis à ce billet d’attirer autant de visites. Dans la catégorie «auto-sélection», il s’agit de soumette le meilleur billet de l’année, selon l’auteur. Les blogues collectifs (écrits par plusieurs auteurs) peuvent sélectionner deux billets du même blogue, pour cette anthologie.

Toutes les soumissions sont acceptées. Nous désirons construire une liste aussi exhaustive que possible des blogues anthropologiques, peu importe la langue.

Prière de soumettre vos candidatures d’ici au 29 décembre. L’anthologie sera mise en ligne le 31 décembre.