The Mystery Behind Einstein’s Extraordinary Mind
We’ve always known that Einstein was smarter than most of us. And now we know why.
His brain was removed about eight hours after his death, and we’ve just been poking at it ever since, looking for the differences that made it such a brilliant mind.
Groundbreaking Research Reveals Einstein’s Neural Advantage
A study published in the journal Brain thinks that they’ve found the answer. And it’s in the corpus callosum—the body’s largest bundle of neuronal fibers that sits underneath your cerebral cortex.
Among its functions is making sure that both halves of the brain can communicate with each other.
Understanding Brain Lateralization and Communication
You may have heard about the left brain, right brain myth and lateralization before. There’s no such thing as a left or right brain person. You are a beautiful, unique person that can do anything you want, thanks to practice and neural plasticity.
However, the things you do are controlled by different parts of the brain. And if those parts are on different sides and need to work together, they’ve got to go through the corpus callosum to do it.
Einstein’s Unique Brain Structure
Einstein’s corpus callosum had extremely thick connections between three very interesting brain regions:
– His prefrontal cortex: which controls abstract thinking and decision making
– His parietal lobe: which is all about sense and motor function
– His visual cortex: for seeing
The thicker connections could be responsible for lower lateralization of brain activity and at least partially explain why he was so brilliant. This is interesting because lower lateralization in the brain has also been linked to schizophrenia and psychopathy.
How to Develop an Einstein-Like Brain
So how do you get a brain like Einstein’s? We’ve talked a bit about neural plasticity and how the more you use a part of your brain, the stronger it gets and the thicker its connections become.
Practical Strategies for Brain Enhancement
So in theory, to think like Einstein, you’ve got to do activities that will keep your corpus callosum active and use both hemispheres of your brain at once:
Music Training
Multiple studies have shown that musicians tend to use their whole brain more. Einstein himself was a violinist. So maybe taking up an instrument or music lessons could help.
Cross-Lateral Activities
Handedness is connected to lateralization. So by being left-handed, I’m using the right part of my motor cortex. A 2004 study in Nature showed that juggling could help strengthen whole brain activity by requiring the use of both hands.
Just using your non-dominant hand throughout the day for things like brushing your teeth could potentially do the same thing.
Logic and Math Puzzles
These are good because number estimates and comparison use both halves of your parietal lobe.
And if you’re terrible at them, like me, it means you also get to work out your amygdala, your ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and your limbic system by flying into a rage. Just remember to flip the desk over with your non-dominant hand.
The Nature vs Nurture Question
An unanswered question here is whether Einstein was born with a more developed corpus callosum to begin with. This would have given this sort of thinking a head start.
Nobody can guarantee that brushing your teeth with the wrong hand or playing the ukulele is going to turn you into the next great thinker.
But making a conscious decisions to learn, adapt, and be creative every day can’t hurt.
Was Einstein born better, or did he make himself that way? Or was it a bit of both?
