howard gardner

Pigeons on Par with Primates

Notes by Howard Gardner

If you thought that logical mathematical thinking was limited to human beings, you need to revise your beliefs. In this mind-expanding study, the researchers report that species other than human beings are able to master an abstract numerical rule; a rule that governs the way that a series of numerical displays is ordered.  Moreover, and I find this amazing, this skill is found not only among nonhuman primates but also among pigeons.  Scholars will debate whether birds or monkeys are able to master this rule in the same way, drawing on the same representations and strategies or whether this skill has evolved twice, along quite distinct evolutionary pathways.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

The Brain’s Social Network

Notes by Howard Gardner

In recent years, evidence has accumulated that the practice of certain skills actually enhances the size of the brain areas dedicated to the particular skills-in-question.  We know that a regimen of juggling enhances motor cortex, even as, in a pre-GPS era, London cab drivers had larger hippocampi. Furthermore, if you stop juggling, the enhanced motor areas eventually shrink back to their earlier size.

The present study provides evidence that, in monkeys, the amount of social exposure (exposure to other monkeys) increases the size of cortex dedicated to social processing. In MI terms, we can say that enhanced interpersonal exposure has neural consequences and, by argument, also increases interpersonal intelligence. Note that it is possible, these days, to control the environment of monkeys in a way that we would not be allowed to do with human beings of any age. The authors go on to speculate that perhaps dedicated engagement with Facebook, or other social media, might also be reflected in the psychology and neurology of the individual(s) involved. I’d point out, however, that sheer contact with loads of members of your species does not equate with deeper or more appropriate knowledge of those individuals—be they monkeys or other primates.  In some cases, more neurons simply means, more neurons.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

MI Theory and Foreign Language Learning

Notes by Howard Gardner

On a common sense basis, the teaching and learning of languages—native or foreign—should be a straightforward exercise of linguistic intelligence. Indeed, when teachers of foreign languages used to tell me that they found MI theory helpful, I was skeptical.

But ultimately I have become convinced that, in capable hands, MI ideas can be quite useful to teachers of language. In this empirical article, the authors provide evidence that bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can be helpful in the mastery of foreign languages. Moreover, the use of gestures in presenting and practicing words and phrases turns out to be useful for both concrete items and abstract ones. This line of work raises the question of whether teachers of foreign language can also make use of other intelligences – for example, musical intelligence and spatial intelligence – and, if so, whether specific learners are aided differentially in which intelligences can serve as help-maidens. If there turn out to be individual differences in which intelligences are helpful in mastering a language, this finding has implications for the learning of languages, whether done person-to-person or via some kind of electronic or digital means.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.