Myelin or Nature vs Nurture?
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Einstein's Brain
Only average in size and weighing a mere 1230 grams, Einstein's brain had several regions which featured additional convolutions and folds rarely seen in other subjects. For example, the regions on the left side of the brain that facilitate sensory inputs into, and motor control of, the face and tongue were much larger than normal; and his prefrontal cortex—linked to planning, focused attention, and perseverance in the face of challenges—was also greatly expanded.
Albert Galaburda, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, says that the study raises "very important questions for which we don't have an answer." Among them are whether Einstein started off with a special brain that predisposed him to be a great physicist, or whether doing great physics caused certain parts of his brain to expand. Einstein's genius, Galaburda says, was probably due to "some combination of a special brain and the environment he lived in."
Anthropologist Dean Falk, agrees that both nature and nurture were probably involved, pointing out that Einstein's parents were "very nurturing" and encouraged him to be independent and creative, not only in science but also in music, paying for piano and violin lessons. (Falk's 2009 study found that a brain region linked to musical talent was highly developed in Einstein's brain.)
"Einstein programmed his own brain," Falk says, adding that when the field of physics was ripe for new insights, "he had the right brain in the right place at the right time."
Visualisation and Creation