Most people who specialize in genius think that genius has some special genes. Recently, however, Dr. Erickson, a psychologist at Florida State University in the United States, put forward the opposite view-anyone can become a genius as long as he trains in his field of interest for 10 years.
Eriksson believes that the ability of "geniuses" is not innate, but because they have developed a powerful memory function to store information in a specific field. Psychologists admit that people have long-term working memory, which plays a key role in the performance of geniuses in any field and can be cultivated deliberately.
Some neuroscientists have tested the activities of people's long-term working memory. Recently, Dr. Zorio Mazor of Kane University in France and his colleagues examined the brain activity of a mathematical genius named Rigg Gaim in a computing performance. Riggs Gaim can calculate the fifth square root of a ten-digit number in a few seconds; In the same short time, he can calculate a double-digit ninth power; When asked to divide one integer by another, he can give an answer accurate to 60 decimal places without hesitation. Using positron emission tomography (PET), Zorio Mazor found that compared with normal people, Righam had five more active brain parts when calculating performance. Because Riggs Gump can make use of this extra memory area, which avoids the calculation mistakes that ordinary people are prone to make, Riggs Gump's brain has no abnormal performance when tested in unfamiliar fields (such as word memory). Moreover, the 26-year-old Righam was not born with this kind of computing ability. After he was 20 years old, he developed this ability through four hours of memory practice every day. Therefore, the results of this study partially prove Erickson's point of view from a neurological perspective: the function of long-term working memory is the basis of genius performance.
Eriksson believes that anyone with enough training and hard work can have this long-term working memory function and the resulting genius performance. To prove this, Dr. Eriksson started an experiment to train ordinary people who can only remember seven digits for one year. Therefore, they can remember numbers as long as 80 to 100 digits.
The experiment of Hungarian laszlo Polga also confirmed this point. When it is generally believed that women should not take part in fierce chess competitions, Polga and his wife have successfully trained their three daughters into three world-class chess champions through rigorous psychological training, and the third daughter who has undergone the most rigorous training has become the youngest chess master in history.
Allen Weiner, a psychologist at Boston University, believes that not all children with a father like Polga can become chess geniuses. Only those children who have a strong desire to master a certain skill can succeed after years of special training. Dr. Eriksson also believes that there may be genetic differences between children who are willing to persevere in rigorous training and those who are willing to do nothing.
In other words, even if there is no natural mathematician or musician, there may be a "naturally successful family". The key lies in whether an individual has a good environment and whether he works hard.