George McKee (mckee at starbase.neosoft.com) wrote:
: Kalman Rubinson (rubinsnk at is2.nyu.edu) wrote:
: : It is merely a correlation, a useful predictor. There is no proof of
: : an operational relationship between the asymmetry and dominance.
: I'd be interested in citations of any study that used any brain anatomy
: measure as a *predictor* of functional asymmetry.
It is used as a predictor based on anecdotal (and, perhaps, biased)
observations. I agree that there is no reliable data which relates
size (or even variations in cell packing short of the pathological) to
functional attribute.
: To say that brain size
: is reliably related to functional capability is to say that Russion
: author Ivan Turgenev was the smartest man in history, since his brain
: is the largest recorded, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
: It's also to say that men are smarter than women, since their brains
: are bigger. Not to mention that whales and elephants are even smarter.
Silly, of course.
: Only if you correct for differences in cytoarchitecture and in the
: efficiency of different degrees of myelination in affecting axonal
: conduction velocity can you get any meaningful prediction of
: functional capability from anatomical data. No anatomical
: technique short of electron microscopy can give you that level of
: detail. And preparation for EM unfortunately removes any ability
: to function...
And, even then, there is no data which reliably correlates
nonpathological variation with functional capability.
Kal
