Evidence of special capacities that facilitate acquisition of specific abilities

Some individuals acquire ability more smoothly and effortlessly than ordinary people, but that fact does not confirm the talent account. Differences between people in the ease in which a particular skill is acquired may be caused by any of a number of contributing factors. These include various motivational and personality influences as well as previous learning experiences that equip a person with knowledge, attitudes, skills, and self-confidence. Facility is often the outcome rather than the cause of unusual capabilities (Perkins, 1981).

Perhaps the clearest indication of a special capacity that is displayed by a minority early in life in the apparent absence of deliberate efforts to acquire it and that makes further advances likely, is encountered in the field of music. A number of young children have "perfect" or "absolute" pitch perception. A child thus endowed can both name and sing specified pitches without being given a reference pitch (Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993). Structural differences in brain morphology related to absolute pitch have been observed. Musicians who have absolute pitch show stronger leftward planum temporale asymmetry than non-musicians and musicians without perfect pitch (Schlaug, Jänke, Huang & Steinmetz, 1995). It is not clear, however, whether these differences are the cause of absolute pitch or the outcomes of differences in learning or experience.

One might expect musicians who have absolute pitch to be more successful than those who do not, but that is not always true. Perfect pitch perception has circumscribed utility. It makes no contribution to an individual's interpretative ability, for example. Moreover, there is evidence that it can be learned. It is relatively common in young musicians who are given extensive musical training prior to the age of five or six, perhaps because a young child pays more attention to individual notes before coming to perceive sounds as parts of larger musical structures (Ericsson & Faivre, 1988). Contrary to the view that absolute pitch provides clear evidence of a talent, it is sometimes found in individuals who begin their training late (Sergent & Roche, 1973), and can even be acquired by adults, although only with considerable effort (Brady, 1970; Sloboda, 1985; Takeuchi & Hulse, 1993).

Eidetic imagery has likewise been taken to be a talent. Like absolute pitch, it is observed in some young children but not others, and it appears in the absence of deliberate learning. Eidetic imagery seems to make young children capable of recalling visual information in some detail, but the phenomenon is somewhat fleeting and hard to verify with certainty; and it conveys few practical benefits, if any. Although the phenomenon seems genuine as a subjective experience, evidence that eidetic imagery is correlated with above average remembering has proved elusive (Haber, 1979; Haber & Haber, 1988). There is accordingly little justification for believing that eidetic imagery conveys an advantage.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 985