Re: Foreign languages a measure of intelligence?

[amy welden <amy -at- JOVE1 -dot- SOSC -dot- OSSHE -dot- EDU>]

>there may be a correlation between musical ability and being able to
 _speak_ many foreign languages.


The theory as to why being fluent in one or more foreign languages
raises IQ goes something like this:  When you learn a language, you
produce neural pathways that are used for the different grammatical
structures.  Researchers have mapped something like six areas that
handle nouns.  Probably the different categories of nouns.  They have
also mapped areas for verbs, adjectives, etc.

When you become fluent in another language, you don't reuse the
same areas for nouns and verbs, but develop new neural pathways for
the new language.  This means you have more active pathways to deal
with the other language that can be accessed perhaps for other things,
like making analogies and finding innovative ways of solving
problems.

Many people who are fluent in more than one language will tell you
that they think differently when they are speaking the other
language.  Uh -- oh, we don't want to get into the Sapir-Whorf theory
of language causing society.  I don't know why music would also raise
IQ, but it is a sort of language also.

Amy Welden
amy -at- jove1 -dot- sosc -dot- osshe -dot- edu