As you might expect, there are several factors that contribute to exceptional intellectual talent. Three of the most prominent are an inherited neural efficiency, early intellectual stimulation and a capacity for intense focus. In a few paragraphs, I will provide a brief overview of these factors, but will not prolong this answer by providing all the detailed research references that support these statements.
Inherited Neural Efficiency
For centuries, scholars argued whether intelligence was inherited (nature) or whether it was developed (nurture). The nature vs. nurture debates had political overtones and each side argued its case vehemently–as typically happens in the absence of knowledge. Then, in the 1990’s, Bouchard and others, by testing identical twins raised in different environments, provided incontestable evidence that genes play a significant role in defining a person’s potential intelligence. Although neurologists do not yet know how the wiring of the brain makes some people more capable in particular cognitive skills, they do know that some brains operate more efficiently than others and genetics play a role. We know the genetic contribution to intelligence is significant, but we don’t know precisely how significant nor the effect of the interaction between genetics and environment.
Child prodigies like John von Neumann and Terrence Tao demonstrated superior intellectual capacities at such an early age that it seemed as if they had been “born” with a special ability. John von Neumann, possessing an eidetic memory displayed, at age 6, the ability to divide two eight-digit numbers in his head. His family often entertained guests with demonstrations of his prodigious memory. By age 8, he had become proficient in calculus. However, some people would argue that prodigies were merely given extremely intense intellectual stimulation at a very early age leading to their exceptionality. This brings us to the next factor, early intellectual stimulation.
Early Intellectual Stimulation
An evolutionary asset of the human brain is its adaptability. About 4 weeks after your parents enjoyed a few moments of sexual passion, a neural plate began to form at one end of the fetus that would become you. As this neural plate expanded, it sent brain cells, called neurons to different parts of your evolving brain to perform specific functions. (An excellent video showing this development is accessible at Axon guidance)
In the months that followed, your brain was producing up to one quarter of a million neurons every minute, so that 6 months after conception, your brainstem was able to control your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure.
It was in the final three months of your gestation that your prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for your higher order thinking skills, began to develop. By the time you emerged from your mother’s womb, your brain contained about 100 billion neurons ready and waiting to connect with each other in response to the sensory experiences of your infancy. During your first two years on the planet, the neurons in your brain connected, in what are called synapses, at the rate of about 2 million per second, so that by age 2, your brain had about 100 trillion synapses–twice the number you have now.
Unable to sustain the biochemical reactions across all these synapses, your brain entered a stage known as neural pruning, removing the synapses for which there was little use. Your brain was fine-tuning itself to function effectively in the environment into which you were born. So much in this early stage of your brain development determined who you are today.
In the years following infancy, your brain continued to restructure itself in accordance with environmental stimuli. Early demands for certain types of cognitive tasks such as, learning a language or counting, played a role in determining which cognitive capacities would become most highly developed. Stanford University neurologist David Eagleman observed:
In a sense, the process of becoming who you are is defined by carving back the possibilities that were already present. You become who you are not because of what grows in your brain, but because of what is removed.
In short, your early childhood experiences set the stage for the cognitive skills that would be developed and the others that would play a lesser role. In researching and writing the biographies of more than 350 brilliant high achievers and geniuses, I discovered that most high achievers in intellectual domains tended to show an early aptitude, coupled with an encouraging environment.
A Capacity for Intense Focus
It is probably safe to say that almost all great achievements have been procreated through a combination of high intelligence, intense passion and the capacity for a laser focus. People like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk are, or have been, maniacally dedicated to the achievement of their goals, often at the expense of family relationships. If you want to achieve “genius” status, it will require a high native intelligence, coupled with a rich stimulating environment and an almost obsessive compulsive passion. Even, with these three characteristics, your achievements may not reach “genius” status and you have to decide early whether you are prepared to pay the price.
