Can you spell otorhinolaryngology? No? How about sesquipedalian?
What would you call the vertical columns in the periodic table? How would you go recalling a deck of randomly shuffled cards?
For the 19 children competing in SBS’s new series on child prodigies, Child Genius, these devilishly difficult questions are literally child’s play.
Darwin student Peter, 11, is onto learning his third language – Chinese - after mastering Indonesian and English. Country Victorian dynamo Regina, who became the youngest member of Australian MENSA at age three, wants to build robotic parts that connect to the nervous system. From black holes to archaic spellings to extracting “azimuthal” from an anagram, these are beautiful minds indeed.
So how do these young Einsteins do it? What is going on in their brain? How are these children able to answer questions that would stump the average adult?
How do these young Einsteins do it? What is going on in their brain? How are these children able to answer questions that would stump the average adult?
The answer is everything from a super-powered working memory, focus on detail, lightning quick processing speed and exceptional reasoning and comprehension ability, to, it seems, increased blood flow and brain matter in the frontal lobes.
This unique brain network wiring gives them an edge, say researchers and Dr Kate Burton, a therapist specialising in gifted children and an adjunct lecturer in Edith Cowan University’s School of Education conducting research into the social, emotional and academic needs of gifted students.
“We think these kids learn differently because their brains are wired differently,” Burton says. Brain imaging suggests that the different areas of their brains seem to communicate with each other more efficiently.
Add to this an exceptional working memory (the ability to hold on to and manipulate information) which a spate of researchers, such as and have found to be common trait in academically gifted children.
It’s certainly on display in the mental maths section when many of these children tackle six-digits sums that would stump not just us normal types, but actuaries and maths academics as well.
We think these kids learn differently because their brains are wired differently.
So what’s going on here with these little human calculators? Plenty under the surface, it seems.
, an American working in , found that so-called ‘calculators’ achieve six to seven times the typical blood flow to parts of the during mathematical operations.
They also learn quickly with less repetition, adds Burton, citing research out of John Hopkins University that suggests that too much repetition actually hinders these children.
“And it is the kids with strong abstract reasoning abilities but who also have the ability to process information efficiently and retain knowledge who are the ones who can outsmart average adults in the type of tasks seen [in the episodes].”
Still, the neurology of these little Einsteins remains somewhat of a mystery to researchers. There have just not been enough conclusive studies.
Whatever the reasons for these brilliant minds, it’s not a one size fits all model.
Four-part series Child Genius Australia will air weekly from Wednesday, 20 November at 8.30pm on SBS. Catch up anywhere, anytime after broadcast on SBS On Demand.
Follow the conversation on social media using #ChildGenius
