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Working Memory, the Cognitive Functions of the Cerebellum and the Child Prodigy

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International Handbook on Giftedness

Abstract

During the past 20 years the study of cognitive functions of the cerebellum has become an indispensable part of the neurosciences. In the vein of this growing body of research, Vandervert and Vandervert, Schimpf and Liu proposed that working memory and the adaptive functions of the cerebellum collaborate to produce high intellectual achievements in discovery and innovation. The present chapter extends this framework to a new explanation of the fundamental dynamic of the child prodigy, what Winner refers to as the “rage to master.” It is argued that the extraordinary achievements of child prodigies are the result of domain-specific high-attentional control learned beginning in infancy and constantly modulated between the prefrontal cortex and the cognitive-modeling functions of the cerebellum. It is concluded that this high-attentional control in child prodigies accelerates the production of high intellectual processes in a spontaneous version of deliberate practice as espoused by Ericsson and his colleagues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. American Nonlinear Systems, Spokane, WA, USA

    Larry R. Vandervert

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  1. Larry R. Vandervert
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Correspondence to Larry R. Vandervert .

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  1. Département des sciences administratives Pavillon Lucien-Brault, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 101, rue Saint-Jean-Bosco, Case postale 1250, succursale Hull, J8X 3X7, Gatineau, Québec, Canada

    Larisa V. Shavinina

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Vandervert, L.R. (2009). Working Memory, the Cognitive Functions of the Cerebellum and the Child Prodigy. In: Shavinina, L.V. (eds) International Handbook on Giftedness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6162-2_13

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