In the study, Tadin and colleagues performed two series of tests on 67 people with an average IQ score of 100 (the volunteers took one of two forms of the IQ test), which is normal. The volunteers watched a visual test where they were shown movies of circular grids, large and small, that appeared to move to the left or right. Test takers were asked how many frames of the movie they needed to see to detect the motion.I find it interesting that he calls this the "suppression" trait. He thinks it suppresses irrelevant data.
The effect was particularly linked to the verbal intelligence portion of the IQ test, which Tadin suggests is because that provides the most general measure of smarts over logic, memory and math parts of IQ. That is a sign, he says, that this tendency of high IQ folks to spot the important tree in a forest of irrelevant details is a key to what we call intelligence.
I believe that is wrong. It seems to me much more like an "enhancement" trait. First of all, we may not think "faster", but we don't stop thinking. Our brains don't rest. Even when we are sleeping. And secondly, we get more neurotransmitter reward for our success and more anxiety for our failure, so we focus harder on relevant items. I'm not sure if the "irrelevant" data is suppressed so much as superceded or just missed.
And he seems to assume an enhanced sense of error detection is a beneficial trait.
If only it were that simple, smarty pants. This is a dose dependent function. There is also such a thing as too much "enhancement"- hypersensitivity and intolerance to deviance. Those people tend to be called bitches and assholes.
Just sayin.
But Yes, mania does seem to be a key ingredient in what wealthy western white males call intelligence.
Go figure.
