Hypothesis: White Matter Matters to Polymathic Ability
White Matter Matters to Polymathic Ability
Why is a polymath a polymath? What turned them into one of those unicorns that can learn lots, and connect the dots? It’s great and life-altering that the ability is there. But what’s the foundational enabler of these characteristics?
A Hypothesis: White Matter Matters
The hypothesis is that the structural integrity (the shape and density) of white matter in our brains matters and is one of the foundational biological enablers of polymathic abilities. White Matter matters.
What the heck is white matter? “White matter in the brain consists primarily of myelinated axons, long projections of nerve cells that transmit electrical signals between different brain regions and the spinal cord.”
More simply: “White Matter is the physical structure that connects regions of the brain and enables communication between them”
Just like the bandwidth available in computer network connections matters for data transfer, and it matters if there is a “break” in that computer network, the same could go for white matter in our brains. “There are indications that complex brain processes depend on networks and white matter interconnections” (1)
Wait what? It’s a NETWORK?
So… the structural integrity of white matter probably matters as a foundation. There’s most likely more to it (the quantum part of consciousness), but that’s a hypothesis for a different day.
(1) Lyons, D. M., Yang, C., Eliez, S., Reiss, A. L., & Schatzberg, A. F. (2004). Cognitive correlates of white matter growth and stress hormones in female squirrel monkey adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(14), 3655–3662. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/14/3655
More reading - especially if you read the links
(2) Medical News Today. (n.d.).White Matter: The brain’s flexible but underrated superhighway. Retrieved January 19, 2025, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318966#Viewing-white-matter
