Re: Questions related to cognition

From: John Hasenkam (johnh_at_faraway.)
Date: 09/27/04 

Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:18:48 +1000

"Khendradm" <khendradm@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040925014442.16546.00001153@mb-m16.aol.com...
> It is often difficult to find clear answers to questions regarding mental
> function.
>
> For instance, I simply have not been able to find much of anything on why
I am
> so good with the written word in most forms (spelling, grammar,
vocabulary, and
> so forth) and yet so utterly incompetent in areas like spatial awareness
and
> motor coordination (I am almost 20 and still have not obtained a driver's
> license; swimming and bike-riding lessons as a child were hopeless).
>
> Certain conditions like Asperger's Syndrome, Dyspraxia, and Nonverbal
Learning
> Disorder address problems like physical awkwardness and poor
visual-spatial
> abilities, but they also REQUIRE that people with said conditions have
some
> severe language problem! I don't have ANY severe language problems. I
can
> understand the abstract and write with exceptional organizational
coherency
> (something in which people with AS, Dyspraxia, and NLD are supposed to be
VERY
> weak), and in spite of my definite tendency toward introversion, I am not
> completely clueless in understanding nonverbal social cues. I can
interact
> normally with people.
>
> I have read that women tend to have problems in the area of spatial
awareness,
> but I do not know why this is from a brain/neuroscientific standpoint.

The current notions are that spatial awareness is related to the level of
testosterone. A rare condition, Turner's Syndrome I think, where females are
born without ovaries, often results in severe lack of spatial awarenss.
Yes, ovaries produce some testosterone. However you would know by now if you
had this condition.

 And
> while that generalized gender difference may offer more hope in explaining
my
> mental tendencies than AS, Dyspraxia, and NLD, there are other gender
studies
> that don't apply to me at all. Example: I read that women are supposed to
be
> better at multi-tasking than men due to better information processing
between
> the two hemispheres at the corpus callosum, but I am absolutely TERRIBLE
at
> multi-tasking; I'd say my multi-tasking abilities are about as bad as my
other
> areas of mentioned weakness (and trust me, those are awful).

The stuff about the corpus callosum remains controversial. It does appear
however that females use their brains in a more distributed fashion than
males. Keep in mind though that the studies report "Norms" and "Normas", we
all exist on a sliding scale and you just may lie at one end of spectrum.

You need to decide if these personal qualities are sufficiently problematic
that you need help. That will require a good degree of medical investigation
so don't think a trip or two to the doctors will resolve the problem. The
visual spatial problems you refer may have a visual origin, the lack of
multi-tasking may simply reflect a personal idiosyncracy on your part
without any pathological origin. As to the motor co-ordination issues, the
cruncher there is if this problem causes persistent clumsiness and is
disabling in your daily life. That you can't ride a bike may have a simple
explanation that your first attempts were terrifying enough to prevent
ongoing learning. Or it could point to something else. Impossible to know.
If the problems are becoming worse then definitely have the same
investigated. If the conditions remain stable then that is just you, don't
sweat it. Look hard enough and one can find some "abnormality" in many
people. Why not play to your strengths, take up a career as a writer.

> Is there anyone here who can perhaps shed some light on the things I've
posted?
>
> -K (posted this on one other newsgroup too in hopes of enlightenment)