Author: Winnie Mok
Editors: Justin Tai, Emily Yu
Artist: Christine Wang
A quote attributed to Albert Einstein—“Genius is one percent talent and ninety-nine percent hard work”—conveys that practice and perseverance are more important than talent in achieving success, which encourages people not to limit themselves on account of their perceived natural abilities…except for the fact that Einstein never actually said that. The original quote “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” by Thomas Edison argues that having an extraordinary idea alone will not guarantee success; it is the doing, the action of bringing that idea to fruition that opens a pathway for success to follow through. Nevertheless, even though Einstein was never reported to have said that quote, it does raise an interesting question: are child prodigies geniuses because of their genetics or do their environments play a bigger part in cultivating their exceptional abilities?
A prodigy is generally defined as a child under ten years old who has attained the skill level of a professional adult in the respective field in which they have expertise. Many of these gifted children are seen in “rule-based” subjects such as mathematics, music, chess, and art, all fields that can be quantified into pure objective facts and knowledge. For this reason, we have not seen so-called “prodigies” in academic areas such as literature, which require experience and maturity just as much as skill. Initially, researchers believed that child prodigies are born, not made. Francis Galton, the founder of eugenics, unsurprisingly believed that genius was mainly inherited, and that intellectual and creative abilities were passed down through bloodlines. Studies have also shown that in some adoptive children, even if they are raised separately from their biological parents, their IQs are more comparable to that of their biological parents than their adoptive ones, indicating a correlation between genetics and intelligence. However, in recent years, researchers have argued that child geniuses result from a combination of genetics and the practice they put into developing their talents. Although this answer does not precisely estimate what percentage of their ability is genetically derived, it implies that prodigies cannot reach their full potential without constant practice and perseverance.
However, are there any biological differences between the typical person and a child prodigy? In a 2014 study by Joanne Ruthsatz, Kimberly Ruthsatz-Stephens, and Kyle Ruthsatz, 18 prodigies in various fields (art, music, and math) were given standardized intelligence tests. A multitude of unremarkable IQ results were reported, but a high score on working memory tests for all of the prodigies. Working memory is “a cognitive system responsible for carrying out the mental operations involved in complex tasks such as problem-solving and language comprehension” according to Michigan State University psychology professor, David Z. Hambrick. It essentially allows a person to retain and readily apply information in the short term (e.g. remembering directions for an address). However, in the case of prodigies, their working memory expands more than the average person’s as they learn more about their specific field of expertise. Interestingly, Hambrick states that this function has a significant correlation of 50 percent to genetics.
Here is another example of how prodigies think differently: in the January 2001 publication of Nature Neuroscience, a group of researchers conducted a study on “calculating prodigies”—those who show phenomenal proficiency at mental calculations—using brain scans. Their results show that these gifted individuals utilized regions of the brain atypical for the typical population when solving calculations. For example, their brains alternated between employing a short-term memory for storing data and a highly efficient working memory for encoding and retrieving information. In contrast, the general population relied solely on a limited short-term working memory.
In summary, while not a satisfying explanation, child prodigies are not the unique product of strictly their genetic composition or their upbringings. After all, even though Mozart was a prodigy by all means and measures, his father gave up his own musical career to nurture his son’s talents. Additionally, we do not hear of many women prodigies, especially in the distant past as they did not have access to the same educational resources as men received. In the end, it seems that prodigies are neither born nor made, but rather when the stars—or perhaps the right mix of genes, practice, and a sliver of luck—align.
Citations:
Magazine, Psychologs. “The Psychology Behind Prodigies and Child Geniuses.” Psychologs
Magazine | Mental Health Magazine | Psychology Magazine | Self-Help Magazine, 26 Oct.
Prasad, Pallavi. “Exploring Giftedness: Is a Child Prodigy Born or Made?” The Swaddle, 5
Feb. 2020, www.theswaddle.com/gifted-child-prodigy-brain.
Sprouse, Elizabeth. “Is Genius Genetic?” HowStuffWorks,
Zephyr, The. “Are Prodigies Born or Are Prodigies Made? | Paula Ardelean.” Medium, 23
Mar. 2024, medium.com/@highwoodnewsofficial/are-prodigies-born-or-are-prodigies-
made-b0dd873ebf06. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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