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C P Benbow

Publications and source records attributed to C P Benbow.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Top 1 in 10,000: a 10-year follow-up of the profoundly gifted.

Adolescents identified before the age of 13 (N = 320) as having exceptional mathematical or verbal reasoning abilities (top 1 in 10,000) were tracked over 10 years. They pursued doctoral degrees at rates over 50 times base-rate expectations, with several participants having created noteworthy literary, scientific, or technical products by their early 20s. Early observed distinctions in intellectual strength (viz., quantitative reasoning ability over verbal reasoning ability, and vice versa) predicted sharp differences in their developmental trajectories and occupational pursuits. This special population strongly preferred educational opportunities tailored to their precocious rate of learning (i.e., appropriate developmental placement), with 95% using some form of acceleration to individualize their education.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Men and women at promise for scientific excellence: similarity not dissimilarity.

U.S. math-science graduate students possessing world-class talent (368 males, 346 females) were assessed on psychological attributes and personal experiences in order to examine how their talents emerged and developed. Comparisons were made, using similar assessments, with mathematically talented students (528 males, 228 females) identified around age 13 and tracked into adulthood by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY). Well before college, both samples were academically distinguished: however, the graduate students could be identified during adolescence as a subset of mathematically talented youths based on their nonintellectual attributes. Their profiles corresponded to what earlier psychological studies found to characterize distinguished (and exclusively male) scientists: exceptional quantitative reasoning abilities, relatively stronger quantitative than verbal reasoning ability, salient scientific interests and values, and finally, persistence in seeking out opportunities to study scientific topics and develop scientific skills. On these attributes, sex differences were minimal for the graduate students (but notfor the SMPY comparison groups). Developing exceptional scientific expertise apparently requires special educational experiences, but these necessary experiences are similar for the two sexes.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

States of excellence.

Research from the individual-differences tradition pertinent to the optimal development of exceptional talent is reviewed, using the theory of work adjustment (TWA) to organize fundings. The authors show how TWA concepts and psychometric methods, when used together, can facilitate positive development among talented youth by aligning learning opportunities with salient aspects of each student's individuality. Longitudinal research and more general theoretical models of (adult) academic and intellectual development support this approach. This analysis also uncovers common threads running through several positive psychological concepts (e.g., effectance motivation, flow, and peak experiences). The authors conclude by underscoring some important ideals from counseling psychology for fostering intellectual development and psychological well-being. These include conducting a multifaceted assessment, focusing on strength, helping people make choices, and providing a developmental context for bridging educational and industrial psychology to facilitate positive psychological growth throughout the life span.

Achievement↗
PubMed2000

Sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability at age 13: their status 20 years later.

Reported is the 20-year follow-up of 1,975 mathematically gifted adolescents (top 1%) whose assessments at age 12 to 14 revealed robust gender differences in mathematical reasoning ability. Both sexes became exceptional achievers and perceived themselves as such; they reported uniformly high levels of degree attainment and satisfaction with both their career direction and their overall success. The earlier sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability did predict differential educational and occupational outcomes. The observed differences also appeared to be a function of sex differences in preferences for (a) inorganic versus organic disciplines and (b) a career-focused versus more-balanced life. Because profile differences in abilities and preferences are longitudinally stable, males probably will remain more represented in some disciplines, whereas females are likely to remain more represented in others. These data have policy implications for higher education and the world of work.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

DNA pooling and dense marker maps: a systematic search for genes for cognitive ability.

Pooling DNA from subjects within a group and comparing the pooled DNA across groups for a dense map of DNA markers offers a solution to the conundrum that linkage is systematic but not powerful whereas allelic association is powerful but not systematic. We used DNA pooling to screen 66 markers on chromosome 22 in original and replication samples of children of high general cognitive ability (g) and controls of average g. Although none of these markers survived our three-stage screening design (original pooling, replication pooling, individual genotyping), the results of DNA pooling were largely confirmed by individual genotyping. We can therefore exclude associations of major effect size on chromosome 22 for g, a key variable for cognitive neuroscience research on learning and memory.

Alleles↗
PubMed1999

DNA pooling identifies QTLs on chromosome 4 for general cognitive ability in children.

General cognitive ability (g), which is related to many aspects of brain functioning, is one of the most heritable traits in neuroscience. Similarly to other heritable quantitatively distributed traits, genetic influence on g is likely to be due to the combined action of many genes of small effect [quantitative trait loci (QTLs)], perhaps several on each chromosome. We used DNA pooling for the first time to search a chromosome systematically with a dense map of DNA markers for allelic associations with g. We screened 147 markers on chromosome 4 such that 85% of the chromosome were estimated to be within 1 cM of a marker. Comparing pooled DNA from 51 children of high g and from 51 controls of average g, 11 significant QTL associations emerged. The association with three of these 11 markers ( D4S2943, MSX1 and D4S1607 ) replicated using DNA pooling in independent samples of 50 children of extremely high g and 50 controls. Furthermore, all three associations were confirmed when each individual was genotyped separately ( D4S2943, P = 0. 00045; MSX1, P = 0.011; D4S1607, P = 0.019). Identifying specific genes responsible for such QTL associations will open new windows in cognitive neuroscience through which to observe pathways between genes and learning and memory.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Stability of vocational interests among the intellectually gifted from adolescence to adulthood: a 15-year longitudinal study.

A sample of 162 intellectually gifted adolescents (top 1%) were administered the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory at age 13. Fifteen years later, they were administered the Strong again. This study evaluated the intra- and interindividual temporal stability of the 6 RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) themes and the Strong's 23 Basic Interest Scales. Over the 15-year test-retest interval, RIASEC's median interindividual correlation for the 6 themes was .46; the median of all 162 intraindividual correlations was .57. Configural analyses of the most dominant theme at age 13 revealed that this theme was significantly more likely than chance to be either dominant or adjacent to the dominant theme at age 28--following RIASEC's hexagonal structure. For intellectually gifted individuals, it appears to be possible to forecast salient features of their adult RIASEC profile by assessing their vocational interests during early adolescence, but some RIASEC themes seem more stable than others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Concurrent finger-tapping in mathematically gifted males: evidence for enhanced right hemisphere involvement during linguistic processing.

O'Boyle and Benbow (1990) have suggested that enhanced involvement of the right hemisphere (RH) during basic information processing is a neuropsychologic characteristic of the gifted brain. To provide converging evidence for this hypothesis, the present study was conducted using a concurrent finger-tapping paradigm. Specifically, 24 mathematically precocious and 16 average ability adolescent males were required to tap a key as quickly as possible while sitting silently (baseline condition), concurrently reading a paragraph aloud (verbal load), or encoding a random form into memory (spatial load). For average ability subjects, the concurrent verbal load reduced tapping rate for the right but not the left hand, reflecting a division of LH resources between linguistic processing of the paragraph and motor control of the contralateral hand. In contrast, for gifted subjects, both their left- and right-hand tapping rates were significantly reduced, suggesting that both hemispheres were engaged during verbal processing. The concurrent spatial task produced a small but reliable reduction in finger-tapping rate for both the left and right hand in each group. These findings provide additional support for the notion that enhanced reliance on RH functioning is a physiological correlate of mathematical precocity in gifted males.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

From top dog to bottom half: social comparison strategies in response to poor performance.

Although the hypothesis that people will alter comparison behavior in response to threat is consistent with the formulation of social comparison theory, the empirical evidence for the natural occurrence of such shifts is weak. Two studies were conducted to examine this hypothesis. In the first study, adolescents' perceptions were assessed before, during, and 6 months after their participation in an academic program for gifted students. Male students who performed poorly, and also worse than they had expected in the program, demonstrated self-protective "strategies" by lowering the amount and level of academic comparison they reported engaging in and by lowering their perception of the importance of academics. Female students, who generally performed as well as expected, reported relatively little change. By follow-up, most of the male students' perceptions had returned to baseline. A second study found that both male and female college students who thought they had performed poorly academically also demonstrated these shifts in comparison. Motivations behind the strategies are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1993

Psychological profiles of the mathematically talented: some sex differences and evidence supporting their biological basis.

For over 20 years, above-level testing with the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has been used to assess the abilities of well over 1,000,000 highly able 12-13-year-olds (students in the top 3% in intellectual ability). In this population, the predictive validity of the mathematical part of the SAT, SAT-M, for academic and vocational criteria has been demonstrated over 10-year gaps. Here, we document aspects of the psychological and achievement profiles of these highly able students, paying particular attention to sex differences. Males score higher on SAT-M (i.e., mathematical reasoning ability) than females; this difference is accompanied by differences between the sexes in spatial-mechanical reasoning abilities and in a number of lifestyle and vocational preferences. Collectively, these attributes appear to play a key role in structuring male-female disparities in pursuing advanced educational credentials and careers in the physical sciences. After profiling a number of the behavioural characteristics of the highly able, we examine some underlying biological correlates of these phenotypic manifestations. These include hormonal influences, medical and bodily conditions and enhanced right hemispheric activation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Enhanced right hemisphere activation in the mathematically precocious: a preliminary EEG investigation.

A preliminary electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation was conducted to determine if the pattern of hemispheric activation in mathematically precocious youth differs from that of average math ability subjects. Alpha activity at four brain sites (frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes) over the left and right cerebral hemispheres (LH/RH) was monitored while 12- to 14-year-old, right-handed males: (a) looked at a blank slide (baseline condition), (b) judged which of two chimeric faces was "happier," and (c) determined if a word was a noun or a verb. At baseline, the LH of the precocious group was found to be more active at all four brain sites relative to that of the average ability group. During chimeric face processing, the gifted subjects exhibited a significant reduction in alpha power over the RH, primarily at the temporal lobe, while no such alpha suppression was observed in the average ability subjects. For noun/verb determinations, no significant alpha power reductions were obtained for either group. These electrophysiological data generally corroborate the behavioral findings of O'Boyle and Benbow (1990a) and support their contention that enhanced RH involvement during cognitive processing may be a correlate of mathematical precocity. Moreover, the pattern of activation observed across tasks suggests that the ability to effectively coordinate LH and RH processing resources at an early age may be linked to intellectual giftedness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Enhanced right hemisphere involvement during cognitive processing may relate to intellectual precocity.

In the present study, intellectually precocious and average ability youths performed a dichotic listening task (Experiment 1) and a free-vision chimeric face task (Experiment 2). Patterns of hemispheric lateralization and the relative involvement of the left and right hemispheres during cognitive processing were assessed. In Experiment 1, the average ability youths demonstrated a right ear/left hemisphere (re/LH) superiority for identification of CV syllables, while the gifted subjects failed to show any ear/hemisphere advantage. In Experiment 2, members of both groups tended to judge the leftside smile/rightside neutral half-faces as "happier", a pattern indicative of enhanced right hemisphere (RH) arousal. Notably, the degree of RH involvement was significantly greater in the gifted as compared to average ability youths. Moreover, laterality scores of the precocious on the chimeric face task correlated with their performance on the College Board Scholastic Aptitude test (SAT), i.e. the greater the leftward bias, the higher the SAT score. These findings, taken in composite, suggest that a high level of RH involvement during cognitive processing may be related to intellectual precocity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Physiological correlates of extreme intellectual precocity.

Among extremely mathematically and/or verbally precocious students (top 1 in 10,000 in such reasoning ability), the following three physiological characteristics were found at high frequencies: left- or mixed-handedness, asthma and other allergies, and myopia. The first two of these may reflect the effects of a common influence (testosterone) on the nervous and immune systems during fetal development. Moreover, our results suggest that such highly able students may exhibit bihemispheric representation of cognitive functions. These results may bear on the etiology of intellectual talent.

Asian↗
PubMed1983

Sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability: more facts.

Almost 40,000 selected seventh-grade students from the Middle Atlantic region of the United States took the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test as part of the Johns Hopkins regional talent search in 1980, 1981, and 1982. A separate nationwide talent search was conducted in which any student under age 13 who was willing to take the test was eligible. The results obtained by both procedures establish that by age 13 a large sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability exists and that it is especially pronounced at the high end of the distribution: among students who scored greater than or equal to 700, boys outnumbered girls 13 to 1. Some hypothesized explanations of such differences were not supported by the data.

Child↗
PubMed1980

Sex differences in mathematical ability: fact or artifact?

A substantial sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability (score on the mathematics test of the Scholastic Aptitude Test) in favor of boys was found in a study of 9927 intellectually gifted junior high school students. Our data contradict the hypothesis that differential course-taking accounts for observed sex differences in mathematical ability, but support the hypothesis that these differences are somewhat increased by environmental influences.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Developmentally advanced EEG alpha power in gifted male and female adolescents.

An electroencephalographic (EEG) study of gifted and average ability male and female adolescents, as well as college students of both sexes, was conducted to investigate further the relative contributions the left and right cerebral hemispheres during an eyes open (baseline) task in all groups. A total of 90 subjects had baseline EEG recorded in three groups with equal numbers of males and females: 30 gifted adolescents, 30 average ability adolescents, and 30 college-age subjects. Overall alpha power (8-12 Hz resting potential) was significantly greater in average ability subjects compared to both college-age subjects. Moreover, there were no significant differences in overall alpha power between college-age and gifted adolescent subjects. However, college-age and gifted adolescent subjects had different RH/LH patterns of activation such that at temporal and parietal locations college-age and gifted adolescent subjects had greater LH alpha power levels whereas gifted adolescents had greater RH alpha power. These findings suggest that gifted adolescents may have a developmentally enhanced state of brain activity, one that more closely resembles that of college-age adults to whom they also resemble in terms of cognitive development.

Adolescent↗