Golfterminator -
What a great question!
Harold Klawans, a Chicago neurologist who died in 1997, provides
clinical evidence that it's connectivism in his book "Defending the
Cavewoman." He does so throughout the book, but makes his strongest
points in the comparison between "Lacey" (a six-year-old girl who was
found speech-deprived and locked in a closet) and Victor (the Wild Boy
of Aveyron portrayed in Truffaut's film 'L'Enfant Sauvage'). Victor,
who's also speechless, is too old to develop language skills.
Klawans maintains that only up to a specific age - in the range of
8-10 years - can humans acquire language. He maintains that the brain
must build connections that he terms "spandrels" from the word for
connecting arches in architecture.
In the process of making his arguments in "Defending the Cavewoman,"
Klawans maintains that language must have been developed by women, as
he assumes that men weren't out hunting during the early years of
childrens' lives.
Klawans' book was published posthumously in early 2000. He had
written several other books about the brain and what neurology shows
for popular audiences, including:
"Toscanini's Fumble"
"Newton's Madness"
"Why Michael Couldn't Hit"
I recommend them highly: they're eminently readable in a style similar
to Stephen Jay Gould or Klawans' fellow author-neurologist, Oliver
Sacks, who is the author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat."
Using a Google search strategy with Klawans or Sacks names will yield
a large number of reviews and commentary on their work:
"Harold Klawans"
Here's one of the more-complete reviews:
Literature, Arts & Medicine Database (NYU)
"Defending the Cavewoman and other Tales of Evolutionary Neurology"
(April, 2000)
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/klawans1640-des-.html
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Omnivorous-GA |
