This site has been permanently archived. This is a static copy provided by the University of Southampton.
@misc{cogprints1927,
volume = {27},
title = {Neuron Soma Size in the Left and Right Hippocampus of a Genius},
author = {Dahlia Zaidel},
year = {2001},
keywords = {Albert Einstein, Einstein's brain, cognition, memory, neurons, brain, IQ, intelligence, old age, creativity, CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4, subiculum, aging, computerized morphology, hippocampal subfields.},
url = {http://cogprints.org/1927/},
abstract = { NEURON SOMA SIZE IN THE LEFT AND RIGHT HIPPOCAMPUS OF A GENIUS
D.W. Zaidel*
Dept Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Underlying brain features of a genius are not understood. It is not
known if there is a smooth continuum between a genius and the thousands
of the brightest minds alive today. The few postmortem studies of brains
of remarkable mathematicians or physicists typically emphasized the
neocortex. In the present study, the hippocampus of Albert Einstein (AE)
was investigated postmortem. The importance of the hippocampus is
established for long-term, explicit, implicit, and episodic memory, and
establishment of semantic associations. A single microscope slide
(Nissl-stained stained in Harvey[Image]s lab not long after AE[Image]s
death at age 76 years) was available for the left and right sides. Soma
size of pyramidal neurons in coronal sections of AE[Image]s left and
right hippocampi were photographed, then digitized and systematically
measured on a computer in hippocampal subfields CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4, and
subiculum. An atypical left-right asymmetry emerged in AE, with soma
size being consistently and significantly larger in the left than in the
right side in all homologous subfields except for CA2, whereas in 10
ordinary adults, aged 22 to 84 years, there was minimal and inconsistent
soma size asymmetry in direction (left vs right) or extent. However, the
soma size variability revealed similarities in both AE and the ordinary
adults, particularly in hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA2, bilaterally.
The direction of the cell size asymmetry in AE[Image]s hippocampi could
simply reflect age-related changes in combination with unusual neuronal
connectivity of prenatal or experiential origin. This is difficult to
ascertain, and the relationship between the hippocampal status at the
time of his death and its role in his genius in his most creative years
is a matter for debate.}
}