Child prodigy
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This article is now about the subject "child prodigy." For the list of prodigies see List of child prodigies.
A child prodigy, or simply prodigy, is someone who is a master of one or more skills or arts at an early age. One possible definition of a prodigy is a person who, by the age of 11, displays expert proficiency in a field usually only undertaken by adults. Some of the fields common to prodigies are mathematics, chess, art, and music, but prodigies occur in many other areas.
The term wunderkind (from German: Wunder, wonder/miracle + Kind, child, kid) is sometimes used as a synonym for prodigy, particularly in media accounts, although this term is discouraged in the scientific literature. Wunderkind is also used more generally of adults who achieve success and notoriety early in their careers, including Steven Spielberg and Steve Jobs.
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Cognitive studies on child prodigies
There is much debate about what forms a prodigy, but many are found to come from families where one or more of the parents specialize in the field of the child’s talent. Mozart, one of the most accomplished classical musicians and a recognized musical prodigy, was raised by a musician father whose specialty was teaching. Pablo Picasso, the world-renowned artist prodigy, had a professional painter as a father. Also, in a recent study of Taiwanese physics and chemistry prodigies, three-quarters of the children studied were first or only children in relatively well-off families in which both parents were professionals (though not necessarily in the child's field of expertise).
Few studies have examined the neurological activity of prodigies. Michael O'Boyle, an American psychologist working in Australia, however has recently utilized fMRI scanning of blood flow during mental operation in prodigies to display startling results. Mathematical prodigies, so-called “calculators,” achieve blood flow to parts of the brain responsible for mathematical operations six to seven times the typical flow.
PET Scans done to several math prodigies have led to the idea of the LTWM, or long-term working memory. This memory, specific to a field of expertise, is capable of holding relevant information for extended periods, usually hours. For example, experienced waiters have been found to hold the orders of up to twenty customers in their heads while they serve them, but perform only as well as an average person in number-sequence recognition. The PET scans also answer questions about which specific areas of the brain associate themselves with prodigal number-manipulation. One subject never excelled as a child in mathematics, but he taught himself algorithms and tricks for calculatory speed, becoming capable of extremely complex mental math. His brain, compared to six other controls, was studied using the PET scan, revealing separate areas of his brain that he manipulated to solve the complex problems. Some of the areas that he (and presumably prodigies) uses are brain sectors dealing in visual and spatial memory, as well as visual mental imagery. Other areas of the brain showed use by the subject, including a sector of the brain generally related to childlike “finger counting,” probably used in his mind to relate numbers to the visual cortex.
While there are no definitive answers in the field of child prodigies, the consensus among most researchers is that it is caused by an interaction of environment (practice) and innate talent. Not all children are prodigies, and not all prodigies became so without hard work to develop their talents. The "Mozart effect" of hereditary talent provides a base from which prodigious children may express their gifts. As Joanna Schaffhausen put it, "Mozart was a child prodigy; Beethoven was not. The world still marvels at them both." (Although mention should be made that some of this is based on how rigidly terms are used as Beethoven was a composer of sonatas by age thirteen, but not before age eleven.)
Child prodigies adjustment into adulthood
The issue of what becomes of a child prodigy when they are no longer a child has been the subject of many studies as well as popular culture. Many notice examples of tragic child prodigies. Examples of "tortured prodigies" who entered the culture to varying degrees include Adragon De Mello(his prodigiousness mostly being his father's claim), Bobby Fischer, Evariste Galois, David Helfgott, and Arthur Rimbaud. In cases like Zerah Colburn, William James Sidis, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart the prodigy gained note for underachievement or having a troubled adulthood. The idea of the tortured child prodigy became something of a cliché. An early literary example of a child prodigy with a tragic fate is found in The Hampdenshire Wonder.
There might be a small basis for this in reality. Above a certain point there was a slight inverse relationship between performance on "the Concept Mastery Test Form A", a test of verbal intelligence, and personal adjustment. In the 1940s Leta S. Hollingworth noted that the optimum "IQ range" appeared to be between 125 and 155. Those above 155 had more problems with personal adjustment.[1] These theories are controversial and rejected on many fronts, but they might have in least bolstered the idea of troubled prodigies.
That said many child prodigies had healthy or normal lives. The evidence child prodigies have worse emotional problems is debatable and some even indicate they are more well adjusted on average. Although that theory might be referring more to gifted kids in the "optimal range" rather than to prodigies. Still cases like Pablo Picasso, Yehudi Menuhin, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and Murray Gell-Mann show that prodigies can continue to do important work even into old age.
In Fiction
A recent work showing examples of tortured prodigies is the film The Royal Tenenbaums. The William H. Macy character in the film Magnolia could also be deemed a troubled child prodigy who became a failure as an adult.
Child prodigies, not necessarily tortured ones, are also a staple in much science fiction. Several episodes of the X-Files featured varying kinds of child prodigies; ranging from noble to violent and psychotic. Books like Ender's Game, Odd John, Beggars in Spain, and others deal with child prodigies or focus on them.
Fictional representations of relatively well adjusted prodigies include Doogie Howser, M.D.,Lisa Simpson, and Indiana Jones. (Prodigy status based on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Young Indiana Jones Chronicles)
One film depicting the struggles of a doting mother to care for a prodigy and helping to live a 'normal' life while struggling to make ends meet is Little Man Tate.
Sources and links
- Time article linked to in the article
- Roeper review article
- The relationship between early giftedness and later achievement from the Development Group at Harvard University Graduate School of Education
- Article by Boston psychology professor Ellen Winter on giftedness and prodigies
- Oxford considering restricting child prodigies entering
- Study of Extreme Giftedness
- The Lewis Terman Study of young geniuses
