While this study brings up some very interesting possibilities, it is such an overly simplistic view of the mind that I question its usefulness.

The concept of neural propagation depth is one of an absolute number of steps that any given “train of thought” can take before it fizzles out. However, the mind does not exist in a vacuum; the information the mind is working from is in constant flux. As a result, there will be new synaptic firings during the thinking process.

The concept of flow motivation is more sound. Every person naturally seeks equilibrium in all areas of life.

RESULTS OF PERSONAL EVALUATION OF OVEREXCITABLITIES LIST

Psychomotor Overexcitability

• Love of movement
• Can’t sit still for long

Sensual Overexcitability

• Love to touch things
• Love of music
• Love of sunsets
• Hatred of clothing tags

Imaginational Overexcitability

• Great sense of humor
• Like to invent things
• Worry a lot

Intellectual Overexcitability

• Very curious
• Love of reading
• Love of learning
• Want everything to be fair
• Can concentrate for long periods

Emotional Overexcitability

• Care a lot about other people
• Love for animals
• Very sensitive
• Try to be and do your best
• Easily frustrated
• At times shy and nervous

On the whole, the ones that I seem to have the most in common with are:

Sensual Overexcitability

Intellectual Overexcitability

Emotional Overexcitability

Further work needs to be done to confirm these results.

http://psych.wisc.edu/henriques/papers/origins.pdf

I basically agree with Ellen Winter’s assessment on the whole nature/nurture debate.

I do find it interesting that the ones who achieve “big-C” creativity and revolutionize their domain are the ones who had a less than ideal life. This gives me hope for my own life.

It makes sense, if a person is dissatisfied with the status quo, they are more inclined to try to change it than the ones who see nothing wrong with it.

On the whole, I agree with the assessment made.

Acknowledging one’s own giftedness can be a very difficult thing to do. For myself, the more I learn about giftedness, the more I see myself. For someone who was conditioned from a very young age to believe that I could never have or be anything other than mediocre, this was a very painful discovery for me. Even now at twenty-three, my father is still trying to hold me back.

Nurturing my own development has been very hard. I have so many things that I want to reach for, but I don’t know where to begin.

Giving myself permission to be a growing, changing, imperfect person is easier said than done. I know it is a necessary step in my development, but the scars of the past and the judgment I faced for not perfectly being the image my father had of what he expected me to be makes it painfully difficult task.

Dealing with my own overexcitabilities has proven something of a challenge. I tend to get sensory overload pretty easily. The hardest part is living with a loud family. Between the loud conversations, the television, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer…, I get overloaded. I’m still learning how to deal with this one.

I recognize stress; knowing what to do about it is another matter entirely. My life practically defines stress. Yoga and Mozart help a little, but only a little.

Communication is one of the hardest things for me. My mind operates on another plane; how do you explain concepts that don’t even have words to define them.

Having read “Different Kinds of Intelligence” this is my assessment.

Measuring G_f requires also measuring the following:

G_sm

G_lr

These also play a part:

G_v

G_a

G_c

You cannot measure G_f in isolation. A person’s ability to reason cannot be measured without the factors that give the person the information that they are reasoning from.