BABY’S MINGLED SENSES
“Infant Kandinskys,” by Maria Konnikova [Head Lines], describes how babies’ senses are intermingled. This synesthesia looks to me like another example of naive brains lacking the means to differentiate data because they have not yet learned the scenarios and concepts most relevant to their lives.

At six months old infants can recognize faces of different monkeys, as well as those of different humans, and recognize phonetic differences in foreign languages. By 12 months old children can no longer tell monkey faces apart, and they can only recognize phonetic differences in their native language. In addition, a large proportion of children start with absolute pitch and lose it. Only those who practice music or speak tonal languages retain pitch as part of their concept formation.

“hoamingin”
commenting at www.ScientificAmerican.com/Mind

GOOGLING MEMORY
I was interested to read “The Google Effect,” by Anne Casselman [Head Lines], which suggests that overreliance on search engines may affect our brain’s ability to memorize information. Although it is indeed true that “memory is much greater than memorization,” memorizing remains a critical ability and one to actively promote, particularly as the brain ages. There are similar findings on the effects of GPS systems on spatial memory. Decreasing cognitive exercise through technology seems a risky business, especially given what we know about neurodevelopment in adults. Most studies seem to support the old adage: use it, or you might lose it.
Richard Howlin
Chelsea, Mich.

I must respectfully disagree with Casselman’s conclusions. It is not a “new” phenomenon caused by Google “that Internet users have learned to remember how to find a fact rather than the fact itself.” I am 60 and my husband 78. We were taught you don’t have to know everything, just to “know where to find the information.” We were taught to use the library, the dictionary, and so forth. Sadly, these skills are being lost to Wikipedia, spell-check, blogs and many questionable sources of information.
Annette Reffalt
Perkinston, Miss.

FANATICISM VS. SKEPTICISM
I question the premise of the Ask the Brains query “Is there a difference between the brain of an atheist and the brain of a religious person?” answered by Andrew Newberg. “Atheist” is a word invented by theists who see the world in religious terms. I bet the mental processes of religious fundamentalists and doctrinaire Communists and any Scientologists all resemble one another far more than they do either the average Episcopalian or the average empiricist (the word that better describes many so-called atheists).

By the same token, that Episcopalian and that empiricist probably resemble each other more at the process level than either does his putative but more fanatical brethren.
“Ehkzu”
commenting at www.ScientificAmerican.com/Mind

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