Gianni Golfera is now an Expert Author on Ezine Articles! Read Gianni Golfera's articles

Gianni Golfera's Blog featured on Shine from Yahoo

By: NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth. Until now, it had been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience — what psychologists call fluid intelligence — is innate and cannot be taught (though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing). But in the new study, researchers describe a method for improving this skill, along with experiments to prove it works. The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory — the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence, according to background information in the article, and appears to rely on the same brain circuitry. So the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence. First they measured the fluid intelligence of four groups of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task, an elaborate variation on Concentration, the child’s card game, in which they memorized simultaneously presented auditory and visual stimuli that they had to recall later. The game was set up so that as the participants succeeded, the tasks became harder, and as they failed, the tasks became easier. This assured a high level of difficulty, adjusted individually for each participant, but not so high as to destroy motivation to keep working. The four groups underwent a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. At the end of each training, researchers tested the participants’ fluid intelligence again. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills, the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training. The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were striking. Although the control groups also made gains, presumably because they had practice with the fluid intelligence tests, improvement in the trained groups was substantially greater. Moreover, the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers, from the weakest to the strongest, showed significant improvement. “Intelligence has always been considered principally an immutable inherited trait,” said Susanne M. Jaeggi, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the paper. “Our results show you can increase your intelligence with appropriate training.” Why did the training work? The authors suggest several aspects of the exercise relevant to solving new problems: ignoring irrelevant items, monitoring ongoing performance, managing two tasks simultaneously and connecting related items to one another in space and time. No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops, Dr. Jaeggi said, and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.

Byline: Stephanie Holmes in ROME AN ITALIAN scientist said yesterday he believes the amazing memory of a young Italian might one day reveal the secrets of recall and help to find the memory gene. Gianni Golfera, 24, is the third generation of his family to have a gift for remembering. His grandfather and father are also able to recall vast swathes of information with ease. "In the future I think we will be able to study him and see if there is some kind of genetic imprint," said Antonio Malgaroli, a neurobiologist based at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. Mr Malgaroli and his research team hope to identify the individual genes that code for memory. The DNA that makes up genes writes the recipe for the proteins that make everything from muscle tissue to hair. Scientific research has concentrated on genes linked with the decline of memory through diseases such as Alzheimer's. "If we could gather together a hundred people with the same memory capacity as him and study their genetic pattern we could see if there was some kind of clustering," he said. But Mr Golfera, from the northern city of Ravenna, says that, apart from his relatives, he has yet to meet anyone like him. His grandfather remembers entire volumes of classical texts and his father, a pilot, has no need for maps when flying. Mr Golfera has been stunning people with feats of recall from an early age and developed his own memory method after translating a 1582 Latin text at the tender age of 12. "I translated Giordano Bruno's treatise from Latin on the art of memory and began to develop my own style," he said. The memory technique means Mr Golfera simply has no need to carry around a diary or consult an address book. "I can remember the names of 100 people just introduced to me, recite word for word a two-hour speech and if you give me a numbered list of 1,000 words I can list the words in order or tell you where they are placed," he said. Mr Golfera's method of recall involves linking numbers or words to a familiar mental place. "It is a different way of thinking - each concept is translated into pictures and these are inserted into a pre-memorised place. It's like a system of rooms which hold the information," he explained. Mr Malgaroli, who uses Mr Golfera as an example of the potential power of the mind, says he hopes minds such as Mr Golfera's will bring science one step closer to understanding memory. "We would need to identify the genes for memory, the key proteins involved," he added.

Lugo di Ravenna, Italy - Gianni Golfera can remember his first flight as though it were yesterday - the colour of the plane, the radio messages, sitting on his mother's knee. He was only six months old.

Gifted with a startlingly accurate memory, 24-year-old Golfera spent his adolescence training his mind and despite never seeking the limelight his skill has seen him perform under television spotlights and grace countless magazine covers. "I can remember the names of 100 people just introduced to me, a string of 15 000 numbers and recite a speech that I've just heard," he says, wearing one of his seven identical trademark black suits. Scientists have latched onto his filmic mind, hoping it will reveal the secrets of the memory gene, and thereby get one step closer to managing memory-loss diseases like Alzheimer's. 'Memory is a problem of order, not space' Yet for researchers, the really remarkable thing about this dark-haired man from a sleepy town in northern Italy is the fact that his ability to access huge tomes of recorded information is also shared by his father and grandfather. All three are pilots who leave in-flight maps and manuals at home and remain slightly bemused by everyone else's surprise at their talents. "Our family philosophy is not to consider ourselves a phenomenon," said Gianni's father, 45-year-old Andrea Golfera. "We might be pilots, but we keep our feet firmly on the ground." Researchers, however, are already flying high at the prospect of being able to study the brains of three generations with the rare gift of photographic memory. "I am convinced there is a genetic component. By studying these more evolved memories we will be able to identify the genes that are involved in memory," said neuro-scientist Antonio Malgaroli of Milan's San Raffaele institute. 'When people die, for me it is as if they just changed address' Golfera is excited by the research, hoping that perhaps it will allow him to be remembered long into the future. "I'll be delighted for them to do all the tests they like on me. I hope that by studying my DNA they will discover a key that I cannot find myself," he said. The DNA in genes transcribes the recipe for proteins which make everything from muscle tissue to brain synapses. A deeper understanding of the genes that govern memory - its acquisition, development and loss - could open the door to understanding how we recall and forget, why we remember and where memories are stored. "Our goal is to map the changes that occur when the brain remembers. Once we have identified the molecule involved, the mechanism at the level of proteins coded by DNA, we can search for it in the Golfera family," Malgaroli said. The Golferas always took their recall ability for granted. "When you remember, it's something 100 percent natural. It is only when you realise that other people don't do the same that you realise it is something special," explained Andrea. Grandfather Bartolomeo, 82, was a star pilot during World War 2 whose lightning memory put him ahead of the enemy. The youngest Golfera grew up fascinated by how quickly everyone around him forgot, whilst he continued to remember. Vestiges of his childhood still linger in his adult life - such as his continued belief in mythical figures like Father Christmas. "It is like I was told yesterday and I have no reason to disbelieve," he said. Golfera was never top of the class, infuriating teachers at school by refusing to take notes. Instead he set about translating from Latin a Renaissance Italian text by Giordano Bruno on the art of memory, memorising all the books that Bruno would have read in the process and developing his own technique. "Every idea has a cognitive weight. To remember, you have to make things weightless by translating them into a picture," Golfera said. "Then you associate images and chain all the ideas together so they interact." When the mind remembers, electrical impulses pass through the brain, like switching on light bulbs. The more emotion and sensory stimulation is involved in the experience, the more light bulbs are illuminated and the more vivid the memory. Golfera developed his own method which enhances the way the brain naturally processes information - linking sounds, colours, emotions and tastes to ideas, numbers and objects. To help him, Golfera has memorised thousands of familiar places and it is in these virtual rooms that he stores memories. "Memory is a problem of order, not space. You have to know where to look for what you have remembered." Malgaroli agrees: "The memory system is an infinite container. What you remember is not stored in a very precise way, it is continually being re-organised." Yet there is a darker side to having a limitless memory. "I have problems conceiving of time and space because all my memories are instantly available to me," Gianni said, "Death is a strange concept to me because my memories don't fade. When people die, for me it is as if they just changed address." And forget about indulging in rosy-hued remembrances of nostalgia. Golfera remembers the good, the bad and the ugly with equal force. "I'd like to be able to manage my memories and control my dreams," he said. "I think of the mind as a parallel universe and mine just keeps on expanding. I doubt I'll ever fill it."

By Stephanie Holmes ROME (Reuters) - An Italian scientist said on Thursday that he believes a 24-year-old's amazing memory may one day reveal the secrets of recall and help to find the memory gene. Gianni Golfera is the third generation of his family to have a gift for remembering. His grandfather and father are both able to recall vast swathes of information with ease. "In the future I think we will be able to study him and see if there is some kind of genetic imprint," said neurobiologist Antonio Malgaroli, based at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. Malgaroli and his research team hope to identify the individual genes that code for memory. The DNA that makes up genes writes the recipe for the proteins that make everything from muscle tissue to hair. Scientific research has concentrated on genes linked with the decline of memory through diseases like Alzheimer's. "If we could gather together a hundred people with the same memory capacity as him and study their genetic pattern we could see if there was some kind of clustering," he said. But Golfera, from the northern city of Ravenna, says that, apart from his relatives, he has yet to meet anyone like him. His grandfather remembers entire volumes of classical texts and his father, a pilot, has no need for maps when flying. Golfera has been stunning people with feats of recall from a very early age and developed his own memory method after translating a Latin 1582 text at the tender age of 12. "I translated Giordano Bruno's treatise from Latin on the art of memory and began to develop my own style," Golfera said. The memory technique means Golfera simply has no need to carry around a diary or consult an address book. "I can remember the names of 100 people just introduced to me, recite word for word a two-hour speech and if you give me a numbered list of 1,000 words I can list the words in order or tell you where they are placed," he said. Golfera's method of recall involves linking numbers or words to a familiar mental place. "It is a different way of thinking--each concept is translated into pictures and these are inserted into a pre-memorized place. It's like a system of rooms which hold the information," he explained. Malgaroli, who uses Golfera as an example of the potential power of the mind, says he hopes minds like Golfera's will bring science one step closer to understanding memory. "We would need to identify the genes for memory, the key proteins involved. We are still a long way off but I hope we might get there in the next couple of decades," he added.