Question: How does the genome allow a brain to develop that has inborn talents and tendencies – if we have an inborn fear of say, snakes, how does that get wired up in a brain?

Daniel Smith answered on 23 Jun 2017:

Thats an interesting question and brings up the nature vs. nurture debate.

Theres a lot of experiments that indicate that intelligence and talents can be passed on through genetics (for example they say the first born child of a couple is likely more intelligent, and if you’re a larger baby when born you are more likely to have a higher IQ too).

However there is also a lot to do with the environment, for example if your parents are both university taught people then you are likely to grow up around education and so will generally learn better.

Theres arguments for both, I for example am from a Mum and Dad who only got 3 GCSEs at high school and never went to college, and yet I am a PhD student of Chemistry. So was that from genetics or just because I chose to do well (environment).

I imagine there is some advances from genetics, if your parents have a higher IQ its likely that they have genes to do with the growth of new brain cells and neural networks that are more active than those with lower IQs. Therefore its likely they will pass this same gene onto their child.

But its still more likely to come down to the environment you are in and your own free will.

The same probably comes from fears, you fear something because it inspires a sense of survival in us. For example do you fear snakes because you know some are poisonous or because you saw one as a child and weren’t sure what it was? If you only saw a snake as an adult and didn’t know they could be harmful would you fear it even if your parents did?

At the moment its a long running discussion and seems a lot like its personal belief, but maybe you could be the scientist in the future who finds out the truth 🙂