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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well said in parts.  We are probably all born with a potential having an upper and lower bound.  That potential is probably not infinite.  Steady exercise and training can significantly push one to the upper bound of potential -- both intellectual/mental and physical.  For the overwhelming bulk of mankind there is tremendous overlap of that potential at the outset.  This is consistent with steady and continuous work in the gym improving athletic performance as well as a similar effort improving intellectual performance as measured by any IQ test.  THere is nothing sacred, unique or distinct about an IQ test that can't be taught to children.  They'll probably pick up these intellectual tasks up much quicker than you or I at our late maturation stage![/quote]

You say "THere is nothing sacred, unique or distinct about an IQ test that can't be taught to children."  But no one's disagreeing that you can "prep" a child with the same type of questions as are found on the test, so that he will have an artificially high score.  The problem is that score will no longer be indicative of the child's natural abilities, but rather will be "performance-enhanced."  If you give the same child a different IQ test the next week, with questions that aren't of the same type the child has been practicing, his IQ scores will drop back down to normal numbers.  That's not plasticity -- it's the "practice effect."

Since you're so enamored with the athletic analogy, here's an extension of that analogy for you.  Are you familiar with the term "workout warrior" in connection with the NFL Combine?  It refers to average college football players who train like mad for many months to perform well on the very specific drills used at the Combine (40-yard dash, bench press, three-cone drill, etc).  A workout warrior often will significantly improve his scores on these specific drills, and boost his NFL draft position as a result.  But because their skill is limited to only doing those very specific drills, they often are unsuccessful in the NFL because simply are not as good at football as they are at the drills.  This sort of disparity is exactly why many people warn against prepping a child for an IQ test; if the child ends up at a school beyond his abilities because of the performance-enhanced IQ score, the child will eventually be unable to keep up with his classmates.[/quote]

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