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Giftedness is a concept that refers to subjects with high motivation and high capacities in different domains. Such individuals are more proactive than their peers and they obtain an IQ score of at least 130 according to the Wechsler scale. This concept has been modified as a result of the studies of Galton and Binet, who started to study the phenomenology of giftedness, and more recently, those of Gagne and Grinder who focused on multidisciplinary attention. Gifted children share some common characteristics and they can be grouped into 6 profiles according to their feelings, behavior and needs. A variety of psychological batteries are available to help diagnose giftedness and hence, the basic principles and concepts related to giftedness have been established. Nevertheless, it is necessary to also consider social, biological, pedagogical and institutional issues, since giftedness is clearly a multifactorial condition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Giftedness (or high intellectual ability) is a functional brain condition evident in nearly 8% of children worldwide. Despite this high prevalence and the fact that gifted young people are actually a vulnerable social group, only a few countries adopt specific educational programs to manage this condition of extreme intellectual performance, and there are considerably fewer where it is considered a priority. However, in some developed and some emerging countries high intellectual capacity is not only recognized as worthy of special attention, but it is considered to be important to enhance the development of the nation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In a profound reflection, today, at the age of 50 and in all sincerity, I am convinced that my entire life I have only focused on one thing that has been in the least bit useful or transcendental to me, and that one thing is consciousness. I consider that I spent at least 40 years of my life in an unconscious state, before I discovered that intelligence is not equivalent to consciousness, and that intelligence, like science and technology, is innocuous in its essence. Rather, it is the level of consciousness of those who possess such intelligence that makes them virtuous or perverse, as is the case for those influenced by them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

There are multiple reasons why high ability children may experience academic challenges. Researchers typically have focused on two possibilities—underachievement, or achieving below one's ability level, and twice-exceptionality, or possessing both high ability and one or more disabilities. In this chapter, we review the research within these domains to identify characteristics associated with both underachievement and twice-exceptionality. We specify the most common disabilities and mental health diagnoses associated with academic problems among gifted students: specific learning disabilities, ADHD, depression, and anxiety. We provide suggestions for students and their families to address these concerns to increase students' likelihood for academic advancement and success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

With a prevalence rate of 7-9% in school-age children and 2.5-4% in adults, with twice as many boys diagnosed as girls, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most frequently encountered neurodevelopmental disorder. This condition has a negative impact on the quality of life of the patients, affecting their school performance and significantly, representing a serious risk factor for developing substance abuse. ADHD is characterized by persistent symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity that interfere with, or hinder academic or occupational performance, as well as social interactions, and its onset is prior to having reached 12 years of age. Symptoms must be evident in two or more settings (home, school, work, friends, relatives...) and there are three distinct presentations recognized, according to the different combination of symptoms. However, the severity of the disorder varies in the same patient and from patient to patient. ADHD is considered a polygenic disorder, such that epigenetic factors including environmental, social and other factors can modulate its presentation and outcome. In many patients other comorbid conditions frequently coexist that further aggravate patient well-being, including oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, substance abuse and learning disorders. There are several books, websites, etc., that tout ADHD as a gift, presenting this disorder as a privilege. However, there is no scientific evidence to support these assertions and even successful adults with untreated ADHD complain about the suffering the condition has caused to them. So, neither a gift nor a hint of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Historically, humans have attributed music with power over emotions and talents. Recently, however, with the advent of modern technologies to study the brain, such as magnetic resonance, evoked potentials and electroencephalographic readings, the actual processing of music in the human brain and its effects are increasingly available for study. Even though many studies have been conducted relating music to depression, dementia, epilepsy, palliative care, and even immunological response, one especial relation has caught the attention of both scientists and the general public: that of music and intelligence. Following the first research report of Rauscher and colleagues in 1993, describing an 8-9 increase in the Intelligence Coefficient score of college students exposed to Mozart music, a popular belief of Mozart's music as having an effect on general intelligence was formed. Although the original authors clearly stated the observed effect was temporal and did not include children as their study population, the marketing of classical music to parents consolidated as a strong sales business active up to this day. In this chapter we describe the general response to this so-called "Mozart effect" and explore the scientific literature supporting or debunking Rauscher's finding. Additionally, we recount the demonstrated positive effects of musical training as opposed to passive music listening. We come to the conclusion that listening to music does not improve general intelligence, whereas actually learning how to interpret music results in confirmed anatomical brain modifications and benefits in terms of intelligence, linguistic ability and memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In this chapter we provide a selective review of some quantitative/qualitative characteristics of the math gifted brain. The initial discussion highlights the significant bilateral engagement of both hemispheres by the math gifted when performing a variety of cognitive tasks, this in contrast to their average math ability counterparts, who rely on either their left or right hemispheres in a more unilaterally dominant fashion. The review also includes a brief overview of several studies that have employed task related Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) and/or Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) techniques to provide converging evidence for increased activation of various brain areas and heightened white matter connectivity between regions in the math gifted brain. In addition, differences in structural characteristics (e.g., surface area, volume and cortical thickness) of the math gifted brain are briefly presented along with a discussion of how math exceptional individuals tend to rely on mental imagery ('visualize') to solve many types of problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

There are many reasons to believe that intellectually gifted children and adolescents display lower levels of subjective well-being than non-gifted. For example, intellectual giftedness is suspected by some to be a risk factor of socio-emotional difficulties. Further, negative stereotyping and stigmatization might impair socio-emotional adjustment and therefore subjective well-being of the gifted. On the other hand, intelligence is a highly valued characteristic in societies, which helps to achieve personal goals and might therefore increase subjective well-being. Based on clear definitions of both intellectual giftedness and subjective well-being, the present chapter first takes a gander at contrary theoretical positions regarding the subjective well-being of the intellectually gifted. Afterwards, evidence from empirical studies using different research designs is presented, including longitudinal studies focusing exclusively on gifted samples and studies directly comparing gifted and non-gifted individuals. Although some designs might be more appropriate than others, overall they paint a remarkably consistent picture: At most, only two minority groups of gifted, namely gifted underachievers and extremely gifted seem to display psycho-social problems. When the entire group of intellectually gifted children or adolescents is examined, mostly no differences appear in different indicators of subjective well-being, seemingly regardless of gender. If differences occur they are small and favor the gifted. By contrast, only few studies find more psycho-social problems among the gifted than among the non-gifted on average, but these studies are based on highly selective samples and lack of adequate comparison groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Among many definitions, it is acceptable to say that intelligence is the capacity to reason, design, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, acquire knowledge, and learn from experience. Intelligence is at the pinnacle of a model of intellectual abilities that include the cognitive domains of verbal and spatial capacities and memory. Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence in one or more areas. Genetic studies of gifted children are based on measuring cognitive ability using a general cognitive ability index called "g" which is the standard indicator of giftedness. The pioneers researching this field were Francis Galton, Lewis Terman, and Leta Hollingworth, who carried out studies on gifted children and concluded that giftedness is inherited. Heritability of g was estimated as 50%, therefore the rest of the variance can be attributed to environmental factors. Genotype-environment correlation plays a major role in the development of giftedness and talent and may be the reason why the heritability of intelligence increases with age. At least one project to study quantitative trait loci (QTL) of IQ has sought to establish QTLs associated with g; some of the g related genes that have been studied in this project are APOE, COMT, and AR among others. A study on monozygotic male twins argues the existence of a connection between high intelligence and high testosterone levels in the prenatal fetus; however, recently published data suggest it can be only one of the possible biological factors involved in brain organization and cognitive functions modulation. Heritability of intelligence has become increasingly more comprehensible; however, the biologic mechanism of genes involved in this heritability is not clear; therefore it is imperative to carry out multivariate genetic analyses with the power to estimate changes in gene and environmental influences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The topic of giftedness has many social myths. Some examples of these are being successful, having knowledge about everything, a good performance in mathematics and science, they are the first of the class, being clumsy at sports, and having social adaptation problems. However, all of them are false; the gifted population is functional socially. These myths are based on one or some cases that became famous through movies, novels or television series. These beliefs can affect this population's emotional health because their social environment expects them to act like that. Some of the psychopathologies associated to the gifted population are depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and suicide; these disorders require psychotherapy. The mental and emotional illnesses in gifted people are consequences of that social condition and some biological factors found in the last 20 years, as modifications of P300 observed in an electroencephalogram of gifted people. In giftedness, the psychotherapy is an important factor for the prevention of mental illness, as well as in crisis intervention. Attention not only for the person involved, but also for the family and teachers, which is a lot of responsibility; to care for the emotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)