Developmental Dyslexia Essential to Human Adaptive Success

hubie writes:

Researchers say people with Developmental Dyslexia have specific strengths relating to exploring the unknown that have contributed to the successful adaptation and survival of our species:

Cambridge researchers studying cognition, behaviour and the brain have concluded that people with dyslexia are specialised to explore the unknown. This is likely to play a fundamental role in human adaptation to changing environments.

They think this 'explorative bias' has an evolutionary basis and plays a crucial role in our survival.

Based on these findings - which were apparent across multiple domains from visual processing to memory and at all levels of analysis - the researchers argue that we need to change our perspective of dyslexia as a neurological disorder.

[...] "The deficit-centred view of dyslexia isn't telling the whole story," said Taylor. "This research proposes a new framework to help us better understand the cognitive strengths of people with dyslexia."

She added: "We believe that the areas of difficulty experienced by people with dyslexia result from a cognitive trade-off between exploration of new information and exploitation of existing knowledge, with the upside being an explorative bias that could explain enhanced abilities observed in certain realms like discovery, invention and creativity."

[...] The new findings are explained in the context of 'Complementary Cognition', a theory proposing that our ancestors evolved to specialise in different, but complementary, ways of thinking, which enhances human's ability to adapt through collaboration.

These cognitive specialisations are rooted in a well-known trade-off between exploration of new information and exploitation of existing knowledge. For example, if you eat all the food you have, you risk starvation when it's all gone. But if you spend all your time exploring for food, you're wasting energy you don't need to waste. As in any complex system, we must ensure we balance our need to exploit known resources and explore new resources to survive.

"Striking the balance between exploring for new opportunities and exploiting the benefits of a particular choice is key to adaptation and survival and underpins many of the decisions we make in our daily lives," said Taylor.

Journal Reference:
Taylor, H. and Vestergaard M. D: Developmental Dyslexia: Disorder or Specialization in Exploration? [open] Frontiers in Psychology (June 2022). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.889245

Original Submission

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