Einstein's Brain Reveals Clues to Genius | Photos of Albert Einstein's Brain | LiveScience
The team found that, overall, Eintsein's brain had much more complicated folding across the cerebral cortex, which is the gray matter on the surface of the brain responsible for conscious thought. In general, thicker gray matter is tied to higher IQs.
Many scientists believe that more folds can create extra surface area for mental processing, allowing more connections between brain cells, Falk said. With more connections between distant parts of the brain, one would be able to make, in a sense, mental leaps, drawing upon these faraway brain cells to solve some cognitive problem.
The prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role in abstract thought, making predictions and planning, also had an unusually elaborate folding pattern in Einstein's brain.
That may have helped the physicist develop the theory of relativity. "He did thought experiments where he'd imagine himself riding alongside a beam of light, and this is exactly the part of the brain one would expect to be very active" in such thought experiments, Falk told LiveScience.
In addition, Einstein's occipital lobes, which perform visual processing, showed extra folds and creases.
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