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A theoretical model of biological intelligence
Brain memory functions as the primary basis of intelligence
From a biological viewpoint intelligence primarily derives from a biological necessity to survive therefore constitutes a meaningful advantage used in efforts to succeed in a competitive environment. Therefore intelligence also includes an interactive social aspect and important 'subordinate' processes like those of the emotional and motor informational processes.
Technically intelligence is inconceivable without a memory function. Only memory makes a planned behavior possible by relating the present problems we are attempting to solve to our past experiences. Without this relationship, it would be impossible to behave intelligently. The memory makes it possible to learn and intellectually anticipate the consequences of actions and thus adjust the behavior to the new situations we are currently confronting. By referring to the stored information from the past, the memory also influences the new perceptions being transmitted to the brain. It then produces new information via these comparisons. Furthermore, memory relieves of the necessity of having to entirely repeat things, which we would have to do if it didn't exist. Ultimately, the specificity of the information stored in the memory also goes to make up an individual identity. The absence or losing of memories as occurs, for example, with dementia or functional losses associated with brain injuries, impressively shows these interrelationships. If all memories fade away, ultimately the capability to live as an autonomous planning and behaving person gradually disappears as well.
As a result of previously stored experiences, many actions are performed more or less without the initiation of renewed thought processes and therefore in the form of automatic routines. Schematically compared with processes in a computer, the basic memory processes technically involve the reception and storage as well as the retrieval of information. In the brain, these processes occur via partly separate but intercommunicating neuronal network systems which are organized according to hierarchical principles. Although local centers in the brain have often been postulated for "specific" types of intelligence (partly inferred from the fact that specific functional losses occur after injuries to particular brain regions), the processes generally seem to be rather diffuse, that is to say that the information processing processes are distributed over the entire area of the cerebral cortex. The incoming sensory perceptions are also associated with past experiences. What we ultimately remember is therefore always colored by past personal experiences. We often only become really conscious of the many automatisms and great effectiveness of these processes when some of the functions of our memory clearly decline or even fail.
A dual memory mechanism
From a simplified point of view our brain possesses in principle two different basic types of memory, the so-called declarative (explicit) memory and the non-declarative (implicit) memory. What I hereafter refer to as a "fit-for-life intelligence” appears as composed of a combination of these two main components. The two basic types of memory involve various other sub-functions from which, in turn, about four somewhat more clearly distinguishable types of memory can be differentiated.
By a declarative (explicit) memory we mean a conscious representation of facts and events. We can therefore explain the process. It is composed of the components of a factual memory and an episodal memory.
According to what is regarded as current state of scientific knowledge, these information reception and storage processes occur via the limbic system and cerebral cortex, and the retrieval of contents occurs primarily via cerebral cortex, particularly areas of the so-called temporo-frontal cortex i.a. frontal and parietal lobes of cerebral cortex.
Factual memory is a kind of "knowledge system". It stores facts as, for example, names from history or regions from geography as well as learned rules for mathematical calculation or rules for linguistic grammar. We can become conscious of the contents of this system. But usually how and when we originally stored this information remains unconscious.
The episodal memory concerns all of our personally experienced events, and therefore what we regard as our individual family history. This includes equally what are for us especially positive experiences or traumatic incidents . All in all, these are therefore all events that have left a special impression on us. Also included here are particular sensory impressions that occurred in connection with such kinds of events. This memory system is also accessible to our consciousness. Unlike the factual memory, it also furnishes with information about how and when such events occurred.
The non-declarative memory is an implicit memory that is responsible for coordinated movements. Among other things, it is needed for routines (e.g. for speech). It is primarily composed of the procedural (motor) memory and the "priming memory" (for "unconscious signal stimuli"). The building up of the non-declarative memory takes place by means of several learning mechanisms like, for example, non-associative learning and conditioning. Consequently, we can access this memory function without much reflection. These information reception and storage processes and also the retrieval of stored information appear to occur primarily via cerebellum and basal ganglia as well as partly via sensory areas of the cerebral cortex.
The procedural memory is required for motor routines. Typical examples for such largely automatized motor (kinetic) routines are activities like climbing stairs, piano playing, playing tennis, and cycling. The procedural memory makes it possible to unconsciously perform a learned action again and again, that is to say without having to again carry out a conscious thought process for each individual step of these activities. This is why it possible for us to carried out complex motor sequences quickly and in a coordinated way.
This motor area will be discussed in a little more detail here, since it is usually not associated with the concept of intelligence. The procedural memory works with very old areas of the brain (cerebellum and basal ganglia) in terms of development history. In the learning process, it reacts primarily to drill, and therefore continuous practicing without having to think much about it. Therefore, we are also mostly unconscious of its contents. Consequently, those processes that occur in the cerebral cortex play a smaller role with procedural learning than is the case with declarative learning. Nevertheless, in human beings certain cerebral regions (motor and prefrontal areas) are also required for learning and storing these kinetic physical skills.
Even though not "intelligent" in the conventional sense, a process of learning motor movement sequences nevertheless requires considerable effort. The practicing of a sport until the point of perfection can be an ordeal lasting years during which the body postures and physical coordination are practiced and drilled for hours in daily training. This continues for as long as it takes for the person to finally "physically comprehend" how to do it. For such a type of learning process, it is therefore of no importance whether someone is "intelligent" in the traditional sense because this learning of sequences of movements has hardly anything to do with the higher activities of the declarative memory. In this connection, the cerebellum has the function of spatially and temporally coordinating these movement sequences. By means of this drilling, complex sequences of closely coordinated movements are gradually created from initially still uncoordinated individual steps.
Only in the initial phase of this learning process is the prefrontal cortex important, since it controls conscious attentiveness and obtains the relevant information. Without this, the initial learning would be impossible, since the person in training must first grasp what the objectives of the training program are. Consequently, here too there are certain minimum requirements on the declarative memory. Therefore, if a person learns a new physical skill like, for example, a sport, a song, the steps for a dance or something similar, initially also the cerebral cortex is actively involved. As soon as the task is physically mastered, the activity of the cerebral cortex declines again and, when the pre-specified learning goal of the sequence of movements has been achieved, the program is delegated to subordinate structures (cerebellum and basal ganglia) and is executed automatically from there.
"Priming" is a non-declarative memory system that unconsciously takes in a certain number of stimuli in the cerebral cortex. Such a "stimulus" may be information greatly varying in scale. The information can consist of only a very few individual signals (e.g. single words) or also represent an extensive conceptual edifice. But this stored information remains only on the "preconscious level" for us, which is meant to say that although the information is present in us, we cannot consciously retrieve it. Only in connection with another similar stimulus does this previously stored content suddenly surface again. It is therefore only "triggered" by the second type of information. In this process, however, we are not aware of the fact that "newly" surfaced thoughts or images were already contained in our memory in the past. Consequently, we then often interpret the triggered information as newly created and as thoughts we ourselves have produced.
 


Summary of the two main memory functions and their
most important sub-functions
The memory functions interact
The above-mentioned types of memory are not separately operating systems, they interact with one another. When speaking, for example, several of these types of memory are active simultaneously. With regard to the content of the statements, the declarative factual memory is activated, and the procedural memory is activated for the motor coordination of the vocal apparatus (facial expression, speech, accentuating supportive breathing). For a complex type of sport, the declarative memory is used for determining the strategy. This is the entire planned course of action. The detailed physical execution is carried out by means of previously learned automatized motor routines from the procedural memory. An interference of the declarative memory on this level would only retard the speed of executing the routines.
The different forms of memory select and assess
The brain also obviously processes and assesses not all incoming information in the same form. It presumably takes in the personally relevant experiences (episodes) differently than the neutral facts or trained physical skills. Highly personal experiences do not only appear to be processed by memory in a different way than more inconsequential things, they are also presumably more firmly stored in memory. That points to a special importance of emotional assessments. The structures of the so-called emotional brain, the limbic system, are important not only for the assessment of emotional perceptions, but also for our memory. The factual memory accessible to our consciousness is therefore very closely associated with our emotions. It therefore follows that every person has a kind of individually colored memory.
This strong interaction between memory functions and feelings is a result of biological evolution. Our various memory systems first developed one after one another during our long evolutionary history, and in a certain order. It can be deduced from studies on this evolutionary development process that it presumably was first a matter of unconsciously recognizing previous perceptions and, only afterwards, the ability to learn developed motor sequences. This developmental sequence is explained among other things by the fact that these initial processes did not require such complex nerve interconnections as is the case with higher forms of memory. For motor learning as well, the more simply structured creatures did not need a cerebral cortex, and also not for some basic emotional reactions. The motor functions were made possible by the cerebellum and the so-called telencephalic nuclei, which are therefore very old in terms of their evolutionary history. The cerebral cortex required for higher declarative functions only evolved much later from these brain structures.
A model: Intelligence as a product of the dual memory relation
In accordance with the previous descriptions of the memory functions, intelligence obviously results from the possession of these two operatively distinguishable memory systems, the declarative memory and the non-declarative memory functions. A "fit-for-life” intelligence - as individual overall intelligence which utilizes all available memory functions - can be therefore considered as the sum of these two complementary and mutually influencing components and therefore implies not only to appropriately recognize individual life problems, but also to solve and execute them in an individual way.
 


The main memory functions and sub-functions. The two components of abstract and kinetic intelligence are composed from them and interact for a “fit-for-life” intelligence.
Towards a quantitative description
The two memory functions represent an abstract (a) and a kinetic (k) component. Although in principle all individuals possess both of these two main components, they obviously possess them in individually different relations: a k. The relation of the two main memory components, including their sub-components, appears specific for each person and may be described as its 1st order relativity which is manifested in a form of an individual intelligence format.
Individual "fit-for-life” intelligence, or rather the available individual total intelligence (IT) can therefore also be summarized as a function of the sums of all abstract (Ia) and all kinetic (Ik) intelligence components, which in turn are composed of their various sub-components: . Via a relation of the individual components, abstract and kinetic (a/k), a rough intelligence typing of two possible different poles can be derived in simplified form for a 1st order relativity: The starting point for this polarization is a k, a quantitatively balanced relation of these two components.
 

Scheme of a balanced relation of declarative (a) and non-declarative (k) memory function (1st order relativity) Areas of a and k represent the respective available subtypes of intelligence, and the total area (a + k) the available overall intelligence (100%). The relation a k characterizes that in this case abstract and kinetic intelligence are present quantitatively to an approximately equal extent.

A first conclusion: Technically speaking, it follows that two different people could only possess an identical intelligence if their 1st order relativity is identical. This is extremely improbable. Such a case would mean that two different people have identical memory programs. Since it can essentially be ruled out that all of the individual experiences of a human being coincide with all of the individual experiences of another human being, it is equally improbable that their memory functions are identical. Such is in principle only possible for a technically identical duplication of computer programs whose – abstract - "memory contents” can be so to speak ‚technically cloned‘.

A polarization in the intelligence format occurs on the one hand in the direction of a relative predominance of declarative memory functions (a > k) a primarily abstract (pa) intelligence, and on the other hand in the direction of a relative predominance of the non-declarative memory functions (a < k) , which can be described as primarily kinetic (pk) intelligence. The term primarily is meant to characterize that here only the main type of intelligence from these two components is involved, and these can then be more or less clearly pronounced.

For the purpose of a more quantitative characterization of the 1st order relativity a relational quotient (RQ) may be derived from the percentages of the components of abstract intelligence (a) and kinetic intelligence (k) whose sum is 100 as RQ = a /k. and graphically, such RQ can be described as a function of the percentage proportion of the abstract intelligence component a relative to the overall intelligence of 100: RQ = f (100 - a). This results in an exponential curve like a cumulative curve from a Gaussian normal distribution.

An RQ for a k is therefore 1 and it is employed as an average starting value. Every deviation from 1 characterizes a deviation from this starting value either in the direction of primarily abstract intelligence (RQ>1) or primarily kinetic intelligence (RQ < 1).

A two-sided statistical distribution of the 1st order relativity over the range between RQ > 1 and RQ < 1 might be the rule with the relative intelligence formats. In fact, most people show a certain main emphasis tendency in the direction of one of the two intelligence formats of pa or pk , that is to say deviations in the direction of those categories that we colloquially refer to in daily life as "more of a theorist" or "more of a practical person”. Extreme polarizations that go beyond certain limits are associated with a decrease of the general practical capability to cope with life. In such cases, intelligence formats exist that no longer meet all requirements of life. Extreme deviations in which RQ is outside >>1 or <<1 indicate that almost exclusively only one of the two subtypes of intelligence is present. These regions are so excessively polarized in one direction that they can be described as "one-dimensional” intelligence.

Relativity of the 2nd order: The relation of intelligence format and situation
Survival and/or success require a situationally adequate intelligence. A successful achievement of life objectives, thus depends on whether we have the adequate intelligence equipment to meet the conditions of special life situations. For this process, the relation of the individual intelligence format to a specific life situation may be described as a Relativity of the 2nd order.
For animals living in wild hunting grounds, quick decisions on whether or not another animal is safe or dangerous are vital to survival. Should they think too long about such decisions rather than react quickly, following their motoric-function systems, they would probably be devoured by other animals. This may therefore also be the case with humans. Too long planning and/or thinking through several alternatives often lead to late decisions, for which an "appropriateness” cannot even be guaranteed in the process. Of course a failure can also be possible in the opposite direction (fast actions without sufficient planning). Thus it can be said about the relativity of the 2nd order that the probability of acting in a manner that is fit for life is a function that is derived from the individual intelligence format and the situational parameters favoring such format. A presentation is made in this respect in the following illustration.
 
 
Success probability: Individual intelligence format in a specific a situation. 2 persons having different relations in their abstract (a) or kinetic (k) intelligence components were assumed. Solution of a primarily abstract problem is assumed in the first case (upper range) which situationally requires a relation a > k. In the second case (lower range) activities are assumed, which require a relation a < k in situational terms. Depending on the given initial relations of the individual intelligence components and the situational intelligence requirements respectively, there is principally a higher probability of success for person 1 in the first case, and for person 2 in the second case.
 
From the point of view of forecasting for a success assessment, practical approach can therefore be made in such a way that e.g. situational standards required of abstract and kinetic components for specific activities or groups of profession are initially estimated on a general basis and thereafter, these situational requirements are compared with an existing individual intelligence format.
Interaction of different intelligence formats
Different intelligence formats lead to different perceptions and evaluations of the same situation. In the aftermath of these different characteristics in action and thinking which occur in different intelligence formats, both positive and negative interactions between these numerous forms are therefore virtually compelling.
 
Imprecision of a conclusion. The individual intelligence format also entails a relativity in thinking. Through the individual relative perception as well as the resultant relative processing of such perceptions, the brains are subjected to a process that can be described as individual imprecision. We know from our daily routine that in most cases, the more the number of persons expected to assess a somewhat complex issue, the more the differences in opinion that emerge. Depending on the differences in subjective perception, every individual may also come to different conclusions on the same situation. This difference in observations and conclusions which constantly exists between communicating partners, can be described as their inter-individual imprecision relation. The conclusions that are then made by several individuals on the same issue thus summarily constitute a convention that may be regarded as a type of "statistically averaged truth”. For instance, a political election with a high voter turnout thus constitutes such an opportunity of reducing the inter-individual imprecision relation, at least in some fundamental conclusions.
The dimension of inter-individual imprecision relation thus reduces statistically with the number of observers. The imprecision can in principle not be completely discarded, because this would also demand common ground of absolute neutrality (objectivity) in an issue from every individual. This however is not biologically realizable. The elimination of the relative imprecision of a conclusion therefore theoretically would require a mathematically infinite number of observers of the same situation.
Conflict potential. Different assessment positions in the aftermath of a difference in perception count among the most frequent reasons for conflicts between different intelligence formats. Therefore this constitutes a practically significant conflict potential.

The conflict potential between different intelligence formats (CIF) may be formulated as the function of the differences between the respectively subjective perception of conclusions as opposed to a common identical issue (PmI), and thereby as: . The conflict potential appears in a direct proportion to this difference in perception thus: .

Following such communication problems, persons with an tendentiously interrelated intelligence format generally display a higher sense of solidarity with each other ("the biology matches"). There is therefore better communication between such partners in a given situation (less inter-individual imprecision), and thus higher "consonance” in fundamental views resulting in higher concordance in the understanding of solutions.
Many conflict problems could be eased if there was a higher level of consciousness of the fact that behavioral patterns often originate from differences in perception as are derived from different intelligence formats.
Conclusions on the biological model of relative intelligence

• Intelligence appears to follow a dualistic principle that is based on the availability and relation of two operatively differing components of memory forms.
• In every individual, the main memory components are made up of different relations to a relative intelligence format, Relativity of the 1st order. It activates an individual intelligence which characterizes itself in individually differing forms of action.
• An identical intelligence for differing individuals is statistically improbable
• In relation to the aspects of fitness for life, the relative intelligence format is an instrumental characteristic, and in relation to the situation, Relativity of the 2nd order, it is an object-dependent characteristic. In this sense, there is no absolute intelligence, but only the relations of individual intelligence formats to situational requirements.
• An individual intelligence format attracts relativity in thinking. Its relative perception and processing of this perception creates an individual imprecision in conclusion, Therefore, different individuals may reach different conclusions in the same situation. This difference can be described as inter-individual imprecision relation.

Further readings on the subject (English & German).
Axelrod, R. Die Evolution der Kooperation, Piper, Munich (1987) - Damasio A.R. Descartes‘ - Error, Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain, G.P.Putnam’s Son, New York (1994), 6th German Edit. DTV, Munich (2001) - Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. Die Biologie des menschlichen Verhaltens, Piper, Munich (1984) - Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I., Der Mensch - das riskierte Wesen, Zur Naturgeschichte menschlicher Unvernunft, Piper, Munich (1991) - Ganten, D., Meyer-Galow, E.,Ropers H.H. Scheich H., Schwarz H., Urban K., Truscheit E. (Hsgb.) Gene, Neurone, Qubits & Co, Unsere Welten der Information, Verhandl. Ges. Deutscher Naturforsch. u. Ärzte, 120 (1998) Hirzel, Stuttgart (1999) - Immelmann, K. Scherer K.R; Vogel C., Schmoock P. (Eds.) Psychobiologie, Grundlagen des Verhaltens, G. Fischer Stuttgart/New York (1988) - Liedtke,R.K., Relative Intelligenz, Relativität der Intelligenz als biologisches Grundprinzip der Lebenstüchtigkeit, 1st German Edition, BoD Hamburg (2002) - Lorenz, K., Wuketits, F.M., Die Evolution des Denkens, München: Piper (1983) - Morris, D., Manwatching, A Field Guide to Human Behavior, Elsevier, Oxford (1977) - Premack, D., Premack, A., Original Intelligence, The Architecture of the Human Mind, McGraw-Hill New York (2002) - Popper. K.R., Eccles, J.C., The Self and Its Brain, Springer, Heidelberg/New York (1977), 7th German Edition, Piper, Munich (2000) - Rose, S. From Brains to Consciousness (1998), German Edition‚ Gehirn, Gedächtnis und Bewusstsein‘ Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach (2001) -Shepherd, G. M. (Edit.) The synaptic organization of the brain, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press, New York (1998) - Skoyles, J. Sagan, D. Up From Dragons: The Evolution of Human Intelligence McGraw-Hill; 1st edition (2002) - Sommer, V., Lob der Lüge, Täuschung und Selbstbetrug bei Tier und Mensch C.H. Beck, München (1992) - Thompson, R.F., The Brain, W. H. Freeman & Co., New York/Oxford (1985), German Edition: Das Gehirn, Spektrum, Heidelberg/Berlin/New York (1992), Special. Edition J.F. Lehmanns, Cologne (1996) - Voland, E., Grundriß der Soziobiologie, G. Fischer, Stuttgart/Jena (1993) - Wagman, M. Human Intellect and Cognitive Science, Toward a General Unified Theory of Intelligence, Praeger Publishers, Westport (1996) - Wickler, W. Seibt,U., Das Prinzip Eigennutz: Ursachen und Konsequenzen sozialen Verhaltens, Rev. edition Piper, München (1991)
 
 
© 2010 Rainer K. Liedtke