Researchers say people with developmental dyslexia have specific strengths related to exploring the unknown that have contributed to the successful adaptation and survival of our species.
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Summary We raise the new possibility that people diagnosed with developmental dyslexia (DD) are specialized in exploratory cognitive search, and rather than having a neurocognitive disorder, play an essential role in human adaptation. Most DD research has studied educational difficulties, with theories framing differences in neurocognitive processes as deficits. However, it is also often proposed that people with DD have certain strengths, particularly in areas such as discovery, invention, and creativity, that deficit-focused theories cannot explain. We investigate whether these strengths reflect an underlying exploratory specialization. We reexamine experimental studies in psychology and neuroscience using the framework of cognitive search, whereby many psychological processes involve a trade-off between exploration and exploitation. We report evidence of an exploratory bias in cognitive strategies associated with DD. The high prevalence of DD and a concomitant exploratory bias in multiple areas of cognition suggest the existence of exploratory specialization. An evolutionary perspective explains the combination of findings and challenges the view that people with DD have a disorder. In cooperative groups, individual specialization is favored when the characteristics that confer fitness benefits are functionally incompatible. Evidence for search specialization suggests that, as with other social organisms, humans mediate the exploration-exploitation trade-off by specializing in complementary strategies. The existence of a collective cognitive search system that emerges through collaboration would help explain the exceptional adaptability of our species. It also aligns with evidence of substantial variability during our evolutionary history and the notion that humans are not adapted to a particular habitat but to variability itself. Specialization creates interdependence and requires balancing complementary strategies. Reframing DD therefore underscores the urgency of changing certain cultural practices to ensure that we do not inhibit adaptation . Key improvements would remove cultural barriers to exploration and encourage exploratory learning in education, academia, and the workplace, as well as emphasize collaboration over competition. Specialization in complementary search skills represents a meta-adaptation ; Through collaboration, this likely allows human groups (as a species and as cultural systems) to adapt successfully. Therefore, cultural change to support this collaborative search system may be essential to meeting the challenges facing humanity now. |
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Cambridge researchers who study cognition, behavior and the brain have concluded that people with dyslexia are specialized at exploring the unknown. This is likely to play a critical role in human adaptation to changing environments.
They think that this ’exploratory bias’ has an evolutionary basis and plays a crucial role in our survival.
Based on these findings, which were evident in multiple domains, from visual processing to memory and at all levels of analysis, the researchers argue that we must change our perspective of dyslexia as a neurological disorder.
The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology , have implications at both an individual and societal level, says lead author Dr Helen Taylor, an academic affiliated with the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge and a research associate at the University of Strathclyde.
“The deficit -focused view of dyslexia doesn’t tell the whole story,” Taylor said. “This research proposes a new framework to help us better understand the cognitive strengths of people with dyslexia.”
He added: “We believe that the areas of difficulty experienced by people with dyslexia are the result of a cognitive trade-off between the exploration of new information and the exploitation of existing knowledge , with the advantage being an exploratory bias that could explain the improved skills observed in certain areas. such as discovery, invention and creativity.”
This is the first time that an interdisciplinary approach using a developmental perspective has been applied in the analysis of studies on dyslexia.
“Schools, academic institutes, and workplaces are not designed to take full advantage of exploratory learning . But we urgently need to start fostering this way of thinking to allow humanity to continue to adapt and solve key challenges,” Taylor said.
Dyslexia is found in up to 20% of the general population, regardless of country, culture and region of the world. The World Federation of Neurology defines it as “a disorder in children who, despite conventional classroom experience, fail to acquire the linguistic skills of reading, writing and spelling commensurate with their intellectual abilities.”
The new findings are explained in the context of ’complementary cognition’ , a theory that proposes that our ancestors evolved to specialize in different but complementary ways of thinking, enhancing the human ability to adapt through collaboration.
These cognitive specializations are rooted in a well-known trade-off between the exploration of new information and the exploitation of existing knowledge. For example, if you eat all the food you have, you risk starving when it’s 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 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,” Taylor said.
Exploration encompasses activities that involve the search for the unknown, such as experimentation, discovery , and innovation. In contrast, exploitation is concerned with using what is already known, including refinement, efficiency, and selection.
“Given this trade-off, exploratory specialization in people with dyslexia could help explain why they have difficulty with exploitation-related tasks, such as reading and writing.
"It could also explain why people with dyslexia seem to gravitate toward certain professions that require skills related to exploration, such as arts, architecture, engineering and entrepreneurship."
The researchers found that their findings aligned with evidence from several other fields of research. For example, an exploratory bias in such a large proportion of the population indicates that our species must have evolved during a period of great uncertainty and change. This coincides with findings in the field of paleoarchaeology, which reveal that human evolution was shaped over hundreds of thousands of years by dramatic climatic and environmental instability.
The researchers highlight that collaboration between individuals with different abilities could help explain the exceptional adaptive capacity of our species.
The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology .
The research was funded by the Hunter Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde.
