Whether adult human neurogenesis happens doesn't indicate whether exercise (or growth mindset, or diet, or whatever else) isn't effective; there are plenty of other modes of neuroplasticity that could be modulated by such things. Similar to how the article noted that, despite claims that antidepressants worked via promoting neurogenesis, they still work even in the face of evidence against neurogenesis happening at all.
Even if human neurogenesis turns out to be a complete fable, the implications for actual humans trying to boost their intelligence is minimal. IQ correlates with brain size only modestly, and typical variations in brain size are (I haven't done the math, but I feel fairly confident) an order of magnitude greater than what anyone has claimed adult neurogenesis could produce; simply adding more neurons wasn't going to get you where you wanted to go, regardless. But that's not the only game in town- there are many ways the brain changes itself.
(As it happens, thousands of hopeful nootropic-poppers and brain-trainers haven't been terribly successful at boosting their IQ yet. But it remains a possibility.)
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Whether adult human neurogenesis happens doesn't indicate whether exercise (or growth mindset, or diet, or whatever else) isn't effective; there are plenty of other modes of neuroplasticity that could be modulated by such things. Similar to how the article noted that, despite claims that antidepressants worked via promoting neurogenesis, they still work even in the face of evidence against neurogenesis happening at all.
Even if human neurogenesis turns out to be a complete fable, the implications for actual humans trying to boost their intelligence is minimal. IQ correlates with brain size only modestly, and typical variations in brain size are (I haven't done the math, but I feel fairly confident) an order of magnitude greater than what anyone has claimed adult neurogenesis could produce; simply adding more neurons wasn't going to get you where you wanted to go, regardless. But that's not the only game in town- there are many ways the brain changes itself.
(As it happens, thousands of hopeful nootropic-poppers and brain-trainers haven't been terribly successful at boosting their IQ yet. But it remains a possibility.)