Menary Kyle, Collins Paul F, Porter James N, Muetzel Ryan, Olson Elizabeth A, Kumar Vipin, Steinbach Michael, Lim Kelvin O, Luciana Monica
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455.
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455 ; Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455.
Intelligence. 2013 Sep;41(5):597-606. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.07.010.
Neuroimaging research indicates that human intellectual ability is related to brain structure including the thickness of the cerebral cortex. Most studies indicate that general intelligence is positively associated with cortical thickness in areas of association cortex distributed throughout both brain hemispheres. In this study, we performed a cortical thickness mapping analysis on data from 182 healthy typically developing males and females ages 9 to 24 years to identify correlates of general intelligence () scores. To determine if these correlates also mediate associations of specific cognitive abilities with cortical thickness, we regressed specific cognitive test scores on scores and analyzed the residuals with respect to cortical thickness. The effect of age on the association between cortical thickness and intelligence was examined. We found a widely distributed pattern of positive associations between cortical thickness and scores, as derived from the first unrotated principal factor of a factor analysis of Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) subtest scores. After WASI specific cognitive subtest scores were regressed on factor scores, the residual score variances did not correlate significantly with cortical thickness in the full sample with age covaried. When participants were grouped at the age median, significant positive associations of cortical thickness were obtained in the older group for -residualized scores on Block Design (a measure of visual-motor integrative processing) while significant negative associations of cortical thickness were observed in the younger group for -residualized Vocabulary scores. These results regarding correlates of general intelligence are concordant with the existing literature, while the findings from younger versus older subgroups have implications for future research on brain structural correlates of specific cognitive abilities, as well as the cognitive domain specificity of behavioral performance correlates of normative gray matter thinning during adolescence.
神经影像学研究表明，人类智力与包括大脑皮层厚度在内的脑结构有关。大多数研究表明，一般智力与分布在两个脑半球的联合皮层区域的皮层厚度呈正相关。在本研究中，我们对182名年龄在9至24岁之间健康且发育正常的男性和女性的数据进行了皮层厚度图谱分析，以确定一般智力（）分数的相关因素。为了确定这些相关因素是否也介导特定认知能力与皮层厚度的关联，我们将特定认知测试分数对分数进行回归，并分析皮层厚度方面的残差。研究了年龄对皮层厚度与智力之间关联的影响。我们发现，皮层厚度与分数之间存在广泛分布的正相关模式，该分数源自韦氏儿童智力量表简式版（WASI）子测试分数的因素分析的第一个未旋转主成分。在将WASI特定认知子测试分数对因素分数进行回归后，在年龄协变量的全样本中，残差分数方差与皮层厚度无显著相关性。当参与者按年龄中位数分组时，在年龄较大组中，对于积木设计（一种视觉运动整合处理的测量方法）的残差分数，皮层厚度存在显著正相关，而在年龄较小组中，对于词汇残差分数，观察到皮层厚度存在显著负相关。这些关于一般智力相关因素的结果与现有文献一致，而年龄较小与较大亚组的研究结果对未来关于特定认知能力的脑结构相关因素的研究以及青春期正常灰质变薄的行为表现相关因素的认知领域特异性研究具有启示意义。
