Nikolaidis Aki, Baniqued Pauline L, Kranz Michael B, Scavuzzo Claire J, Barbey Aron K, Kramer Arthur F, Larsen Ryan J
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
Neuroscience Program and.
Cereb Cortex. 2017 Apr 1;27(4):2607-2616. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw070.
Understanding the neural and metabolic correlates of fluid intelligence not only aids scientists in characterizing cognitive processes involved in intelligence, but it also offers insight into intervention methods to improve fluid intelligence. Here we use magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) to measure N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), a biochemical marker of neural energy production and efficiency. We use principal components analysis (PCA) to examine how the distribution of NAA in the frontal and parietal lobes relates to fluid intelligence. We find that a left lateralized frontal-parietal component predicts fluid intelligence, and it does so independently of brain size, another significant predictor of fluid intelligence. These results suggest that the left motor regions play a key role in the visualization and planning necessary for spatial cognition and reasoning, and we discuss these findings in the context of the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of intelligence.
了解流体智力的神经和代谢关联不仅有助于科学家刻画智力所涉及的认知过程，还能为改善流体智力的干预方法提供见解。在此，我们使用磁共振波谱成像（MRSI）来测量N-乙酰天门冬氨酸（NAA），这是一种神经能量产生和效率的生化标志物。我们使用主成分分析（PCA）来研究额叶和顶叶中NAA的分布与流体智力之间的关系。我们发现，左侧化的额顶叶成分可预测流体智力，且其预测独立于脑容量，脑容量是流体智力的另一个重要预测因素。这些结果表明，左侧运动区域在空间认知和推理所需的视觉化和规划中起关键作用，我们将在智力的顶叶-额叶整合理论背景下讨论这些发现。
