Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with higher intelligence are more likely to have larger gray matter volume in brain areas predominantly located in parieto-frontal regions. These findings were usually interpreted to mean that individuals with more cortical brain volume possess more neurons and thus exhibit more computational capacity during reasoning. In addition, neuroimaging studies have shown that intelligent individuals, despite their larger brains, tend to exhibit lower rates of brain activity during reasoning. However, the microstructural architecture underlying both observations remains unclear. By combining advanced multi-shell diffusion tensor imaging with a culture-fair matrix-reasoning test, we found that higher intelligence in healthy individuals is related to lower values of dendritic density and arborization. These results suggest that the neuronal circuitry associated with higher intelligence is organized in a sparse and efficient manner, fostering more directed information processing and less cortical activity during reasoning.
Highlights
Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with higher intelligence are more likely to have larger gray matter volume in brain areas predominantly located in parieto-frontal regions
Contemporary differential psychologists have fully embraced the possibilities of neuroscientific methods, especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques
The most promising technique for the quantification of neurite morphology is a diffusion MRI technique known as neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI)
Summary
Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with higher intelligence are more likely to have larger gray matter volume in brain areas predominantly located in parieto-frontal regions. By combining advanced multi-shell diffusion tensor imaging with a culture-fair matrix-reasoning test, we found that higher intelligence in healthy individuals is related to lower values of dendritic density and arborization These results suggest that the neuronal circuitry associated with higher intelligence is organized in a sparse and efficient manner, fostering more directed information processing and less cortical activity during reasoning. The most promising technique for the quantification of neurite morphology is a diffusion MRI technique known as neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) This technique is based on a multi-shell high-angularresolution diffusion imaging protocol and offers a novel way to analyze diffusion-weighted data with regard to tissue microstructure. This indicates that NODDI metrics are closely reflecting their histological conditions
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