Abstract
Fluid intelligence is the ability to think flexibly and to understand abstract relations. People with high fluid intelligence (hi-fluIQ) perform better in analogical reasoning tasks than people with average fluid intelligence (ave-fluIQ). Although previous neuroimaging studies reported involvement of parietal and frontal brain regions in geometric analogical reasoning (which is a prototypical task for fluid intelligence), however, neuroimaging findings on geometric analogical reasoning in hi-fluIQ are sparse. Furthermore, evidence on the relation between brain activation and intelligence while solving cognitive tasks is contradictory. The present study was designed to elucidate the cerebral correlates of geometric analogical reasoning in a sample of hi-fluIQ and ave-fluIQ high school students. We employed a geometric analogical reasoning task with graded levels of task difficulty and confirmed the involvement of the parieto-frontal network in solving this task. In addition to characterizing the brain regions involved in geometric analogical reasoning in hi-fluIQ and ave-fluIQ, we found that blood oxygenation level dependency (BOLD) signal changes were greater for hi-fluIQ than for ave-fluIQ in parietal brain regions. However, ave-fluIQ showed greater BOLD signal changes in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial frontal gyrus than hi-fluIQ. Thus, we showed that a similar network of brain regions is involved in geometric analogical reasoning in both groups. Interestingly, the relation between brain activation and intelligence is not mono-directional, but rather, it is specific for each brain region. The negative brain activation–intelligence relationship in frontal brain regions in hi-fluIQ goes along with a better behavioral performance and reflects a lower demand for executive monitoring compared to ave-fluIQ individuals. In conclusion, our data indicate that flexibly modulating the extent of regional cerebral activity is characteristic for fluid intelligence.
Highlights
Mathematics comprises various areas such as arithmetic, algebra, analysis, set theory, geometry, and probability, just to name a few
In addition to characterizing the brain regions involved in geometric analogical reasoning in hi-fluIQ and ave-fluIQ, we found that blood oxygenation level dependency (BOLD) signal changes were greater for hi-fluIQ than for ave-fluIQ in parietal brain regions
This analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a main effect of task difficulty (F(4, 38) = 110.2, p < 0.001)
Summary
Mathematics comprises various areas such as arithmetic, algebra, analysis, set theory, geometry, and probability, just to name a few. The content and demands of these areas differ, they all require the understanding of relations and the ability to mentally manipulate symbols or structure relations These abilities are referred to as fluid intelligence (Cattell, 1963, 1987; Horn and Cattell, 1966). There has been a promising number of studies investigating the cerebral correlates of number representation, number competences (Dehaene et al, 2003; Feigenson et al, 2004; Nieder and Dehaene, 2009), and arithmetic (Rickard et al, 2000; Zago et al, 2001; Ischebeck et al, 2006; Grabner et al, 2009; Landgraf et al, 2010; Santens et al, 2010) Those studies have examined fundamental areas of mathematics and have not gone beyond arithmetic or basic algebra. To understand the mechanisms underlying higher-order mathematical cognition, further research approaches are needed
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