Level Of Fluid Intelligence Research Articles

Seeing in my way or your way: impact of intelligence, attention, and empathy on brain reactivity.

Previous studies showed that neurotypical adults are able to engage in unconscious analyses of others' mental states in the context of automatic perspective taking and experience systematic difficulties when judging the conflicts between their own (Self) and another's (Other) perspective. Several functional MRI (fMRI) studies reported widespread activation of mentalizing, salience, and executive networks when adopting the Other compared to Self perspective. This study aims to explore whether cognitive and emotional parameters impact on brain reactivity in dot perspective task (dPT). We provide here an fMRI analysis based on individual z-scores in eighty-two healthy adults who underwent the Samson's dPT after detailed assessment of fluid intelligence, attention, levels of alexithymia and social cognition abilities. Univariate regression models were used to explore the association between brain activation patterns and psychological variables. There was a strong positive association between Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and fMRI z-scores in Self perspective. When the Other perspective is taken, Continuous Performance Test (CPT)-II parameters were negatively associated with fMRI z-scores. Individuals with higher Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS) score and lower scores in mini-Social cognition and Emotional Assessment (SEA) displayed significantly higher egocentric interference-related fMRI z-scores. Our data demonstrate that brain activation when focusing on our own perspective depends on the levels of fluid intelligence. Decreased attentional recruitment and decreased inhibitory control affects the brain efforts to adopt the Other perspective. Egocentric interference-associated brain fMRI activation was less marked in cases with better empathy abilities but the opposite was true for persons who experience increased difficulties in the recognition of emotions.

Исследование отношения между музыкальной вовлеченностью, интеллектом и успешностью обучения у студентов с разной профессиональной специализацией

We investigated the relationship between music engagement, academic success and intelligence in non-musical students (N = 136). Currently, there is a lack of understanding to the extent in which individual leisure interests and extracurricular engagement influence academic success in different subject areas, as well as the relationship between fluid intelligence and crystallized experience. Clarifying these questions we formed the aim of this study. To diagnose musical engagement and intelligence we used the approved psychometric techniques - Gold-MSI v1.0 “Active engagement” scale, Raven's test, Amthauer's test. We checked the assumptions that musical engagement influences the strength of the correlation between fluid and crystallized intelligence and that the relationship between musical engagement and academic success is determined by the level of fluid intelligence on the one hand, and the degree of homogeneity of the subject areas of engagement on the other. The results of the study showed that musical engagement may play a significant role in predicting the academic performance of non-musicians as well as in the development of crystallized experience. The hypothesis that musical engagement, being a non-relevant behavioral activity in relation to general educational experience and competence, contributes to a decrease in the strength of the link between fluid and crystallized intelligence was confirmed. The other hypothesis was partially confirmed, as it was found that the relationship between musical engagement and academic success is mediated by the fluid intelligence factor, but this mediation is specific to groups with different professional skills. There is a non-linear relationship in the humanities group: the best learning performance is achieved by students with intermediate levels of engagement. In the group of "precise" occupations, the relationship between the variables is linear and negative. The findings are interpreted in terms of modern models of intelligence and subjectoriented knowledge models. The results contribute to improving the quality of prediction of learning success and professional realization, and contribute to elucidating the psychological mechanisms of engagement.

How Many Innovations Need to Be Produced in the Process of Endogenous Growth with Fluid Intelligence

In innovation-based endogenous (Schumpeterian) growth theory, the production of innovations is constrained basically by the finite nature of the labor supply. In this paper, I show that innovations are constrained because (1) the amount of fluid intelligence of researchers in an economy is limited and (2) the returns on investments in technologies and in capital are kept equal through arbitrage in markets. With these constraints, equilibrium values of the number of researchers and their average productivity in an economy exist, and the equilibrium value of average productivity determines the amount of innovation production in each period. Distributions of fluid intelligence among researchers are most likely heterogeneous across economies, but if economies are open to each other, an economy with a smaller number of researchers with a high level of fluid intelligence can grow at the same rate as an economy with more of them.

The Relationship of Fluid Intelligence Level with Higher-order Thinking Skills in Work and Energy among Sixth-grade Students in Jordan

This study aims to investigate the relationship between levels of fluid intelligence and higher-order thinking skills according to Bloom's three levels classification (analysis, evaluation, creation) among sixth grade students in Jordan in the subject of work and energy as one of the science book topics for the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022. For this purpose, a test for higher-order thinking skills was designed on the subject of work and energy, consisting of 17 paragraphs of the type of essay questions and multiple-choice in the 3 areas of higher-order thinking skills (analysis, evaluation, creation). The standard Raven test of fluid intelligence with its 5 levels was also applied to the students. After conducting the statistical analysis, the results of the study revealed: (1) a decrease in the level of higher-order thinking skills to less than the average (analysis, evaluation, and creation, respectively); and (2) a positive correlation between the students' fluid intelligence and their scores in the higher-order thinking skills test. Therefore, the study recommended including activities that take into account fluid intelligence in the curricula to improve students' performance in higher-order thinking skills.

Dissociated brain functional connectivity of fast versus slow frequencies underlying individual differences in fluid intelligence: a DTI and MEG study

Brain network analysis represents a powerful technique to gain insights into the connectivity profile characterizing individuals with different levels of fluid intelligence (Gf). Several studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and slow-oscillatory resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to examine the anatomical and functional aspects of human brain networks that support intelligence. In this study, we expand this line of research by investigating fast-oscillatory functional networks. We performed graph theory analyses on resting-state magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signal, in addition to structural brain networks from DTI data, comparing degree, modularity and segregation coefficient across the brain of individuals with high versus average Gf scores. Our results show that high Gf individuals have stronger degree and lower segregation coefficient than average Gf participants in a significantly higher number of brain areas with regards to structural connectivity and to the slower frequency bands of functional connectivity. The opposite result was observed for higher-frequency (gamma) functional networks, with higher Gf individuals showing lower degree and higher segregation across the brain. We suggest that gamma oscillations in more intelligent individuals might support higher local processing in segregated subnetworks, while slower frequency bands would allow a more effective information transfer between brain subnetworks, and stronger information integration.

Spatio-Temporal Brain Dynamic Differences in Fluid Intelligence.

Human fluid intelligence is closely linked to the sequential solving of complex problems. It has been associated with a distributed cognitive control or multiple-demand (MD) network, comprising regions of lateral frontal, insular, dorsomedial frontal, and parietal cortex. Previous neuroimaging research suggests that the MD network may orchestrate the allocation of attentional resources to individual parts of a complex task: in a complex target detection task with multiple independent rules, applied one at a time, reduced response to rule-critical events across the MD network in lower fluid intelligence was observed. This was in particular the case with increasing task complexity (i.e., larger sets of rules), and was accompanied by impairment in performance. Here, we examined the early spatiotemporal neural dynamics of this process in electroencephalography (EEG) source analyses using a similar task paradigm. Levels of fluid intelligence specifically predicted early neural responses in a left inferiorparietal MD region around 200–300 ms post stimulus onset. Evoked source amplitudes in left parietal cortex within this early time window also correlated with behavioural performance measures. Like in previous research, we observed impaired performance in lower fluid intelligence with increasing number of task rules. This links fluid intelligence to a process of attentional focus on those parts of a task that are most critical for the current behaviour. Within the MD system, our time re-resolved measures suggest that the left parietal cortex specifically impacts on early processes of attentional focus on task critical features. This is novel evidence on the neurocognitive correlates of fluid intelligence suggesting that individual differences are critically linked to an early process of attentional focus on task-relevant information, which is supported by left parietal MD regions.

How to improve the efficiency of our brain?

The efficiency of the brain greatly contributes to a person’s intelligence quotient (IQ), which may ultimately affect one’s social status. Neurophysiological processes and IQ change during a person’s lifetime and depend on a number of factors, including fluid and crystalized intelligence, diet, physical activity and sleep. As described in the literature, the level of fluid intelligence decreases with age. This process can be delayed by implementing mental exercises and physical factors in one’s lifestyle. The SOMECO concept developed in Germany and described in this paper emphasizes the importance of following the most current scientific research in maintaining overall mental health.

The role of intelligence and temperamental traits in predicting reaction times in movement anticipation tasks: a preliminary study using the PAMT Test2Drive computer test.

The objective of the present work was to determine whether fluid intelligence scores and individual temperamental traits may be used to predict drivers' reaction times in movement anticipation tasks. The study encompassed 68 young female drivers (aged 20-26 years), who had received their driver's licenses at least 2 years prior. Anticipatory performance was evaluated using the Perception Anticipation Movement Test (PAMT) consisting of 3 sets of computer tasks differing in the speed of the moving objects. The level of fluid intelligence was determined using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, and the temperamental traits with the Pavlovian Temperament Survey. Intelligence was found to be significantly correlated with reaction time only in the second PAMT task set, for which it was also a good predictor. Findings suggested that a higher level of fluid intelligence in young female drivers was associated with longer reaction times in the movement anticipation task with objects moving at the medium speed level. Temperamental traits did not correlate with reaction times in all movement anticipation tasks, and they did not explain the participants' performance in the PAMT task sets. This study expands the current literature by assessing the relationship between fluid intelligence, temperamental traits and reaction times in movement anticipation tasks with objects moving at different speeds. The outcomes of this study are discussed together with those of previous research. Med Pr. 2020;71(4):421-7.

Domain-general cognitive functions fully explained growth in nonsymbolic magnitude representation but not in symbolic representation in elementary school children.

In this study, we aimed to compare developmental changes in nonsymbolic and symbolic magnitude representations across the elementary school years. For this aim, we used a four-wave longitudinal study with a one-year interval in schoolchildren in grades 1–4 in Russia and Kyrgyzstan (N = 490, mean age was 7.65 years at grade 1). The results of mixed-effects growth models revealed that growth in the precision of symbolic representation was larger than in the nonsymbolic representation. Moreover, growth in nonsymbolic representation was fully explained by growth in fluid intelligence (FI), visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and processing speed (PS). The analysis demonstrated that growth in nonsymbolic magnitude representation was significant only for pupils with a high level of FI and PS, whereas growth in precision of symbolic representation did not significantly vary across pupils with different levels of FI or VSWM.

Birds of a feather work together: The role of emotional intelligence and cognitive ability in workplace interaction and advice networks

The study investigated whether cognitive ability or trait emotional intelligence impacted the formation of task-contingent communication and advice seeking in the workplace. Contrary to the theory driven hypothesis, an employee's level of EI has no impact on their position within both interaction and advice networks. As predicted, those with higher levels of fluid intelligence represented ‘knowledge hubs’ and were sought out more by their colleagues. Those perceived to be capable of solving novel problems quickly and accurately had greater indegree centrality for both interaction and advice networks. Additionally, employees with similar levels of cognitive and emotional intelligence were more likely to have interaction and advice ties. This study suggests that employees do use affective judgements when evaluating the perceived utility of a relationship, but this is primarily influenced by how similar that person is to the evaluator and not the disposition of the evaluated.

Perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects across the adult lifespan

Making sense of the external world is vital for multiple domains of cognition, and so it is crucial that object recognition is maintained across the lifespan. We investigated age differences in perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects in a population-derived sample of 85 healthy adults (24–87 years old) by relating measures of object processing to cognition across the lifespan. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was recorded during a picture naming task to provide a direct measure of neural activity, that is not confounded by age-related vascular changes. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate neural responsivity for each individual, namely the capacity to represent visual or semantic information relating to the pictures. We find that the capacity to represent semantic information is linked to higher naming accuracy, a measure of task-specific performance. In mature adults, the capacity to represent semantic information also correlated with higher levels of fluid intelligence, reflecting domain-general performance. In contrast, the latency of visual processing did not relate to measures of cognition. These results indicate that neural responsivity measures relate to naming accuracy and fluid intelligence. We propose that maintaining neural responsivity in older age confers benefits in task-related and domain-general cognitive processes, supporting the brain maintenance view of healthy cognitive ageing.

Rol de la inteligencia fluida y de la empatía en el prejuicio implícito y explícito en escolares

El presente artículo se basa en una investigación que, desde la mirada de la neurociencia social, se plantea como objetivo establecer el impacto que poseen variables sociocognitivas como la empatía y la inteligencia fluida en la manifestación de prejuicio implícito y explícito de estudiantes con pares inmigrantes, pertenecientes a una comuna de la Región Metropolitana. La investigación utiliza el paradigma IAT, una escala de actitudes hacia la multiculturalidad (EAHMC), el Empathy Index (Bryant, 1982) y la aplicación del WISC IV para conocer los niveles de inteligencia fluida. Los resultados de esta investigación muestran una relación estadísticamente significativa en la modulación tanto de la empatía como de la inteligencia fluida (f= 2,011, f=2,991, f=3,268, P

Perceiving Self, Others, and Events Through a Religious Lens: Mahayana Buddhists vs. Christians.

Are all religions essentially the same? Are believers of different religions heading in the same mental direction? To answer these questions from a sociopsychological perspective, we compared social sensitivity and causal attribution styles between Mahayana Buddhists, who practice unbiased love and compassion toward every being, and Christians, who pursue a union with God. Despite a similar cultural background, sex ratio, age distribution, socioeconomic status, and fluid intelligence level, these two religious groups in Taiwan showed opposite tendencies when inferring the mental states of others – as religiosity increased, the theory of mind ability increased in Mahayana Buddhists but decreased in Christians. Furthermore, these two religious groups showed opposite tendencies of attributional style – as religiosity increased, self-serving bias decreased in Buddhists but increased in Christians. These marked religiosity-dependent, sociopsychological effects suggest that different religions may shape or attract their followers who are moving in quite distinct mental directions.

Delta-gamma coupling as a potential neurophysiological mechanism of fluid intelligence

Electrophysiological investigations have pointed out significant yet weak correlations between intelligence and oscillatory brain activity, including the spectral power, frequency, complexity, synchrony, and coherence of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals, however neglecting the interplay between fast and slow neuronal oscillations underlying information transfer in the brain. We found that fluid intelligence level (gf) depends on the precise synchronization of fast oscillations to a specific time window of slow brain rhythms. Specifically, by examining EEG recordings of 50 people in resting state as well as during performance at two gf tasks we found converging evidence that high-gf participants display stronger Phase-Amplitude Coupling (PAC) related to an increased concentration of gamma (~36Hz) spectral power at the descending phase of delta oscillations (~3Hz). Delta-gamma PAC strength explained 35% variance in scores on multiple gf tests, outperforming six alternative EEG-based predictors including spectral power, complexity and amplitude-amplitude coupling. Present results suggest PAC as a neurophysiological substrate of gf in humans, offering novel insight about the role of slow and fast brain rhytms in high-order cognition, as well as a potential new target for neuromodulatory interventions in the healthy and pathological brain.

Goal neglect, fluid intelligence and processing speed: Manipulating instruction load and inter-stimulus interval

Goal maintenance is the process where task rules and instructions are kept active to exert their control on behavior. When this process fails, an individual may ignore a rule while performing the task, despite being able to describe it after task completion. Previous research has suggested that the goal maintenance system is limited by the number of concurrent rules which can be maintained during a task, and that this limit is dependent on an individual's level of fluid intelligence. However, the speed at which an individual can process information may also limit their ability to use task rules when the task demands them. In the present study, four experiments manipulated the number of instructions to be maintained by younger and older adults and examined whether performance on a rapid letter-monitoring task was predicted by individual differences in fluid intelligence or processing speed. Fluid intelligence played little role in determining how frequently rules were ignored during the task, regardless of the number of rules to be maintained. In contrast, processing speed predicted the rate of goal neglect in older adults, where increasing the presentation rate of the letter-monitoring task increased goal neglect. These findings suggest that goal maintenance may be limited by the speed at which it can operate.

Single Trial EEG Patterns for the Prediction of Individual Differences in Fluid Intelligence.

Assessing a person's intelligence level is required in many situations, such as career counseling and clinical applications. EEG evoked potentials in oddball task and fluid intelligence score are correlated because both reflect the cognitive processing and attention. A system for prediction of an individual's fluid intelligence level using single trial Electroencephalography (EEG) signals has been proposed. For this purpose, we employed 2D and 3D contents and 34 subjects each for 2D and 3D, which were divided into low-ability (LA) and high-ability (HA) groups using Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) test. Using visual oddball cognitive task, neural activity of each group was measured and analyzed over three midline electrodes (Fz, Cz, and Pz). To predict whether an individual belongs to LA or HA group, features were extracted using wavelet decomposition of EEG signals recorded in visual oddball task and support vector machine (SVM) was used as a classifier. Two different types of Haar wavelet transform based features have been extracted from the band (0.3 to 30 Hz) of EEG signals. Statistical wavelet features and wavelet coefficient features from the frequency bands 0.0–1.875 Hz (delta low) and 1.875–3.75 Hz (delta high), resulted in the 100 and 98% prediction accuracies, respectively, both for 2D and 3D contents. The analysis of these frequency bands showed clear difference between LA and HA groups. Further, discriminative values of the features have been validated using statistical significance tests and inter-class and intra-class variation analysis. Also, statistical test showed that there was no effect of 2D and 3D content on the assessment of fluid intelligence level. Comparisons with state-of-the-art techniques showed the superiority of the proposed system.

Is there a creative functional paradoxical facilitation in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy?

In patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), a specific personality profile suggestive of frontal lobe dysfunctions has been described. From a neurobiological point of view, the frontal lobe seems to be crucial for creative processes, although the exact role remains unclear. The theory of creative paradoxical functional facilitation (PFF) assumes that disinhibited frontal lobe function can enhance creative abilities. The aim of the current study was to explore our hypothesis that JME is associated with higher artistic creativity based on the theory of PFF. We assessed 25 patients with JME aged 18 to 40years in regard to neuropsychological creativity testing. Results were compared with those of 25 age-, sex-, and level of education-matched healthy control subjects (HC) and patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Creative abilities were assessed using two validated and standardized tests: 1) nonverbal: the incomplete figure task of Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and 2) verbal: verbal creativity test. Additionally, a basic assessment of fluid intelligence (test for problem solving) and frontal lobe function (trail-making test) was administered to all participants. Verbal creativity was impaired in both groups with epilepsy compared with that in HC (specific score: JME vs. HC, p=0.008; TLE vs. HC, p=0.003). In regard to nonverbal creative abilities, both groups with epilepsy exhibited fair performance. Level of fluid intelligence was even in all groups (p=0.433). Only patients with JME showed deficits in the frontal lobe test of psychomotor speed (time in seconds: 67.7 JME vs. 54.6 TLE vs. 52.8 HC; p=0.045). Overall, our study did not reveal increased creativity in JME. The current findings provide insights into creative abilities in two different epilepsy syndromes. Knowledge on specific neuropsychological strengths or deficits in patients with epilepsy may be useful for treatment or counseling.

Functional connectome fingerprinting: identifying individuals using patterns of brain connectivity.

While fMRI studies typically collapse data from many subjects, brain functional organization varies between individuals. Here, we establish that this individual variability is both robust and reliable, using data from the Human Connectome Project to demonstrate that functional connectivity profiles act as a “fingerprint” that can accurately identify subjects from a large group. Identification was successful across scan sessions and even between task and rest conditions, indicating that an individual’s connectivity profile is intrinsic, and can be used to distinguish that individual regardless of how the brain is engaged during imaging. Characteristic connectivity patterns were distributed throughout the brain, but notably, the frontoparietal network emerged as most distinctive. Furthermore, we show that connectivity profiles predict levels of fluid intelligence; the same networks that were most discriminating of individuals were also most predictive of cognitive behavior. Results indicate the potential to draw inferences about single subjects based on functional connectivity fMRI.

Cognition and classroom quality as predictors of math achievement in the kindergarten year

Using a sample of 171 children, we examined classroom quality as a potential moderator of the link between three distinct but related aspects of cognition (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and executive functioning) and math achievement across the kindergarten year. Multilevel modeling analyses were conducted to account for nesting of students within classrooms. Results revealed significant aptitude by treatment interactions for fluid and crystallized intelligence, suggesting that classroom practices may affect children differently depending on their abilities. Children with higher levels of fluid intelligence and of crystallized intelligence fared better in higher quality classrooms. Results also provide some support for Cattell's investment hypothesis. Implications of the results are discussed.

Development of executive functioning in school-age Tunisian children

Research regarding executive functioning (EF) in children rarely focuses on populations in African or Middle-Eastern Arabic-speaking countries. The current study used a cross-sectional design to examine the developmental trajectories of school-age Tunisian children in three domains of executive control (inhibition of prepotent responses, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) as well as their mutual interactions and the effects of gender and parents’ education level. Inhibitory processes, cognitive flexibility, and working memory were assessed using the Stroop test, a version of the Hayling test adapted for children, simple and alternating tasks of verbal fluency, and verbal and visuospatial span tasks (forward and backward spans). The study population included 120 7- to 12-year-old Tunisian children (60 girls, 60 boys) who were grouped and matched for age, gender, and parents’ education level. The results revealed an overall effect of age on executive performance, whereas gender and parents’ education level showed non-significant effects. In addition, executive indices were significantly associated with fluid intelligence level. Partial correlation analyses (controlled for age) found significant links between indices that assessed the same executive process, except for inhibitory processes; the temporal indices for inhibitory processes showed relative independence. The correlations between indices that assessed distinct executive processes were weaker (but significant). Overall, the results suggest that executive components in school-age Tunisian children operate according to relatively homogeneous developmental trajectories, marked by peaks of maturity that differ according to the assessed index. A transcultural approach to EF is discussed in terms of the unity and diversity of its components.