Reversed Hierarchy in the Brain for General and Specific Cognitive Abilities: A Morphometric Analysis

Intelligence is composed of a set of cognitive abilities hierarchically organized. General and specific abilities capture distinguishable, but related, facets of the intelligence construct. Here, we analyze gray matter with three morphometric indices (volume, cortical surface area, and cortical thic...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Román González, Francisco Javier, Abad García, Francisco José, Escorial, Sergio, Burgaleta Díaz, Miguel, Martínez Rodríguez, Kenia, Álvarez Linera, Juan, Quiroga Estévez, Mª Ángeles, Karama, Sherif, Haier, Richard J., Colom Marañón, Roberto
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/750240
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/10486/750240
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22438
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Intelligence
Voxel-based Morphometry (VBM)
Surface-based morphometry
Cortical surface area
Cortical thickness
Psicología
Descrição
Resumo:Intelligence is composed of a set of cognitive abilities hierarchically organized. General and specific abilities capture distinguishable, but related, facets of the intelligence construct. Here, we analyze gray matter with three morphometric indices (volume, cortical surface area, and cortical thickness) at three levels of the intelligence hierarchy (tests, first-order factors, and a higher-order general factor, g). A group of one hundred and four healthy young adults completed a cognitive battery and underwent high-resolution structural MRI. Latent scores were computed for the intelligence factors and tests were also analyzed. The key finding reveals substantial variability in gray matter correlates at the test level, which is substantially reduced for the first-order and the higher-order factors. This supports a reversed hierarchy in the brain with respect to cognitive abilities at different psychometric levels: the greater the generality, the smaller the number of relevant gray matter clusters accounting for individual differences in intelligent performance