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Utilizing Electroencephalography Measurements for Comparison of Task-Specific Neural Efficiencies: Spatial Intelligence Tasks
Published on: August 9, 2016
The neuroscience of human intelligence differences
Ian J Deary1, Lars Penke, Wendy Johnson
1Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. i.deary@ed.ac.uk
Abstract:
Neuroscience is contributing to an understanding of the biological bases of human intelligence differences. This work is principally being conducted along two empirical fronts: genetics--quantitative and molecular--and brain imaging. Quantitative genetic studies have established that there are additive genetic contributions to different aspects of cognitive ability--especially general intelligence--and how they change through the lifespan. Molecular genetic studies have yet to identify reliably reproducible contributions from individual genes. Structural and functional brain-imaging studies have identified differences in brain pathways, especially parieto-frontal pathways, that contribute to intelligence differences. There is also evidence that brain efficiency correlates positively with intelligence.
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