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Biological Influences on Intelligence01:30

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Intelligence is often thought to be linked to brain size, but the relationship is more complex than that. While brain size does correlate modestly with some abilities, like verbal skills, the connection is weaker for others, such as spatial reasoning. Other factors, like brain structure, also play crucial roles. For instance, despite Einstein's smaller-than-average brain, his parietal cortex, which is involved in spatial reasoning, was 15% wider, suggesting that neural density might matter...
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How to Measure Cortical Folding from MR Images: a Step-by-Step Tutorial to Compute Local Gyrification Index
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Cortical Surfaces Mediate the Relationship Between Polygenic Scores for Intelligence and General Intelligence.

Tristram A Lett1,2, Bob O Vogel1, Stephan Ripke1,3,4

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Genetic variants influence general intelligence (g-factor) through brain structure. Polygenic scores for intelligence partially mediate g-factor via cortical thickness and surface area, suggesting cortex morphology as a biomarker for neurocognitive dysfunction.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Neurogenetics
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Brain Imaging

Background:

  • Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous genetic loci linked to general intelligence.
  • The impact of these cumulative genetic influences on brain structure remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether cortical morphology mediates the relationship between polygenic scores for intelligence (PSi) and g-factor.
  • To explore the role of cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) in this mediation.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated PSi using effect sizes from a large GWAS meta-analysis on general intelligence across 10 P value thresholds.
  • Assessed associations between PSi, g-factor performance, CT, and SA in two independent imaging-genetics samples (IMAGEN and IntegraMooDS).

Main Results:

  • PSi explained significant variance in g-factor (up to 5.1% in IMAGEN, 3.0% in IntegraMooDS).
  • Cortical surface area and thickness in prefrontal, anterior cingulate, insula, and medial temporal cortices partially mediated the association between PSi and g-factor.
  • Mediation explained up to 0.75% (IMAGEN) and 0.77% (IntegraMooDS) of the variance.

Conclusions:

  • Cumulative genetic load associated with intelligence influences g-factor through its effects on cortical structure.
  • Consistent findings across samples suggest cortex morphology may serve as a potential biomarker for neurocognitive dysfunction.