The brain that understands different cultures: MRI-measured brain structure correlates with cultural intelligence

In today's world of increasing globalization, the importance of cultural intelligence (CQ), a necessary capability for cross-cultural adaptation, is becoming more and more recognized. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between brain structure measured by gray matter volume (GMV) and CQ. Using data from 310 healthy men and women collected in Japan, we investigated whole-brain and regional GMV and Metacognitive, Motivational, and Behavioral CQ. As a result, significant positive correlations surviving multiple comparisons were found between whole-brain, frontal, limbic, occipital, and parietal GMV and Behavioral CQ, and between subcortical GMV and Motivational CQ. Subsequent exploratory analyses found significant correlations surviving multiple comparisons between the left angular gyrus and Behavioral CQ, and also suggested relationships between other regions, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, calcarine sulcus, caudate nucleus, and Rolandic operculum, and Behavioral CQ or Motivational CQ. This is the first study to clarify the relationship between cultural intelligence and brain structure.