TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluid intelligence is supported by the multipledemand system not the language system
AU - Woolgar, Alexandra
AU - Duncan, John
AU - Manes, Facundo
AU - Fedorenko, Evelina
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - A set of frontoparietal brain regions—the multiple-demand (MD) system1,2—has been linked to fluid intelligence in brain imaging3,4 and in studies of patients with brain damage5–7. For example, the amount of damage to frontal or parietal, but not temporal, cortices predicts fluid intelligence deficit5. However, frontal and parietal lobes are structurally8 and functionally9,10 heterogeneous. They contain domain-general regions that respond across diverse tasks11,12, but also specialized regions that respond selectively during language processing13. Since language may be critical for complex thought14–24 (compare with refs 25,26), intelligence loss following damage to the frontoparietal cortex could have important contributions from damage to language-selective regions. To evaluate the relative contributions of MD versus language-selective regions, we employed large functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets to construct probabilistic maps of the two systems. We used these maps to weigh the volume of lesion (in each of 80 patients) falling within each system. MD-weighted, but not language-weighted, lesion volumes predicted fluid intelligence deficit (with the opposite pattern observed for verbal fluency), indicating that fluid intelligence is specifically tied to the MD system, and undermining claims that language is at the core of complex thought.
AB - A set of frontoparietal brain regions—the multiple-demand (MD) system1,2—has been linked to fluid intelligence in brain imaging3,4 and in studies of patients with brain damage5–7. For example, the amount of damage to frontal or parietal, but not temporal, cortices predicts fluid intelligence deficit5. However, frontal and parietal lobes are structurally8 and functionally9,10 heterogeneous. They contain domain-general regions that respond across diverse tasks11,12, but also specialized regions that respond selectively during language processing13. Since language may be critical for complex thought14–24 (compare with refs 25,26), intelligence loss following damage to the frontoparietal cortex could have important contributions from damage to language-selective regions. To evaluate the relative contributions of MD versus language-selective regions, we employed large functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets to construct probabilistic maps of the two systems. We used these maps to weigh the volume of lesion (in each of 80 patients) falling within each system. MD-weighted, but not language-weighted, lesion volumes predicted fluid intelligence deficit (with the opposite pattern observed for verbal fluency), indicating that fluid intelligence is specifically tied to the MD system, and undermining claims that language is at the core of complex thought.
KW - human behaviour
KW - intelligence
KW - language
KW - problem solving
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE120100898
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT170100105
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP12102835
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042625120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-017-0282-3
DO - 10.1038/s41562-017-0282-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 31620646
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 2
SP - 200
EP - 204
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 3
ER -