Presentation by Aleah Rodrigo

Intelligence
and
Neuroscience
CTU- Main Campus Cognitive Psych 2022
Intelligence and Neuroscience

Background
The human brain serves as the fundamental foundation for
human intelligence. Despite great efforts to find biological
indices of intelligence and other aspects of mental processes
in the brain, all resulted in failure. As tools for brain research
have improved, we may be able to see physiological indicators
of intelligence. However, broadly applicable indices will take
longer to develop. The biological research we now have is
primarily correlational in nature. They do not establish causal
relations.

CTU-MC | Cognitive Psych | 2022

Intelligence and Neuroscience

Intelligence and

Brain Size
A research revealed that there is a statistically small but
substantial correlation between brain size and intelligence in
humans.
The amount of gray matter in the brain is strongly correlated
with IQ in many areas of the frontal and temporal lobes.
However, it appears that the brain regions associated with IQ
men and women are different. The study revealed that:
Frontal areas are of relatively more importance in women.
Posterior areas are of relatively more importance in men.
The finding opens the question of whether there are two
different brain architectures in men versus women that both
produce nearly equal levels of intelligence.
 Intelligence and Neuroscience

Intelligence and

Neurons
Some appealing possibilities are presented by the advancement of electrical recording and
imaging technology.
For instance, complex patterns of electrical activity in the brain, which are induced by
particular stimuli seem to be correlated with IQ test results.
A follow-up investigation was unable to establish a significant connection between neural-
conduction-velocity and intelligence.
In this follow-up study, they used the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery to measure
intelligence. It was revealed that neural-conduction velocity was a much more effective and
powerful predictor of IQ scores for men than women. The results of this study were
inconsistent because of the differences in gender in the data.

CTU-MC Cognitive Psych 2022

 Intelligence and Brain

Metabolism
A study suggests that higher intelligence correlates with
reduced levels of glucose metabolism during problem-
01 solving tasks. That is, smarter brains consume less
sugar and therefore expend less effort than less smart
brains doing the same task.

Contrary to the earlier findings, another study suggests

that smarter participants had increased glucose
02 metabolism relative to their average comparison group.
They found that glucose metabolism was highest in the
right hemisphere of the more intelligent prticipants,
which results in selectivity in brain areas.

Cognitive Psychology | Intelligence and Neuroscience

 Biological Bases of

Intelligence Testing
Some neuropsychological research suggests that performance on intelligence
tests may not indicate a crucial aspect of intelligence—the ability to set goals,
to plan how to meet them, and to execute those plans.
Frontal lobes are involved in reasoning, decision making, and problem
solving. This is why patients with frontal lobe damage only perform well in
standardized IQ tests, but not in those that require goal setting or planning.
Other research highlights the importance of the parietal regions for
performance on general and fluid intelligence tasks.
Fluid intelligence - ability to think abstractly, reason quickly and problem
solve independent of any previously acquired knowledge.
The P-FIT Theory

of Intelligence
Parietal-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) stresses the
importance of interconnected brain regions in

01 determining differences in intelligence. The regions this

theory focuses on are the prefrontal cortex, the inferior
and superior parietal lobe, the anterior cingulated
cortex, and portions of the temporal and occipital lobes

02
This theory describes patterns of brain activity in
people with different levels of intelligence, but it cannot
explain what makes a person intelligent or what
intelligence is.

CTU-MC | CogPsych | 2022

Thank you!