Is bigger always better? The importance of cortical configuration with respect to cognitive ability.

ABSTRACT: General cognitive ability (GCA) has substantial explanatory power for behavioral and health outcomes, but its cortical substrate is still not fully established. GCA is highly polygenic and research to date strongly suggests that its cortical substrate is highly polyregional. We show in map-based and region-of-interest-based analyses of adult twins that a complex cortical configuration underlies GCA. Having relatively greater surface area in evolutionary and developmentally high-expanded prefrontal, lateral temporal, and inferior parietal regions is positively correlated with GCA, whereas relatively greater surface area in low-expanded occipital, medial temporal, and motor cortices is negatively correlated with GCA. Essentially the opposite pattern holds for relative cortical thickness. The

SUBMITTER: Vuoksimaa E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4838639 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature