Comparing the reliability and predictive power of child, teacher, and guardian reports of noncognitive skills.

Children's noncognitive or socioemotional skills (e.g., persistence and self-control) are typically measured using surveys in which either children rate their own skills or adults rate the skills of children. For many purposes-including program evaluation and monitoring school systems-ratings are often collected from multiple perspectives about a single child (e.g., from both the child and an adult). Collecting data from multiple perspectives is costly, and there is limited evidence on the benefits of this approach. Using a longitudinal survey, this study compares children's noncognitive skills as reported by themselves, their guardians, and their teachers. Although reports from all three types of respondents are correlated with each other, teacher reports have the highest internal consistency and are the most predictive of children's later cognitive outcomes and behavior in school. The teacher reports add predictive power beyond baseline measures of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) for most outcomes in schools. Measures collected from children and guardians add minimal predictive power beyond the teacher reports.

Neural Contributions to Reduced Fluid Intelligence across the Adult Lifespan.

Fluid intelligence, the ability to solve novel, complex problems, declines steeply during healthy human aging. Using fMRI, fluid intelligence has been repeatedly associated with activation of a frontoparietal brain network, and impairment following focal damage to these regions suggests that fluid intelligence depends on their integrity. It is therefore possible that age-related functional differences in frontoparietal activity contribute to the reduction in fluid intelligence. This paper reports on analysis of the Cambridge Center for Ageing and Neuroscience data, a large, population-based cohort of healthy males and females across the adult lifespan. The data support a model in which age-related differences in fluid intelligence are partially mediated by the responsiveness of frontoparietal regions to novel problem-solving. We first replicate a prior finding of such mediation using an independent sample. We then precisely localize the mediating brain regions, and show that mediation is specifically associated with voxels most activated by cognitive demand, but not with voxels suppressed by cognitive demand. We quantify the robustness of this result to potential unmodeled confounders, and estimate the causal direction of the effects. Finally, exploratory analyses suggest that neural mediation of age-related differences in fluid intelligence is moderated by the variety of regular physical activities, more reliably than by their frequency or duration. An additional moderating role of the variety of nonphysical activities emerged when controlling for head motion. A better understanding of the mechanisms that link healthy aging with lower fluid intelligence may suggest strategies for mitigating such decline.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Global populations are living longer, driving urgency to understand age-related cognitive declines. Fluid intelligence is of prime importance because it reflects performance across many domains, and declines especially steeply during healthy aging. Despite consensus that fluid intelligence is associated with particular frontoparietal brain regions, little research has investigated suggestions that under-responsiveness of these regions mediates age-related decline. We replicate a recent demonstration of such mediation, showing specific association with brain regions most activated by cognitive demand, and robustness to moderate confounding by unmodeled variables. By showing that this mediation model is moderated by the variety of regular physical activities, more reliably than by their frequency or duration, we identify a potential modifiable lifestyle factor that may help promote successful aging.

Neuromodulatory effects of parietal high-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation on network-level activity serving fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence (Gf) involves rational thinking skills and requires the integration of information from different cortical regions to resolve novel complex problems. The effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on Gf have been studied in attempts to improve Gf, but such studies are rare and the few existing have reached conflicting conclusions. The parieto-frontal integration theory of intelligence (P-FIT) postulates that the parietal and frontal lobes play a critical role in Gf. To investigate the suggested role of parietal cortices, we applied high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to the left and right parietal cortices of 39 healthy adults (age 19-33 years) for 20 min in three separate sessions (left active, right active and sham). After completing the stimulation session, the participants completed a logical reasoning task based on Raven's Progressive Matrices during magnetoencephalography. Significant neural responses at the sensor level across all stimulation conditions were imaged using a beamformer. Whole-brain, spectrally constrained functional connectivity was then computed to examine the network-level activity. Behaviourally, we found that participants were significantly more accurate following left compared to right parietal stimulation. Regarding neural findings, we found significant HD-tDCS montage-related effects in brain networks thought to be critical for P-FIT, including parieto-occipital, fronto-occipital, fronto-parietal and occipito-cerebellar connectivity during task performance. In conclusion, our findings showed that left parietal stimulation improved abstract reasoning abilities relative to right parietal stimulation and support both P-FIT and the neural efficiency hypothesis. KEY POINTS: Abstract reasoning is a critical component of fluid intelligence and is known to be served by multispectral oscillatory activity in the fronto-parietal cortices. Recent studies have aimed to improve abstract reasoning abilities and fluid intelligence overall through behavioural training, but the results have been mixed. High-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation (HD-tDCS) applied to the parietal cortices modulated task performance and neural oscillations during abstract reasoning. Left parietal stimulation resulted in increased accuracy and decreased functional connectivity between occipital regions and frontal, parietal, and cerebellar regions. Future studies should investigate whether HD-tDCS alters abstract reasoning abilities in those who exhibit declines in performance, such as healthy ageing populations.

Healthy aging alters the oscillatory dynamics and fronto-parietal connectivity serving fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence (Gf) involves logical reasoning and novel problem-solving abilities. Often, abstract reasoning tasks like Raven's progressive matrices are used to assess Gf. Prior work has shown an age-related decline in fluid intelligence capabilities, and although many studies have sought to identify the underlying mechanisms, our understanding of the critical brain regions and dynamics remains largely incomplete. In this study, we utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate 78 individuals, ages 20-65 years, as they completed an abstract reasoning task. MEG data was co-registered with structural MRI data, transformed into the time-frequency domain, and the resulting neural oscillations were imaged using a beamformer. We found worsening behavioral performance with age, including prolonged reaction times and reduced accuracy. MEG analyses indicated robust oscillations in the theta, alpha/beta, and gamma range during the task. Whole brain correlation analyses with age revealed relationships in the theta and alpha/beta frequency bands, such that theta oscillations became stronger with increasing age in a right prefrontal region and alpha/beta oscillations became stronger with increasing age in parietal and right motor cortices. Follow-up connectivity analyses revealed increasing parieto-frontal connectivity with increasing age in the alpha/beta frequency range. Importantly, our findings are consistent with the parieto-frontal integration theory of intelligence (P-FIT). These results further suggest that as people age, there may be alterations in neural responses that are spectrally specific, such that older people exhibit stronger alpha/beta oscillations across the parieto-frontal network during abstract reasoning tasks.

Is intelligence of preterm children different from full-term children? Commentary on Rapuc et al. (2023).

Rapuc et al. (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2023) found that Full-Scale IQ of preterm children is significantly lower than full-term children. Also, although the structure of intelligence appeared to involve the same clusters of cognitive ability, relations between abilities were stronger in preterm children, implying that abilities are more differentiated in full-term than in preterm children. This commentary examined if these findings hold when different modelling methods are used. Instead of the network analysis used in the target article (Rapuc et al., 2023), I used confirmatory factor analysis and special forms of structural equation modelling designed to capture interactions between processes and their differentiation from general cognitive ability. I found, in line with the target article, that premature children scored lower overall in cognitive ability, and that cognitive processes are more strongly related in preterm than in full-term children. However, in contrast to the target article, specific abilities tended to differentiate with increasing general ability in preterm rather than in full-term children. In full-term children, increases in specific abilities were commensurate with increases in general ability. These differences may reflect slower development in preterm children and stronger dependence on executive processes dominating in preschool. Clinical implications are discussed.

The effects of musical instrument training on fluid intelligence and executive functions in healthy older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Intervention studiescombiningcognitive and motor demands have reported far-transfer cognitive benefits in healthy ageing. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effects of music and rhythm intervention on cognition in older adulthood. Inclusion criteria specified: 1) musical instrument training; 2) healthy, musically-naïve adults (≥60 years); 3) control group; 4) measure of executive function. Ovid, PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Library online databases were searched in August 2023. Data from thirteen studies were analysed (N = 502 participants). Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB 2; Sterne et al., 2019). Random effects models revealed: a low effect on inhibition (d = 0.27,p = .0335); a low-moderate effect on switching (d = -0.39, p = .0021); a low-moderate effect on verbal category switching (d =0.39,p = .0166); and a moderate effect on processing speed (d = 0.47,p < .0001). No effect was found for selective visual attention, working memory, or verbal memory. With regards to overall bias, three studies were rated as "high", nine studies were rated as having "some concerns" and one was rated "low". The meta-analysis suggests that learning to play a musical instrument enhances attention inhibition, switching and processing speed in ageing.

Cognitive performance is linked to group size and affects fitness in Australian magpies.

The social intelligence hypothesis states that the demands of social life drive cognitive evolution. This idea receives support from comparative studies that link variation in group size or mating systems with cognitive and neuroanatomical differences across species, but findings are contradictory and contentious. To understand the cognitive consequences of sociality, it is also important to investigate social variation within species. Here we show that in wild, cooperatively breeding Australian magpies, individuals that live in large groups show increased cognitive performance, which is linked to increased reproductive success. Individual performance was highly correlated across four cognitive tasks, indicating a 'general intelligence factor' that underlies cognitive performance. Repeated cognitive testing of juveniles at different ages showed that the correlation between group size and cognition emerged in early life, suggesting that living in larger groups promotes cognitive development. Furthermore, we found a positive association between the task performance of females and three indicators of reproductive success, thus identifying a selective benefit of greater cognitive performance. Together, these results provide intraspecific evidence that sociality can shape cognitive development and evolution.

Anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation and non-verbal intelligence in autism spectrum disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

AIM: To understand the impact of anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) on non-verbal intelligence in high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHOD: Thirty individuals with ASD were randomly divided into three groups receiving 2 mA, 20 minutes daily anodal tDCS for 10 sessions. Group A received 10 sham tDCS sessions, group B five real followed by five sham sessions, and group C received 10 real tDCS sessions. The total score of non-verbal intelligence was measured using the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, Fourth Edition. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) was targeted using the International 10-20 electroencephalography system, and concurrent cognitive training was avoided. RESULTS: Group C demonstrated a mean difference of 4.10 (95% confidence interval 1.41-6.79; p = 0.005) in Test of Nonverbal Intelligence scores compared with group A, with an effect size of 0.47. No significant differences were observed between groups A and B (p = 0.296), or between groups B and C (p = 0.140). INTERPRETATION: Ten sessions of anodal tDCS to the LDLPFC led to improved non-verbal intelligence among individuals with ASD. These results emphasize the potential of tDCS as a discrete method for boosting cognitive abilities in the high-functioning population with ASD. Future studies with larger groups of participants and extended observation periods are necessary to validate these findings.

Balancing accuracy and speed in the development of inhibitory control.

Inhibitory control develops rapidly and nonlinearly, making its accurate assessment challenging. This research investigated the developmental dynamics of accuracy and response latency in inhibitory control assessment of 3- to 6-year-old children in a longitudinal study (N = 431; 212 girls; Mage = 4.86 years, SD = 0.99) and a cross-sectional study (N = 135; 71 girls; Mage = 4.24 years, SD = 0.61). We employed a computerized Stroop task to measure inhibitory control, with fluid intelligence serving as a covariate. A growth curve analysis revealed that children who reached an accuracy threshold of 80% earlier demonstrated faster improvements in response latency. Both the cross-sectional and longitudinal findings demonstrated a positive association between response latency in the inhibitory control task and fluid intelligence, but only when participants had achieved and maintained high accuracy. These results suggest that researchers should consider response latency as an indicator of inhibitory control only in children who manage to respond accurately in an inhibitory control task.

The factorial structure of executive functions in preschool and elementary school children and relations with intelligence.

The timing of structural changes in executive functions (EFs) across development is a matter of controversy; whereas some studies suggest a uniform structure of EFs in early childhood, findings in middle and late childhood are mixed. There are results indicating uniformity of EFs as well as several studies suggesting multidimensionality of the construct. In addition, studies demonstrate an age-related differentiation of the relation between EFs and intelligence. We conducted a comparative analysis of the EF structure and relations with fluid intelligence in two distinct age groups. A sample of n = 145 preschool children (5.2-6.7 years of age) and n = 109 elementary school children (8.8-11.8 years) completed measures of working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and fluid intelligence. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that a single-factor model best represented performance on EF tasks in both preschool and elementary school children. Multi-group CFA indicated equivalent and strong relations between EFs and intelligence across both age groups (r = .64 in preschool and elementary school children). Our results confirm that EFs are significantly related to fluid intelligence but might not underlie a uniform pattern of successive differentiation into multiple EF components in childhood. We discuss how methodological artifacts such as simultaneous interference might have contributed to previous findings on differentiation in middle and late childhood.

Investigating low intelligence stereotype threat in adults with developmental dyslexia.

Stereotype threat (ST) is a phenomenon that leads to decreased test performance and occurs when one deals with added pressure of being judged on the basis of stereotyped group membership. The ST effect has been previously investigated in many contexts but not in individuals with dyslexia who are often stereotyped as less intelligent. Prevalent use of intelligence tests in job selection processes and employment gap between people with dyslexia and those without warrants this investigation. Sixty-three participants (30 with dyslexia and 33 without dyslexia; mean age = 33.7; SD = 13.7; 47 F, 13 M, three non-binary) were asked to complete intelligence test typically used in selection processes. All participants were randomly assigned to one of three test instruction conditions: (1) they were told the test was diagnostic of their intelligence (ST triggering instruction); (2) test was a measure of their problem-solving skills (reduced threat); (3) or they were simply asked to take the test (control). Results showed that participants with dyslexia in ST condition performed poorer than those in other conditions and those in the same condition who did not have dyslexia. This study provides preliminary evidence for diminishing effects of ST in individuals with dyslexia.

Quantifying collective intelligence in human groups.

Collective intelligence (CI) is critical to solving many scientific, business, and other problems, but groups often fail to achieve it. Here, we analyze data on group performance from 22 studies, including 5,279 individuals in 1,356 groups. Our results support the conclusion that a robust CI factor characterizes a group's ability to work together across a diverse set of tasks. We further show that CI is predicted by the proportion of women in the group, mediated by average social perceptiveness of group members, and that it predicts performance on various out-of-sample criterion tasks. We also find that, overall, group collaboration process is more important in predicting CI than the skill of individual members.

Fluid intelligence and the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system.

The last decade has seen significant progress identifying genetic and brain differences related to intelligence. However, there remain considerable gaps in our understanding of how cognitive mechanisms that underpin intelligence map onto various brain functions. In this article, we argue that the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system is essential for understanding the biological basis of intelligence. We review evidence suggesting that the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system plays a central role at all levels of brain function, from metabolic processes to the organization of large-scale brain networks. We connect this evidence with our executive attention view of working-memory capacity and fluid intelligence and present analyses on baseline pupil size, an indicator of locus coeruleus activity. Using a latent variable approach, our analyses showed that a common executive attention factor predicted baseline pupil size. Additionally, the executive attention function of disengagement--not maintenance--uniquely predicted baseline pupil size. These findings suggest that the ability to control attention may be important for understanding how cognitive mechanisms of fluid intelligence map onto the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system. We discuss how further research is needed to better understand the relationships between fluid intelligence, the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system, and functionally organized brain networks.

Childhood self-control forecasts the pace of midlife aging and preparedness for old age.

The ability to control one's own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in early life predicts a range of positive outcomes in later life, including longevity. Does it also predict how well people age? We studied the association between self-control and midlife aging in a population-representative cohort of children followed from birth to age 45 y, the Dunedin Study. We measured children's self-control across their first decade of life using a multi-occasion/multi-informant strategy. We measured their pace of aging and aging preparedness in midlife using measures derived from biological and physiological assessments, structural brain-imaging scans, observer ratings, self-reports, informant reports, and administrative records. As adults, children with better self-control aged more slowly in their bodies and showed fewer signs of aging in their brains. By midlife, these children were also better equipped to manage a range of later-life health, financial, and social demands. Associations with children's self-control could be separated from their social class origins and intelligence, indicating that self-control might be an active ingredient in healthy aging. Children also shifted naturally in their level of self-control across adult life, suggesting the possibility that self-control may be a malleable target for intervention. Furthermore, individuals' self-control in adulthood was associated with their aging outcomes after accounting for their self-control in childhood, indicating that midlife might offer another window of opportunity to promote healthy aging.

Impacts of decision support systems on cognition and performance for intelligence-gathering path planning.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are tools designed to help operators make effective choices in workplace environments where discernment and critical thinking are required for effective performance. Path planning in military operations and general logistics both require individuals to make complex and time-sensitive decisions. However, these decisions can be complex and involve the synthesis of numerous tradeoffs for various paths with dynamically changing conditions. Intelligence collection can vary in difficulty, specifically in terms of the disparity between locations of interest and timing restrictions for when and how information can be collected. Furthermore, plans may need to be changed adaptively mid-operation, as new collection requirements appear, increasing task difficulty. We tested participants in a path planning decision-making exercise with scenarios of varying difficulty in a series of two experiments. In the first experiment, each map displayed two paths simultaneously, relating to two possible routes for the two available trucks. Participants selected the optimal path plan, representing the best solution across multiple routes. In the second experiment, each map displayed a single path, and participants selected the best two paths sequentially. In the first experiment, utilizing the DSS was predictive of adoption of more heuristic decision strategies, and that strategic approach yielded more optimal route selection. In the second experiment, there was a direct effect of the DSS on increased decision performance and a decrease in perceived task workload.

Elevated CRP and TNF-α levels are associated with blunted neural oscillations serving fluid intelligence.

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory processes help protect the body from potential threats such as bacterial or viral invasions. However, when such inflammatory processes become chronically engaged, synaptic impairments and neuronal cell death may occur. In particular, persistently high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been linked to deficits in cognition and several psychiatric disorders. Higher-order cognitive processes such as fluid intelligence (Gf) are thought to be particularly vulnerable to persistent inflammation. Herein, we investigated the relationship between elevated CRP and TNF-α and the neural oscillatory dynamics serving Gf. METHODS: Seventy adults between the ages of 20-66 years (Mean = 45.17 years, SD = 16.29, 21.4% female) completed an abstract reasoning task that probes Gf during magnetoencephalography (MEG) and provided a blood sample for inflammatory marker analysis. MEG data were imaged in the time-frequency domain, and whole-brain regressions were conducted using each individual's plasma CRP and TNF-α concentrations per oscillatory response, controlling for age, BMI, and education. RESULTS: CRP and TNF-α levels were significantly associated with region-specific neural oscillatory responses. In particular, elevated CRP concentrations were associated with altered gamma activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right cerebellum. In contrast, elevated TNF-α levels scaled with alpha/beta oscillations in the left anterior cingulate and left middle temporal, and gamma activity in the left intraparietal sulcus. DISCUSSION: Elevated inflammatory markers such as CRP and TNF-α were associated with aberrant neural oscillations in regions important for Gf. Linking inflammatory markers with regional neural oscillations may hold promise in identifying mechanisms of cognitive and psychiatric disorders.

Verbal and General IQ Associate with Supragranular Layer Thickness and Cell Properties of the Left Temporal Cortex.

The left temporal lobe is an integral part of the language system and its cortical structure and function associate with general intelligence. However, whether cortical laminar architecture and cellular properties of this brain area relate to verbal intelligence is unknown. Here, we addressed this using histological analysis and cellular recordings of neurosurgically resected temporal cortex in combination with presurgical IQ scores. We find that subjects with higher general and verbal IQ scores have thicker left (but not right) temporal cortex (Brodmann area 21, BA21). The increased thickness is due to the selective increase in layers 2 and 3 thickness, accompanied by lower neuron densities, and larger dendrites and cell body size of pyramidal neurons in these layers. Furthermore, these neurons sustain faster action potential kinetics, which improves information processing. Our results indicate that verbal mental ability associates with selective adaptations of supragranular layers and their cellular micro-architecture and function in left, but not right temporal cortex.

Placing language in an integrated understanding system: Next steps toward human-level performance in neural language models.

Language is crucial for human intelligence, but what exactly is its role? We take language to be a part of a system for understanding and communicating about situations. In humans, these abilities emerge gradually from experience and depend on domain-general principles of biological neural networks: connection-based learning, distributed representation, and context-sensitive, mutual constraint satisfaction-based processing. Current artificial language processing systems rely on the same domain general principles, embodied in artificial neural networks. Indeed, recent progress in this field depends on query-based attention, which extends the ability of these systems to exploit context and has contributed to remarkable breakthroughs. Nevertheless, most current models focus exclusively on language-internal tasks, limiting their ability to perform tasks that depend on understanding situations. These systems also lack memory for the contents of prior situations outside of a fixed contextual span. We describe the organization of the brain's distributed understanding system, which includes a fast learning system that addresses the memory problem. We sketch a framework for future models of understanding drawing equally on cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence and exploiting query-based attention. We highlight relevant current directions and consider further developments needed to fully capture human-level language understanding in a computational system.