Children's intellectual ability is associated with structural network integrity

Abstract

Recent structural and functional neuroimaging studies of adults suggest that efficient patterns of brain connectivity are fundamental to human intelligence. Specifically, whole brain networks with an efficient small-world organization, along with specific brain regions (i.e., Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory, P-FIT) appear related to intellectual ability. However, these relationships have not been studied in children using structural network measures. This cross-sectional study examined the relation between non-verbal intellectual ability and structural network organization in 99 typically developing healthy preadolescent children. We showed a strong positive association between the network’s global efficiency and intelligence, in which a subtest for visuo-spatial motor processing (Block Design, BD) was prominent in both global brain structure and local regions included within P-FIT as well as temporal regions involved with pattern and form processing. BD was also associated with rich club organization, which encompassed frontal, occipital, temporal, hippocampal, and neostriatal regions. This suggests that children’s visual construction ability is significantly related to how efficiently children’s brains are globally and locally integrated. Our findings indicate that visual construction and reasoning may make general demands on globally integrated processing by the brain.

Association between structural brain network efficiency and intelligence increases during adolescence

“…Cortical thickness studies showed differential developmental trajectories depending on the IQ (Brans et al, ; Brouwer et al, ; Karama et al, ; Schnack et al, ; Shaw et al, ). The absence of a correlation between FA‐weighted network efficiency and IQ in late childhood is somewhat inconsistent with a recent study in in children age 6–11 years that reported a positive correlation between block design and FA‐weighted network efficiency, but not with other non‐verbal subtasks (Kim et al, ). However, total IQ versus a single IQ‐subtask may be differently related to local brain regions and thus may show a different developmental pattern in relation to brain development.…”

“…Adults with a higher intelligence have a more efficient functional brain network (van den Heuvel, Stam, Kahn, & Hulshoff Pol, ; Langer et al, ) and structural white matter network (Bohlken et al, ; Chiang et al, ; Li et al, ; Wen et al, ). Already in childhood (Kim et al, ) and early adolescence (Koenis et al, ; Schmithorst, Wilkes, Dardzinski, & Holland, ; Tamnes et al, ; Wang et al, ), positive associations between intelligence and structure of the white matter seem to be present, at least to some extent. How does the brain develop during this period of major maturational changes in cognition and social environment (Blakemore, Burnett, & Dahl, ; Luna, Marek, Larsen, Tervo‐Clemmens, & Chahal, )?…”

Metrics of brain network architecture capture the impact of disease in children with epilepsy

“…It is important to note that a relationship between network metrics and global intelligence has been previously reported (Kim et al, 2016, Li et al, 2009). Hence, a “control model” was developed to confirm that the primary analysis measured the effects of epilepsy on the brain, rather than a transitive relationship between network metrics and epilepsy duration mediated by IQ.…”

“…Graph theory-based analyses of networks constructed from functional imaging data have demonstrated that focal epilepsies are associated with global alterations in the cerebral network (Liao et al, 2010, Bernhardt et al, 2011, Vlooswijk et al, 2011, DeSalvo et al, 2014, Vaessen et al, 2013). More recently, it was observed that inter-individual differences in network efficiency, as quantified by graph theory, correlate with cognitive function in healthy populations of adults and children (Kim et al, 2016, Li et al, 2009, van den Heuvel et al, 2009). Together, these findings support the potential for topological features of the brain to provide markers of cognitive function in children.…”

Commentary: The Development of Creativity-Ability, Motivation, and Potential

“…In adult studies, for example, creative thought involves the coupling of the default mode network and the executive control network, two networks that are often negatively related (e.g., Beaty, Benedek, Kaufman, & Silvia, ). Although more difficult in children (Kim et al., ), network models of creative cognition offer an intriguing avenue for future work in the neuroscience of creativity development.…”