Evolutionary and Developmental Changes in the Lateral Frontoparietal Network: A Little Goes a Long Way for Higher-Level Cognition

Abstract

Relational thinking, or the ability to represent the relations between items, is widespread in the animal kingdom. However, humans are unparalleled in their ability to engage in the higher-order relational thinking required for reasoning and other forms of abstract thought. Here we propose that the versatile reasoning skills observed in humans can be traced back to developmental and evolutionary changes in the lateral frontoparietal network (LFPN). We first identify the regions within the LFPN that are most strongly linked to relational thinking, and show that stronger communication between these regions over the course of development supports improvements in relational reasoning. We then explore differences in the LFPN between humans and other primate species that could explain species differences in the capacity for relational reasoning. We conclude that fairly small neuroanatomical changes in specific regions of the LFPN and their connections have led to big ontogenetic and phylogenetic changes in cognition.

Frontoparietal Structural Connectivity in Childhood Predicts Development of Functional Connectivity and Reasoning Ability: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Investigation

“…For both the frontoparietal network generally, and more specifically for the RLPFC-IPL connection, SC and FC were not significantly related at a single time point after accounting for age and study site (despite a positive relation before accounting for these variables). This result is broadly consistent with prior investigations that have found overall positive concurrent relations between these measures but have also demonstrated FC in the absence of SC, consistent with the notion that FC reflects indirect (polysynaptic) as well direct (monosynaptic) communication between brain regions (Skudlarski et al, 2008;Honey et al, 2009).…”

Distinctive and Pervasive Alterations of Functional Brain Networks in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease with and without Cognitive Impairment

“…Numerous fMRI studies have shown increased fMRI activity or FC in frontoparietal regions across various CI or cognitive tasks [32-35]. The FPCN contributes to the regulation of higher-order interaction between mental representations in humans, supporting multiple higher cognitive functions [36]. The FPCN serves as a flexible hub that could be protective against neuropsychiatric disorders; the capacity of the FPCN could be enhanced against harmful dysfunction [37].…”

Gray matter responsiveness to adaptive working memory training: a surface-based morphometry study

“…Hampson, et al 2006; Zou et al 2013), and interference resolution (Kirwan and Stark 2007; Yassa et al 2011, Yassa and Stark 2011). Moreover, inferior parietal cortex is considered one of the most important regions supporting intelligence and high-level processing (Jung and Haier 2007; Vendetti and Bunge 2014). Finally, the pars opercularis is associated with inhibition process in go-no go tasks (Forstmann et al 2008).…”