Parental education, cognition and functional connectivity of the salience network

Abstract

The aim was to investigate the association of parental education at birth with cognitive ability in childhood and young adulthood and determine, whether functional connectivity of the salience network underlies this association. We studied participants of the Czech arm of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood who underwent assessment of their cognitive ability at age 8 (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and 28/29 years (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and measurement with resting state functional MRI at age 23/24. We estimated the associations of parental education with cognitive ability and functional connectivity between the seeds in the salience network and other voxels in the brain. We found that lower education of both mothers and fathers was associated with lower verbal IQ, performance IQ and full-scale IQ of the offspring at age 8. Only mother´s education was associated with performance IQ at age 28/29. Lower mother´s education correlated with greater functional connectivity between the right rostral prefrontal cortex and a cluster of voxels in the occipital cortex, which, in turn, was associated with lower performance IQ at age 28/29. We conclude that the impact of parental education, particularly father´s, on offspring´s cognitive ability weakens during the lifecourse. Functional connectivity between the right rostral prefrontal cortex and occipital cortex may be a biomarker underlying the transmission of mother´s education on performance IQ of their offspring.

Maternal education prospectively predicts child neurocognitive function: An environmental influences on child health outcomes study.

“…Additionally, our results align with a common taxonomy based on theoretical and psychometric characteristics that groups neurocognitive functions into crystallized and fluid dimensions (Cattell, 1987;Horn, 1968;S.-C. Li et al, 2004). Fluid cognitive functions involve the ability to rapidly process and integrate information for problemsolving and goal-directed behavior, such as executive functions (Akshoomoff et al, 2013).…”

“…This measure is thought to provide a broad assessment of cognitive function. Several studies have examined relations between maternal education, and SES more broadly, and overall measures of cognitive function (e.g., Cermakova et al, 2023; Rindermann & Ceci, 2018).…”

The Genetic Architecture of Multimodal Human Brain Age

“…The genetic basis of FC-BAG covaries with educational performance and schizophrenia subtypes. Specifically, parental education has been linked to cognitive ability, and researchers have identified a functional connectivity biomarker between the right rostral prefrontal cortex and occipital cortex that mediates the transmission of maternal education to offspring's performance IQ 77 . On the other hand, schizophrenia is a highly heritable mental disorder that exhibits functional dysconnectivity throughout the brain 78 .…”

Salience network and cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease

“…Fourth, the SN defined in the current study included the left and right rostral prefrontal cortex (RPFC). While several studies have included the RPFC as a node of the SN (Almdahl et al, 2023; Cermakova et al, 2023; Tikàsz et al, 2020; Ueno et al, 2020; Webb et al, 2021), this is still in contrast to other studies that have used different parcellations of the SN (Aracil-Bolaños et al, 2019; Dosenbach et al, 2008; S. Marek & Dosenbach, 2018; Menon & Uddin, 2010; Putcha et al, 2015, 2016; Seeley et al, 2007). Finally, the BGN is a complex network, and the structures that make up this network, such as the striatum, have distinct subdivisions with differential patterns of functional connectivity (Di Martino et al, 2008).…”