Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Intelligence

Human intelligence encompasses a spectrum of cognitive abilities including reasoning, problem‐solving and abstract thought. Cognitive neuroscience seeks to delineate how patterns of brain structure, function and connectivity underlie these faculties. Research has progressively moved from localising specific regions towards characterising the dynamic interactions of distributed networks, notably the fronto‐parietal and default‐mode systems, whose balance of segregation and integration supports diverse cognitive demands. Advances in high‐resolution imaging, network science and genetics have revealed multivariate architectures in cortical thickness, surface area and functional connectivity that map onto individual differences in general intelligence. Emerging studies also integrate microstructural metrics, such as dendritic density and neurotransmitter concentrations, to explain neural efficiency and adaptability. Such interdisciplinary investigations inform the biological basis of intelligence, its developmental trajectories and potential applications in education and clinical contexts.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have applied multivariate genomic approaches to cerebral morphology, modelling cortical thickness and surface area across multiple regions to extract latent genetic factors. One analysis identified five regional factors and a higher‐order general factor that aligns with canonical functional parcellations, demonstrating that pleiotropic genetic influences on cortical architecture correlate with broad cognitive performance. Another multi-centre investigation employed graph theory on resting-state networks in over 2 000 adults, revealing that conventional measures such as global efficiency and small-world propensity show limited replicable associations with general intelligence. These findings challenge prior single-site reports and underscore the importance of robust sampling and harmonised methods when linking intrinsic connectivity to cognitive traits.

Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Intelligence publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in cognitive neuroscience of human intelligence across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

General fluid intelligence (gF): The capacity for reasoning and problem-solving in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge.

Cortical thickness: The distance between the pial surface and the grey–white matter boundary, reflecting neuronal and synaptic density.

Surface area: The extent of the cerebral cortex measured on the pial surface, associated with cortical expansion and folding.

Functional connectivity: Statistical dependencies between activity in distinct brain regions, often derived from resting-state fMRI.

Global efficiency: A graph-theoretical metric indicating the ease of parallel information transfer across a network.

Segregation and integration: The tendency of brain networks to maintain specialised modular processing (segregation) and coordinated communication across modules (integration).

References

1. Multivariate genomic architecture of cortical thickness and surface area at multiple levels of analysis. Nature Communications (2023).
2. GABAergic inhibition in human hMT+ predicts visuo-spatial intelligence mediated through the frontal cortex. eLife (2024).
3. Investigating robust associations between functional connectivity based on graph theory and general intelligence. Scientific Reports (2024).
4. Segregation, integration, and balance of large-scale resting brain networks configure different cognitive abilities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2021).
5. Structural brain imaging correlates of general intelligence in UK Biobank. Intelligence (2019).
6. Diffusion markers of dendritic density and arborization in gray matter predict differences in intelligence. Nature Communications (2018).