IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v92y2022ics0160289622000253.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High individual alpha frequency brains run fast, but it does not make them smart

Author

Listed:
  • Ociepka, Michał
  • Kałamała, Patrycja
  • Chuderski, Adam

Abstract

Evidence for the relationship between individual alpha frequency (IAF) and cognitive ability (general intelligence) is inconclusive, and the role of alpha rhythm in shaping cognition is hotly debated. This study aimed to provide more conclusive evidence. EEG was recorded during three resting state sessions, a vigilance session, and a short-term visual memory task. Six respective IAF estimates were calculated for a total of 153 participants. Participants also completed the battery of 17 tests measuring four main dimensions of cognitive ability: fluid reasoning, working memory, visual discrimination, and processing speed. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the factors reflecting fluid reasoning, working memory, and visual discrimination, as well as the higher-order factor reflecting general intelligence, were unrelated to the IAF factor. At the same time, IAF positively correlated with processing speed, sharing 5.5% of variance. The EEG findings were replicated in another sample (N = 94) using MEG data and a different cognitive-ability assessment. Overall, the study implies that brains with higher IAFs do run faster, but it does not make them smarter. The study clarifies the so far equivocal relationship between the individual frequency of the dominating alpha rhythm and cognitive functioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Ociepka, Michał & Kałamała, Patrycja & Chuderski, Adam, 2022. "High individual alpha frequency brains run fast, but it does not make them smart," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s0160289622000253
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2022.101644
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289622000253
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2022.101644?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gągol, A. & Magnuski, M. & Kroczek, B. & Kałamała, P. & Ociepka, M. & Santarnecchi, E. & Chuderski, A., 2018. "Delta-gamma coupling as a potential neurophysiological mechanism of fluid intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 54-63.
    2. Steven J. Luck & Edward K. Vogel, 1997. "The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions," Nature, Nature, vol. 390(6657), pages 279-281, November.
    3. Santarnecchi, Emiliano & Emmendorfer, Alexandra & Pascual-Leone, Alvaro, 2017. "Dissecting the parieto-frontal correlates of fluid intelligence: A comprehensive ALE meta-analysis study," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 9-28.
    4. Shi Gu & Fabio Pasqualetti & Matthew Cieslak & Qawi K. Telesford & Alfred B. Yu & Ari E. Kahn & John D. Medaglia & Jean M. Vettel & Michael B. Miller & Scott T. Grafton & Danielle S. Bassett, 2015. "Controllability of structural brain networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Schubert, Anna-Lena, 2019. "A meta-analysis of the worst performance rule," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 88-100.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hilger, Kirsten & Spinath, Frank M. & Troche, Stefan & Schubert, Anna-Lena, 2022. "The biological basis of intelligence: Benchmark findings," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruton, Oliver J., 2021. "Is there a “g-neuron”? Establishing a systematic link between general intelligence (g) and the von Economo neuron," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Hilger, Kirsten & Spinath, Frank M. & Troche, Stefan & Schubert, Anna-Lena, 2022. "The biological basis of intelligence: Benchmark findings," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Jastrzębski, Jan & Ciechanowska, Iwona & Chuderski, Adam, 2018. "The strong link between fluid intelligence and working memory cannot be explained away by strategy use," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 44-53.
    4. Ünal, Zehra E. & Kartal, Gamze & Ulusoy, Serra & Ala, Aslı M. & Yilmaz, Munube & Geary, David C., 2023. "Relative contributions of g and basic domain-specific mathematics skills to complex mathematics competencies," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    5. Maria Isabel García-Planas & Maria Victoria García-Camba, 2022. "Controllability of Brain Neural Networks in Learning Disorders—A Geometric Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, January.
    6. Aki Kondo & Jun Saiki, 2012. "Feature-Specific Encoding Flexibility in Visual Working Memory," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(12), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Tullo, Domenico & Faubert, Jocelyn & Bertone, Armando, 2018. "The characterization of attention resource capacity and its relationship with fluid reasoning intelligence: A multiple object tracking study," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 158-168.
    8. Gągol, A. & Magnuski, M. & Kroczek, B. & Kałamała, P. & Ociepka, M. & Santarnecchi, E. & Chuderski, A., 2018. "Delta-gamma coupling as a potential neurophysiological mechanism of fluid intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 54-63.
    9. Jifan Zhou & Jun Yin & Tong Chen & Xiaowei Ding & Zaifeng Gao & Mowei Shen, 2011. "Visual Working Memory Capacity Does Not Modulate the Feature-Based Information Filtering in Visual Working Memory," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(9), pages 1-10, September.
    10. Li, Qian & Huang, Zhuowei (Joy) & Christianson, Kiel, 2016. "Visual attention toward tourism photographs with text: An eye-tracking study," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 243-258.
    11. Yuri A. Markov & Igor S. Utochkin, 2017. "The Effect of Object Distinctiveness on Object-Location Binding in Visual Working Memory," HSE Working papers WP BRP 79/PSY/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    12. S. Cerreia-Vioglio & F. Maccheroni & M. Marinacci & A. Rustichini, 2017. "Multinomial logit processes and preference discovery: inside and outside the black box," Working Papers 615, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    13. Sorjonen, Kimmo & Madison, Guy & Melin, Bo & Ullén, Fredrik, 2020. "The Correlation of Sorted Scores Rule," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. repec:cup:judgdm:v:7:y:2012:i:3:p:254-267 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Huili Sun & Rongtao Jiang & Wei Dai & Alexander J. Dufford & Stephanie Noble & Marisa N. Spann & Shi Gu & Dustin Scheinost, 2023. "Network controllability of structural connectomes in the neonatal brain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Shaiyan Keshvari & Ronald van den Berg & Wei Ji Ma, 2013. "No Evidence for an Item Limit in Change Detection," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-9, February.
    17. Bin Zhu & Stephanie A. Watts, 2010. "Visualization of Network Concepts: The Impact of Working Memory Capacity Differences," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 327-344, June.
    18. Sorjonen, Kimmo & Madison, Guy & Hemmingsson, Tomas & Melin, Bo & Ullén, Fredrik, 2021. "Further evidence that the worst performance rule is a special case of the correlation of sorted scores rule," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. D. Alexander Varakin & Jamie Hale, 2014. "Intentional Memory Instructions Direct Attention But Do Not Enhance Visual Memory," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(4), pages 21582440145, October.
    20. Haggar Cohen-Dallal & Isaac Fradkin & Yoni Pertzov, 2018. "Are stronger memories forgotten more slowly? No evidence that memory strength influences the rate of forgetting," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, July.
    21. Loic Matthey & Paul M Bays & Peter Dayan, 2015. "A Probabilistic Palimpsest Model of Visual Short-term Memory," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-34, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s0160289622000253. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.