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Comparing brain activations associated with working memory and fluid intelligence

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  • Clark, Cameron M.
  • Lawlor-Savage, Linette
  • Goghari, Vina M.

Abstract

Working memory (WM) and fluid intelligence (Gf) are thought to be highly related, though psychometrically distinct cognitive constructs. Both are important in a wide range of cognitively demanding tasks, and predictive of success in educational, occupational, and social domains. From a cognitive perspective, WM and Gf may share a capacity constraint due to the shared demand for attentional resources. Neuroimaging investigations of these two cognitive constructs have suggested similar shared frontal and parietal areas of neural activation as well, though to our knowledge the two have not been investigated in the same population. Here, we examine group level functional activations for tasks of WM (dual n-back), Gf (Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices; RSPM), as well as a theoretically unrelated comparison task of visual word/pseudoword decoding (lexical decision task) in a large sample of healthy young adults (N=63) aged 18–40. Consistent with previous research, results indicate large areas of fronto-parietal activation in response to increasing task demands for the n-back task (dorsolateral, ventrolateral, and rostral prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and posterior parietal cortex), which largely subsume similar but more circumscribed regions of activation for the RSPM and lexical decision tasks. These results are discussed in terms of a task-general central network which may underlie performance of WM, Gf, and word decoding tasks alike, and perhaps even goal-directed behaviour more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Clark, Cameron M. & Lawlor-Savage, Linette & Goghari, Vina M., 2017. "Comparing brain activations associated with working memory and fluid intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 66-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:63:y:2017:i:c:p:66-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2017.06.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Cameron M Clark & Linette Lawlor-Savage & Vina M Goghari, 2017. "Working memory training in healthy young adults: Support for the null from a randomized comparison to active and passive control groups," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-25, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zurrin, Riley & Wong, Samantha Tze Sum & Roes, Meighen M. & Percival, Chantal M. & Chinchani, Abhijit & Arreaza, Leo & Kusi, Mavis & Momeni, Ava & Rasheed, Maiya & Mo, Zhaoyi & Goghari, Vina M. & Wood, 2024. "Functional brain networks involved in the Raven's standard progressive matrices task and their relation to theories of fluid intelligence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Lawlor-Savage, Linette & Kusi, Mavis & Clark, Cameron M. & Goghari, Vina M., 2021. "No evidence for an effect of a working memory training program on white matter microstructure," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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