An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function revealed by lesion mapping

Abstract

Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control, the broader functional networks that support high-level cognition and give rise to general intelligence remain to be well characterized. Here, we investigated the neural substrates of the general factor of intelligence (g) and executive function in 182 patients with focal brain damage using voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System were used to derive measures of g and executive function, respectively. Impaired performance on these measures was associated with damage to a distributed network of left lateralized brain areas, including regions of frontal and parietal cortex and white matter association tracts, which bind these areas into a coordinated system. The observed findings support an integrative framework for understanding the architecture of general intelligence and executive function, supporting their reliance upon a shared fronto-parietal network for the integration and control of cognitive representations and making specific recommendations for the application of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease.

Figure 1

SEM analysis of the administered WAIS and D–KEFS measures.

Figure 2

Overlap (in green) of individual WAIS subtests (in yellow) with g (in blue). Each statistical map is thresholded at 5% false discovery rate. In each axial slice, the right hemisphere is on the reader's left.

Figure 3

Overlap (in green) of individual D–KEFS subtests (in yellow) with executive function (in blue). Each statistical map is thresholded at 5% false discovery rate. In each axial slice, the right hemisphere is on the reader's left.

Figure 4

Overlap (in green) of psychometric g (in blue) with executive function (in yellow). Each statistical map is thresholded at 5% false discovery rate. In each axial slice, the right hemisphere is on the reader's left.

Figure 5

An integrative architecture for general intelligence and executive function. Illustration of Brodmann areas (numbers on figure) involved in general intelligence and executive function, as well as the arcuate fasciculus and the major white matter association tract that connects the involved brain regions.