THE ESSENTIAL
- Fluid intelligence correlates with many cognitive abilities, such as memory.
- The Progressive Matrices Advanced (APM) is the most established test of fluid intelligence. It contains multiple-choice visual pattern problems of increasing difficulty.
“Fluid intelligence is arguably the defining characteristic of human cognition”, said researchers at University College London. The latter would make it possible to predict academic and professional success, social mobility, health and longevity. According to research, fluid intelligence is a collection of complex mental processes, such as those involved in judgment or attention. These skills are used during daily activities.
Fluid intelligence: a new approach to “mapping lesions-deficits”
Despite its central role in human behavior, fluid intelligence, specifically “the nature of its relation to the brain”, rest “a controversial subject”. To determine which parts of the brain are necessary for quick thinking, the British team carried out a study published in the journal Brain.
As part of this work, the authors recruited 165 healthy people and 227 adults who had suffered from a brain tumor or stroke in specific parts of the brain. The scientists then introduced a novel ‘damage-deficit mapping’ approach to analyzing and understanding the complex patterns of common forms of brain damage.
“They studied associations between brain regions as a mathematical network whose connections describe the tendency of regions to be affected together, either because of the disease process or because of a common cognitive ability,” can we read in a statement.
Frontal damage to the right hemisphere affects speed of reasoning
Thanks to their approach, the researchers were able to determine which patients performed less well on tasks requiring fluid intelligence according to their lesions. According to the results, fluid intelligence disorders mainly affected adults with right frontal lesions. “Our results indicate for the first time that the right frontal regions of the brain are essential for high-level functions involved in fluid intelligence, such as problem solving and reasoning,” said Lisa Cipolotti, author of the study.
