Figure 6. Regional correlations between gray matter density and individual differences in g (N =1 04). The design matrix controls for total gray matter Karama et al50 used an automated cortical thickness protocol (CIVET51) to analyze a large sample of children and adolescents representative of the population

(N=216). The most consistent areas of association between g scores and cortical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical thickness were found in lateral prefrontal, occipital extrastriate, and parahippocampal areas. Similar to the study reported by Colom et al,27 Karama et al50 identified more brain regions related to g than those in the P-FIT model, likely resulting from the synthesizing nature of the P-FIT approach (ie, if all regions implicated in intelligence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical across all 37 studies were included, they would have numbered in the hundreds) as opposed to the experimental/exploratory approach employed by these studies. There are three other studies applying a cortical thickness approach (the third will be discussed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical later). Shaw et al52 analyzed the trajectory of change in the thickness of the cerebral cortex on a sample of 307 children and adolescents. Intelligence

was measured by four subtests from the Wechsler scales (vocabulary, similarities, block design, and matrix reasoning). They found that changes in thickness are more related to intelligence than thickness itself: negative correlations were found in early childhood, whereas the correlation was positive in late adolescence (these positive correlations were identified Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in frontal BAs 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 44-46, in parietal BAs 1-3, 5, 39, 40, in learn more temporal BAs 21, 37, and in occipital BAs 17, 18, and 19). Further, intelligence differences were associated with the trajectory of cortical development in frontal brain regions. Finally, children with higher scores on intelligence showed more change in estimated cortical thickness along the developmental process. Narr et al53 studied a sample of 65 participants. They found positive associations between cortical thickness Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and

intelligence bilaterally in prefrontal BAs 10/11 and 47, as well as in posterior temporal BAs 36/37. These researchers also analyzed males and females separately, finding that males showed correlations in temporaloccipital association cortices, click here whereas females exhibited correlations in prefrontal and temporal association cortices. These results are not entirely consistent with the parietofrontal framework and emphasize the importance of separate analyses for males and females.25,54,55 Functional networks and neurotransmitters Using an fMRI approach, Bishop et al56 reported a study based on previous evidence showing that a polymorphism (val158met) in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene regulates catecholaminergic signaling in prefrontal cortex.