Structural brain correlates of non‐verbal cognitive ability in 5‐year‐old children: Findings from the FinnBrain birth cohort study

Non‐verbal cognitive ability predicts multiple important life outcomes, for example, school and job performance. It has been associated with parieto–frontal cortical anatomy in prior studies in adult and adolescent populations, while young children have received relatively little attention. We explored the associations between cortical anatomy and non‐verbal cognitive ability in 165 5‐year‐old participants (mean scan age 5.40 years, SD 0.13; 90 males) from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study. T1‐weighted brain magnetic resonance images were processed using FreeSurfer. Non‐verbal cognitive ability was measured using the Performance Intelligence Quotient (PIQ) estimated from the Block Design and Matrix Reasoning subtests from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI‐III). In vertex‐wise general linear models, PIQ scores associated positively with volumes in the left caudal middle frontal and right pericalcarine regions, as well as surface area in left the caudal middle frontal, left inferior temporal, and right lingual regions. There were no associations between PIQ and cortical thickness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine structural correlates of non‐verbal cognitive ability in a large sample of typically developing 5‐year‐olds. The findings are generally in line with prior findings from older age groups, with the important addition of the positive association between volume / surface area in the right medial occipital region and non‐verbal cognitive ability. This finding adds to the literature by discovering a new brain region that should be considered in future studies exploring the role of cortical structure for cognitive development in young children.