The ABCD study: brain heterogeneity in intelligence during a neurodevelopmental transition stage

A complex curvilinear relationship exists between intelligence and age during the neurodevelopment of cortical thickness. To parse out a more fine-grained relationship between intelligence and cortical thickness and surface area, we used a large-scale data set focusing on a critical transition juncture in neurodevelopment in preadolescence. Cortical thickness was derived from T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance images of a large sample of 9- and 11-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery composite scores, which included fluid, crystallized, and total scores, were used to assess intelligence. Using a double generalized linear model, we assessed the independent association between the mean and dispersion of cortical thickness/surface area and intelligence. Higher intelligence in preadolescents was associated with higher mean cortical thickness in orbitofrontal and primary sensory cortices but with lower thickness in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex and particularly in the rostral anterior cingulate. The rostral anterior cingulate findings were particularly evident across all subscales of intelligence. Higher intelligence was also associated with greater interindividual similarity in the rostral cingulate. Intelligence during this key transition juncture in preadolescence appears to reflect a dissociation between the cortical development of basic cognitive processes and higher-order executive and motivational processes.