The neuroanatomy of general intelligence: sex matters

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 320 - 327
• Main Authors: Haier, Richard J., Jung, Rex E., Yeo, Ronald A., Head, Kevin, Alkire, Michael T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.03.2005; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Brain; Brain - pathology; Cognitive ability; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Down Syndrome - pathology; Female; Females; Frontal Lobe - pathology; Gender differences; General intelligence; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Intelligence; Intelligence - physiology; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Males; Mathematical Computing; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Neuroanatomy; Reference Values; Sex; Sex Characteristics; Statistics as Topic; Studies; Women; Neuroanatomy; General intelligence; Sex
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.11.019

We examined the relationship between structural brain variation and general intelligence using voxel-based morphometric analysis of MRI data in men and women with equivalent IQ scores. Compared to men, women show more white matter and fewer gray matter areas related to intelligence. In men IQ/gray matter correlations are strongest in frontal and parietal lobes (BA 8, 9, 39, 40), whereas the strongest correlations in women are in the frontal lobe (BA10) along with Broca's area. Men and women apparently achieve similar IQ results with different brain regions, suggesting that there is no singular underlying neuroanatomical structure to general intelligence and that different types of brain designs may manifest equivalent intellectual performance.