Few tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) studies have investigated the relations between intelligence and white matter microstructure in healthy (young) adults, and those have yielded mixed observations, yet white matter is fundamental for efficient and accurate information transfer throughout the human brain. We used a multicenter approach to identify white matter regions that show replicable structure–function associations, employing data from 4 independent samples comprising over 2000 healthy participants. TBSS indicated 188 voxels exhibited significant positive associations between g factor scores and fractional anisotropy (FA) in all 4 data sets. Replicable voxels formed 3 clusters, located around the left-hemispheric forceps minor, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and cingulum–cingulate gyrus with extensions into their surrounding areas (anterior thalamic radiation, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus). Our results suggested that individual differences in general intelligence are robustly associated with white matter FA in specific fiber bundles distributed across the brain, consistent with the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of intelligence. Three possible reasons higher FA values might create links with higher g are faster information processing due to greater myelination, more direct information processing due to parallel, homogenous fiber orientation distributions, or more parallel information processing due to greater axon density.

It is essential to control self-reported trait measurements for response style effects to ensure a valid interpretation of estimates. Traditional psychometric models facilitating such control consider item responses as the result of two kinds of response processes—based on the substantive trait, or based on response styles—and they assume that both of these processes have a constant influence across the items of a questionnaire. However, this homogeneity over items is not always given, for instance, if the respondents’ motivation declines throughout the questionnaire so that heuristic responding driven by response styles may gradually take over from cognitively effortful trait-based responding. The present study proposes two dynamic IRTree models, which account for systematic continuous changes and additional random fluctuations of response strategies, by defining item position-dependent trait and response style effects. Simulation analyses demonstrate that the proposed models accurately capture dynamic trajectories of response processes, as well as reliably detect the absence of dynamics, that is, identify constant response strategies. The continuous version of the dynamic model formalizes the underlying response strategies in a parsimonious way and is highly suitable as a cognitive model for investigating response strategy changes over items. The extended model with random fluctuations of strategies can adapt more closely to the item-specific effects of different response processes and thus is a well-fitting model with high flexibility. By using an empirical data set, the benefits of the proposed dynamic approaches over traditional IRTree models are illustrated under realistic conditions.

Zusammenfassung. Hochwertiges Personalmarketing ist der essenzielle erste Schritt im Recruiting. Qualifizierte Bewerber_innen müssen auf offene Positionen erfolgreich aufmerksam gemacht werden, wofür Unternehmen und Organisationen verschiedene Online- und Offline-Maßnahmen zur Verfügung stehen. Zentral ist dabei die Wahrnehmung des Personalmarketings durch die Bewerbenden, deren Sicht bislang allerdings wenig betrachtet wurde. In der vorliegenden Studie wird daher mithilfe einer für die deutsche Arbeitsbevölkerung repräsentativen Stichprobe ( N = 1.070) die Nutzung und Bewertung von klassischen und neuartigen digitalen Personalmarketingmaßnahmen in sozialen Medien untersucht und zusätzlich digitale Ansprachemethoden experimentell überprüft. Bekannte und etablierte Online- und Offline-Personalmarketingmaßnahmen weisen hohe Nutzungszahlen auf und sind zugleich am beliebtesten. Soziale Medien werden hingegen von den Bewerber_innen vergleichsweise wenig präferiert. Kongruent dazu wird im experimentellen Setup die klassische Benachrichtigung per Post neuartigen digitalen Kommunikationswegen (WhatsApp, Facebook, Alexa Voice System) vorgezogen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie können in der Praxis zur gezielten Ansprache potenzieller Bewerber_innen und für den optimalen Einsatz verschiedener Methoden genutzt werden.

Early research on the neural correlates of human intelligence was almost exclusively focused on gray matter properties. The advent of diffusion-weighted imaging led to an exponential growth of white matter brain imaging studies. However, this line of research has yielded mixed observations, especially about the relations between general intelligence and white matter microstructure. We used a multi-center approach to identify white matter regions that show replicable structure-function associations, employing data from four independent samples comprising over 2000 healthy participants. We used tract-based spatial statistics to examine associations between g factor scores and white matter microstructure and identified 188 voxels which exhibited positive associations between g factor scores and fractional anisotropy in all four data sets. Replicable voxels formed three clusters: one located around the forceps minor, crossing with extensions of the anterior thalamic radiation, the cingulum-cingulate gyrus, and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in the left hemisphere, one located around the left-hemispheric superior longitudinal fasciculus, and one located around the left-hemispheric cingulum-cingulate gyrus, crossing with extensions of the anterior thalamic radiation and the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Our results indicate that individual differences in general intelligence are robustly associated with white matter organization in specific fiber bundles.