Improving the study of brain-behavior relationships by revisiting basic assumptions

Sulcal variability in anterior lateral prefrontal cortex contributes to variability in reasoning performance among young adults

“…Further, the presence of left hemisphere pimfs-v in a sample of 6-18-year-olds was associated with higher reasoning scores [24]. Building on these previous results in the present study, we show that the sulcal patterning of the pimfs and the relationship between the presence/absence of the pimfs-v and reasoning is a reliable and enduring individual difference generalizing to an adult sample (ages [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. The reliable brain-behavior relationship between the presence of the left pimfs-v and reasoning across age groups and studies is important given a timely discussion among researchers regarding the reliability of brain-behavior relationships [26][27][28].…”

“…Further, this structure exhibits prominent variability in humans that is robustly linked to variability in reasoning performance, both in young adulthood (ages [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36], as reported here, and in childhood and adolescence (ages 6-18) [24]. Considering that smaller, shallower (tertiary) sulci in association cortices, such as the pimfs, develop later in gestation than larger, deeper sulci like the central and calcarine sulci [65,66,73], a testable evolutionary and developmental hypothesis is that the higher incidence of the pimfs in humans -and cortical sulci in general [25,29,57,74] -is a consequence of the markedly protracted and greater intrauterine brain growth generally seen in humans compared to chimpanzees [75].…”

“…Building on these previous results in the present study, we show that the sulcal patterning of the pimfs and the relationship between the presence/absence of the pimfs-v and reasoning is a reliable and enduring individual difference generalizing to an adult sample (ages 22-36). The reliable brain-behavior relationship between the presence of the left pimfs-v and reasoning across age groups and studies is important given a timely discussion among researchers regarding the reliability of brain-behavior relationships [26–28]. We discuss these findings in the context of (i) the role of anterior LPFC and reasoning across age groups and (ii) hypothesized relationships among the presence/absence of sulci, the morphology of sulci, white matter architecture, and the efficiency of network communication contributing to performance on cognitive tasks.…”

Ecological Brain: Reframing the Study of Human Behaviour and Cognition

“…), and further decomposed into more specific components (e.g., episodic, semantic and autobiographical memory). The separability and independence of different processes and sub-processes have been continuously debated (e.g., [36]). Crucially, theories based on this approach are linked to operationalisations that allow laboratory testing and research is limited to those psychological components that can be operationalised.…”

Editorial: Interaction between affect and memory in the brain: From basic mechanisms to clinical implications

“…Altogether, these findings point to the need for clarifying robust biomarkers that may be targeted by interventions to promote adaptive memory processes depending on the context. One promising approach may be to measure and model variation within each participant over repeated measures (e.g., trial-level fluctuations) in brain activity; this would enable isolation of stable signal variance specific to each individual participant (Elliott et al, 2021 ; Westlin et al, in press ), which may inform the design of brain stimulation or pharmacological interventions with maximal efficacy.…”