Intelligence and changes in regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate following learning

Neuroimaging of individuals with Down’s syndrome at-risk for dementia: Evidence for possible compensatory events

“…Whether these areas are unique to pre-clinical AD in DS or represent a very early stage of AD in general can not yet be determined, although there is some VBM evidence of caudate and thalamus atrophy in AD (Karas, Burton et al 2003). Increased regional GMR is also consistent with earlier PET studies showing higher GMR related to poor or inefficient performance of complex cognitive tasks (Haier, Siegel et al 1988;Haier, Siegel et al 1992;Haier 1993;Haier, Chueh et al 1995).…”

Neuroindices of cognitive workload: Neuroimaging, pupillometric and event-related potential studies of brain work

“…If participants receive training or practice that improves their procedural knowledge, they might be able to perform the task more efficiently, consuming a lesser amount of resources. Consistent with this prediction, a PET study (Haier et al 1992) found that weeks of practice in the computer game Tetris not only led to improved performance in behavioural terms, but also reduced the amount of PET-measured activity (FDG-2-dyoxy-D-glucose labelled with F-18-uptake). It may be that there are new procedures acquired through practice that are less demanding of resources and, hence, entail a lower level of capacity utilization.…”

Neural correlates of emotional intelligence in adolescent children

“…(Bar-On et al, 2003;Damasio, 1994Damasio, , 1996. On the basis of previous functional neuroimaging research suggesting that individuals with more well developed skills and abilities tend to show greater neural efficiency in the form of reduced functional activation during relevant tasks (Haier, Siegel, MacLachlan, et al, 1992;Haier, Siegel, Tang, Abel, & Buchsbaum, 1992;Haslinger et al, 2004;Olson et al, 2006), we hypothesized that EQ would correlate negatively with activity within three regions previously identified as important for the formation of somatic markers (i.e., bioregulatory somatic states that bias response selection and decision making), including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and insula. Indeed, focused analyses within each of these predefined regions revealed that EQ was negatively correlated with activity within each of the major nodes of the somatic marker circuitry during the fear perception task.…”

“…Highly trained concert pianists show significantly lower cerebral activity during bimanual sequential finger movements that mimic piano playing, as compared with nonmusicians, suggesting that the expert pianists possess greater efficiency of neural processing when engaged in the same task (Haslinger et al, 2004). Furthermore, traditional measures of cognitive intelligence have been shown to correlate negatively with rates of cerebral glucose metabolism following learning, presumably reflecting greater neural efficiency in more intelligent individuals (Haier, Siegel, Tang, Abel, & Buchsbaum, 1992). A similar general phenomenon appears to emerge as children develop through adolescence and into adulthood.…”