title: High-expanding cortical regions in human development and evolution are related to higher intellectual abilities.
abstract: Cortical surface area has tremendously expanded during human evolution, and similar patterns of cortical expansion have been observed during childhood development. An intriguing hypothesis is that the high-expanding cortical regions also show the strongest correlations with intellectual function in humans. However, we do not know how the regional distribution of correlations between intellectual function and cortical area maps onto expansion in development and evolution. Here, in a sample of 1048 participants, we show that regions in which cortical area correlates with visuospatial reasoning abilities are generally high expanding in both development and evolution. Several regions in the frontal cortex, especially the anterior cingulate, showed high expansion in both development and evolution. The area of these regions was related to intellectual functions in humans. Low-expanding areas were not related to cognitive scores. These findings suggest that cortical regions involved in higher intellectual functions have expanded the most during development and evolution. The radial unit hypothesis provides a common framework for interpretation of the findings in the context of evolution and prenatal development, while additional cellular mechanisms, such as synaptogenesis, gliogenesis, dendritic arborization, and intracortical myelination, likely impact area expansion in later childhood.
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Anders M
authors: AM
authors: Fjell
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors: Lars T
authors: LT
authors: Westlye
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Inge
authors: I
authors: Amlien
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Christian K
authors: CK
authors: Tamnes
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Håkon
authors: H
authors: Grydeland
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Engvig
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Espeseth
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors: Ivar
authors: I
authors: Reinvang
authors: Department of Biological and Medical Psychology K.G. Jebsen Center for Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders.
authors: Astri J
authors: AJ
authors: Lundervold
authors: Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway and Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
authors: Arvid
authors: A
authors: Lundervold
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition.
authors: Kristine B
authors: KB
authors: Walhovd
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cerebral cortex; development; evolution; macaque monkeys; magnetic resonance imaging