title: Parieto-frontal gyrification and working memory in healthy adults.
abstract: Gyrification of the cortical mantle is a dynamic process that increases with cortical surface area and decreases with age. Increased gyrification is associated with higher scores on cognitive tasks in adults; however, the degree to which this relationship is independent of cortical surface area remains undefined. This study investigates whether regional variation in gyrification is associated with domain-general and domain-specific cognition. Our hypothesis is that increased local gyrification confers a functional advantage that is independent of surface area. To quantify regional gyrification, we computed the local gyrification index (LGI) at each vertex and averaged across a bilateral parietal-frontal region associated with general intelligence and reasoning (Jung and Haier 2007). A sample of 48 healthy adults (24 males/24 females; ages 18-68 years) completed a high-resolution 3 T T1-weighted MRI and standardized administration of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). We found a positive correlation between cortical gyrification and working memory, which remained significant after controlling for cortical surface area. Results suggest that a higher degree of local cortical folding confers a functional advantage that is independent from surface area and evident for more dynamic or "fluid" cognitive processes (i.e., working memory) rather than over-learned or "crystallized" cognitive processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA. Sg2695@nyu.edu.|Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, FL, 33432, USA. Sg2695@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.|Department of Behavioral Sciences, St. George's University School of Medicine, West Indies, Grenada.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blackmon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.|Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thesen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DuBois
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Xiuyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Multimodal Imaging Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Halgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Orrin
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Devinsky
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brain-structure function; Cortical folding; Neuroanatomy; Neuroimaging; Working memory