Ten years ago, in 2007, we published our review of early neuroimaging studies of intelligence that implicated specific brain areas distributed across the cortex, especially in the parietal and frontal lobes. We called this the... [ view full abstract ]
Ten years ago, in 2007, we published our review of early neuroimaging studies of intelligence that implicated specific brain areas distributed across the cortex, especially in the parietal and frontal lobes. We called this the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of intelligence.
Rex Jung: Since then, in a second phase of imaging research, a number of independent studies have supported the key aspects of the P-FIT and tested hypotheses about brain connectivity suggested by our model. The post-P-FIT neuroimaging studies in this phase tend to have much larger sample sizes, use multiple measures of intelligence, and take advantage of powerful new techniques of image acquisition and analysis. Some of these imaging studies also include genetic designs and DNA analyses that bring the latest neuroscience techniques to intelligence research.
Rich Haier: We believe we are now entering a third phase of intelligence research driven by neuroscience advances that will be more experimental, and use techniques of brain stimulation, fluorescent proteins, optogenetics and chemogenetics to tweak specific brain systems in real time to assess the impact on reasoning and problem solving.
We both will discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of PFIT-related research over the next ten years, and whether the next phase of research holds the promise of science fiction or is constrained by the slow march of evolutionary time.
Biological & Psychopharmacology , Reasoning and Rationality , Neuroimaging
