General intelligence is associated with working memory-related brain activity: new evidence from a large sample study

Psychometric intelligence is closely related to working memory capacity. Here we aim to determine the associations of neural activation patterns during the N-back working memory paradigm with psychometric intelligence and working memory performance. We solved the statistical problems of previous studies using (1) a large cohort of 1235 young adults and (2) robust voxel-by-voxel permutation-based statistics at the whole-brain level. Many of the significant correlations were we ak, and our findings were not consistent with those of previous studies. We observed that many of the significant correlations involved brain areas in the periphery or boundaries between the task-positive network (TPN) and task-negative network (TNN), suggesting that the expansion of the TPN or TNN is associated with greater cognitive ability. Lower activity in TPN and less task-induced deactivation (TID) in TNN were associated with greater cognitive ability. These findings indicate that subjects with greater cognitive ability have a lower brain response to task demand, consistent with the notion that TID in TNN reflects cognitive demand but partly inconsistent with the prevailing neural efficiency theory. One exception was the pre-supplementary motor area, which plays a key role in cognitive control and sequential processing. In this area, intelligent subjects demonstrated greater activity related to working memory, suggesting that the pre-supplementary motor area plays a unique role in the execution of working memory tasks in intelligent subjects

Processing speed and visuospatial executive function predict visual working memory ability in older adults

Visual working memory (VWM) has been shown to be particularly age sensitive. Determining which measures share variance with this cognitive ability in older adults may help to elucidate the key factors underlying the effects of aging. Predictors of VWM (measured by a modified Visual Patterns Test) were investigated in a subsample (N = 44, mean age = 73) of older adults from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936; Deary et al., 2007 , BMC Geriatrics, 7, 28). Childhood intelligence (Moray House Test) and contemporaneous measures of processing speed (four-choice reaction time), executive function (verbal fluency; block design), and spatial working memory (backward spatial span), were assessed as potential predictors. All contemporaneous measures except verbal fluency were significantly associated with VWM, and processing speed had the largest effect size (r = -.53, p < .001). In linear regression analysis, even after adjusting for childhood intelligence, processing speed and the executive measure associated with visuospatial organization accounted for 35% of the variance in VWM. Processing speed may affect VWM performance in older adults via speed of encoding and/or rate of rehearsal, while executive resources specifically associated with visuospatial material are also important

Concurrent validity and reliability of suicide risk assessment instruments: a meta-analysis of 20 instruments across 27 international cohorts.

OBJECTIVE\nMETHOD\nRESULTS\nCONCLUSIONS\nA major limitation of current suicide research is the lack of power to identify robust correlates of suicidal thoughts or behavior. Variation in suicide risk assessment instruments used across cohorts may represent a limitation to pooling data in international consortia.\nHere, we examine this issue through two approaches: (a) an extensive literature search on the reliability and concurrent validity of the most commonly used instruments and (b) by pooling data (N ∼ 6,000 participants) from cohorts from the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics Through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Major Depressive Disorder and ENIGMA-Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviour working groups, to assess the concurrent validity of instruments currently used for assessing suicidal thoughts or behavior.\nWe observed moderate-to-high correlations between measures, consistent with the wide range (κ range: 0.15-0.97; r range: 0.21-0.94) reported in the literature. Two common multi-item instruments, the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation were highly correlated with each other (r = 0.83). Sensitivity analyses identified sources of heterogeneity such as the time frame of the instrument and whether it relies on self-report or a clinical interview. Finally, construct-specific analyses suggest that suicide ideation items from common psychiatric questionnaires are most concordant with the suicide ideation construct of multi-item instruments.\nOur findings suggest that multi-item instruments provide valuable information on different aspects of suicidal thoughts or behavior but share a modest core factor with single suicidal ideation items. Retrospective, multisite collaborations including distinct instruments should be feasible provided they harmonize across instruments or focus on specific constructs of suicidality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).Education and Child Studie