Fluid intelligence, the ability to solve problems without prior experience, is thought to involve a complex set of brain processes.
However, the nature of its relationship to the brain remains unclear.
A recent study published in the journal Brain utilized the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices test.
It tested fluid intelligence in 227 patients who had a brain tumor or a stroke.
This test is a multiple-choice question about visual patterns, with increasing difficulty.
Each of these questions will present an incomplete pattern of geometric figures.
Then subjects are asked to select the missing part of the corresponding figure from several options.
Then, the researchers used a method called “injury-deficit mapping” to analyze the anatomical features of common brain injuries.
The results showed that impaired fluid intelligence was predominantly seen in patients with right frontal lobe damage.
In addition to brain tumors and strokes, this injury is also common in patients with a range of other neurological conditions, including traumatic brain injury and dementia.
This new approach treats individual brain regions as a holistic network to assess the overall relationship between the brain and cognition, with implications for the understanding of neurological disorders.
