Abstract
The prevailing opinion emphasizes fronto-parietal network (FPN) is key in mediating general fluid intelligence (gF). Meanwhile, recent studies show that human MT complex (hMT+), located at the occipito-temporal border and involved in 3D perception processing, also plays a key role in gF. However, the underlying mechanism is not clear, yet. To investigate this issue, our study targets visuo-spatial intelligence, which is considered to have high loading on gF. We use ultra-high field magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure GABA/glutamate concentrations in hMT+ combining resting-state fMRI functional connectivity (FC), behavioral examinations including hMT+ perception suppression test and gF subtest in visuo-spatial component. Our findings show that both GABA in hMT+ and frontal-hMT+ functional connectivity significantly correlate with the performance of visuo-spatial intelligence. Further, serial mediation model demonstrates that the effect of hMT+ GABA on visuo-spatial gF is fully mediated by the hMT+ frontal FC. Together our findings highlight the importance in integrating sensory and frontal cortices in mediating the visuospatial component of general fluid intelligence.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵# Co-first author
"This finding is in line with prior results, which indicates that motion perception is associated with neural activity in hMT+ area, but not in EVC (primarily in V1)(Schallmo et al., 2018). " updated to "These findings suggest that the relationship between motion suppression and GABA+ is specific to hMT+, but not in EVC (primarily in V1), which is similar with prior observation (Schallmo et al., 2018). "
