Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Individual differences in cortical processing speed predict cognitive abilities: a model-based cognitive neuroscience account

Anna-Lena Schubert, View ORCID ProfileMichael D. Nunez, Dirk Hagemann, Joachim Vandekerckhove
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/374827
Anna-Lena Schubert
1Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: anna-lena.schubert@psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de
Michael D. Nunez
2Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
5Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Michael D. Nunez
Dirk Hagemann
1Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Joachim Vandekerckhove
2Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
3Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
4Institute of Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Previous research has shown that individuals with greater cognitive abilities display a greater speed of higher-order cognitive processing. These results suggest that speeded neural information-processing may facilitate evidence accumulation during decision making and memory updating and thus yield advantages in general cognitive abilities. We used a hierarchical Bayesian cognitive modeling approach to test the hypothesis that individual differences in the velocity of evidence accumulation mediate the relationship between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities. We found that a higher neural speed predicted both the velocity of evidence accumulation across behavioral tasks as well as cognitive ability test scores. However, only a small part of the association between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities was mediated by individual differences in the velocity of evidence accumulation. The model demonstrated impressive forecasting abilities by predicting 36% of individual variation in cognitive ability test scores in an entirely new sample solely based on their electrophysiological and behavioral data. Our results suggest that individual differences in neural processing speed might affect a plethora of higher-order cognitive processes, that only in concert explain the large association between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities, instead of the effect being entirely explained by differences in evidence accumulation speeds.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted July 23, 2018.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Individual differences in cortical processing speed predict cognitive abilities: a model-based cognitive neuroscience account
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Individual differences in cortical processing speed predict cognitive abilities: a model-based cognitive neuroscience account
Anna-Lena Schubert, Michael D. Nunez, Dirk Hagemann, Joachim Vandekerckhove
bioRxiv 374827; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/374827
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Individual differences in cortical processing speed predict cognitive abilities: a model-based cognitive neuroscience account
Anna-Lena Schubert, Michael D. Nunez, Dirk Hagemann, Joachim Vandekerckhove
bioRxiv 374827; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/374827

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4657)
  • Biochemistry (10309)
  • Bioengineering (7629)
  • Bioinformatics (26213)
  • Biophysics (13457)
  • Cancer Biology (10635)
  • Cell Biology (15354)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8460)
  • Ecology (12766)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16779)
  • Genetics (11368)
  • Genomics (15415)
  • Immunology (10561)
  • Microbiology (25064)
  • Molecular Biology (10165)
  • Neuroscience (54187)
  • Paleontology (398)
  • Pathology (1657)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2878)
  • Physiology (4319)
  • Plant Biology (9206)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1582)
  • Synthetic Biology (2543)
  • Systems Biology (6759)
  • Zoology (1453)