Where smart brains are different: A quantitative meta-analysis of functional and structural brain imaging studies on intelligence

Individual differences in general intelligence have been associated with differences in brain structure and function. The currently most popular theory of the neural bases of intelligence - the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of Intelligence (P-FIT) - describes a network of frontal and parietal brain regions as the main neural basis of intelligence. Here, we put the theory to an empirical test by conducting voxel-based quantitative meta-analyses of 12 structural and 16 functional human brain imaging studies, testing for statistically significant spatial convergence across studies. We focused our analyses on studies reporting associations between individual differences in intelligence (as assessed by established tests of psychometric intelligence) and either (a) brain activation during a cognitive task (functional meta-analysis) or (b) amount of grey matter as assessed by voxel-based morphometry (structural meta-analysis). The functional meta-analysis resulted in eight clusters distributed across both hemispheres, located in lateral frontal, medial frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices. The structural meta-analysis of VBM studies resulted in 12 clusters distributed in lateral and medial frontal, temporal, and occipital cortices, as well as in subcortical structures. Results of the functional and structural meta-analyses did not show any overlap - although both independently showed good match with the P-FIT. Based on the meta-analyses, we present an updated model for the brain bases of intelligence that extends previous models in also considering the posterior cingulate cortex and subcortical structures as relevant for intelligence, and in differentiating between positive and negative associations of intelligence and brain activation. From a critical review of original studies and methods, we derive important suggestions for future research on brain correlates of intelligence.