The link between speech-in-noise recognition and cognition has been researched extensively over the years, and the purpose of this thesis was to add to this field. Data from a sample of 394 participants from the n200 database (Rönnberg et al., 2016) was used to calculate the correlation between their performance on a speech-in-noise test and their score on a test measuring fluid intelligence. The speech-in-noise test consisted of matrix sentences with 4-talker babble as noise and fluid intelligence was represented by the score on a Raven’s Progressive Matrices test. Around half of the participants (n = 199) had documented hearing loss and were hearing aid users, while the rest were participants with normal hearing. The overall correlation between speech-in-noise recognition and fluid intelligence was -.317, which shows that a better (lower) score on the speech-in-noise test is correlated to a better score in the Raven’s test. The same type of correlation was calculated within the two different groups, and the results showed correlation of -.338 for the group without hearing loss and one of -.303 for the group with hearing loss. The results indicate that there is a weak to moderate correlation between speech-in-noise and fluid intelligence, and they support the theory that cognitive processing is related to speech perception in all people, regardless of hearing status.

Research within cognitive hearing science has throughout the years examined the relationship between speech recognition and cognitive functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of hearing aid experience, fluid intelligence, and visual cues on speech-in-noise recognition. Data from the n200 database by Rönnberg et al. (2016) was analyzed to address two research problems: (1) whether the number of years of hearing aid use influence reliance on visual cues in speech-in-noise recognition and (2) how the relationship between fluid intelligence and reliance on visual cues changes depending on hearing aid use experience. Data from 214 participants with hearing impairment was analyzed using linear mixed effects models. No statistically significant interactions were observed in the results for both research questions. However, the results indicated that increased hearing aid experience, as well as the presence of visual cues resulted in better speech-in-noise recognition ability.

Introdução: As funções cognitivas sofrem influência da idade, tanto no seu desenvolvimento como no seu declínio. De forma geral, as medidas de inteligência se relacionam com o volume de substância cinzenta (SC) em áreas cerebrais específicas e sofrem influência com o processo de envelhecimento. Em crianças e adolescentes as áreas envolvidas são o córtex pré-frontal, enquanto nos idosos e adultos jovens os córtices frontais e temporais desempenham um papel importante. Objetivo: Identificar quais áreas cerebrais estão implicadas nas variações das medidas de inteligência em uma amostra representativa de adultos jovens e idosos saudáveis. As hipóteses principais são: 1) haverá uma associação indireta entre distribuição de SC e idade envolvendo áreas de córtex frontal e temporal; 2) em adultos, as medidas de QI estimado irão se mostrar estáveis em decorrência da estabilidade entre as funções de inteligência fluida e cristalizada; 3) em idosos, as medidas de QI estimado apresentarão correlação direta com a distribuição de SC envolvendo o córtex temporal e límbico; 4) em idosos, as medidas de inteligência fluida apresentarão correlação direta com a distribuição de SC em córtices frontal e pré-frontal; 5) em idosos, as medidas de inteligência cristalizada não apresentarão correlações significativas com a distribuição de SC. Metodologia: Os exames de imagens cerebrais foram obtidos a partir de uma amostra representativa com ampla faixa etária. Foi investigada uma amostra de 258 sujeitos entre 18 e 75 anos que preencheram os critérios de inclusão/exclusão, e para os quais é possível estimar o QI através de subtestes do WASI. Os resultados estatísticos de cada análise foram realizados utilizando a volumetria baseada em voxel sob a forma de mapas paramétricos estatísticos e a relação dos resultados foram somente os que sobreviveram a correção para comparações múltiplas. Todos os resultados foram corrigidos através das variáveis de confusão (protocolo,aparelho de ressonância magnética e volume cerebral). Resultados: Identificamos correlações entre QI estimado e de inteligência fluida em regiões temporais mediais e límbicas bilaterais, na população idosa. Na população adulta também identificamos correlações entre inteligência cristalizada envolvendo regiões frontais e pré-frontais direita. Observamos também que houve perda de SC na população adulta envolvendo as regiões pré-frontais e frontais à esquerda. Conclusão: As medidas de inteligência cristalizada e fluida apresentaram correlação direta com o volume cerebral total, e especificamente em córtices frontais, pré-frontais bilaterais, e em regiões temporais e límbicas / Introduction: The cognitive functions could be influenced by age, both during the development as well as during the decline. Measures of intelligence in general are related to the volume of gray matter (GM) in specific brain areas, and also are under influence of aging process. In children and adolescents the brain areas involved is mainly the prefrontal cortex, while in the elderly other areas, such as the frontal and temporal cortices play an important role. Objective: To identify which brain areas are involved in variations in intelligence measures in a representative sample of large age span, from young adults to healthy elderly. The main hypotheses are: 1) there would be an indirect association between age distribution of GM and surrounding areas of the frontal and temporal cortex, 2) in adults, estimated IQ measures would prove to be stable secondarily to adaptation between fluid intelligence and crystallized functions, 3) in the elderly, measures of IQ estimated would present direct correlation with the distribution of GM involving the temporal cortex and limbic, 4) in the elderly, measures of fluid intelligence would show a direct correlation with the distribution of GM and pre frontal cortices, 5) in the elderly, measures of crystallized intelligence would not present significant correlations with the distribution of GM. Methods: Brain images scans were obtained from a representative sample with large age span. We investigated a sample of 258 subjects between 18 and 75 who met the criteria for inclusion / exclusion, and for which it is possible to estimate the IQ subtests by the WASI. Correlation statistical analyses were performed using voxel-based methodology with Statistical Parametric Map Software, and reported only if survived multiple comparison correction. All results were corrected for confounding variables (protocol, MRI scan and total brain volume). Results: We identified correlations between IQ and estimated fluid intelligence in medial temporal and limbic regions bilateral in the elderly. In the adult population we also identified correlations between crystallized intelligence involving the frontal and prefrontal right. We also observed that there was loss of GM in adults involving the left prefrontal regions and frontal. Conclusion: Measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence showed direct correlation with the total brain volume, and specifically in the frontal cortex, bilateral prefrontal, and temporal and limbic regions

On nomme culture un ensemble d’informations que les membres d’un groupe échangent par transmission sociale (imitation, communication...) sous la forme d’idées, de comportements ou d’artefacts. Les cultures développées chez l’espèce humaine sont plus complexes que chez les autres espèces. On attribue cela au processus d’évolution culturelle qui, chez l’humain, est cumulatif : au fur et à mesure de leur diffusion, certains traits culturels accumuleront des modifications jusqu’à devenir plus complexe et plus performants que ce qu’un individu seul aurait été capable de produire. On nomme ce processus le ratchet effect.Le projet de cette thèse était d’investiguer les mécanismes cognitifs impliqués dans l’émergence du ratchet effect. Nous avons reproduit ce phénomène en conditions expérimentales grâce à la méthode de transmission en chaîne afin de tester le pouvoir prédictif du raisonnement technique, de la théorie de l’esprit, de la créativité et de l’intelligence fluide dans la progression constante des performances au fil des générations. La première étude investigue le rôle de ces quatre facteurs dans une tâche de résolution de problème mécanique (construction de tour en fils de fer) dans une condition Communication (i.e., les participants sont autorisés à parler entre eux) et une condition Observation (i.e., les participants ne peuvent pas communiquer). Nous avons découvert que le raisonnement technique prédisait le mieux l’apparition du ratchet effect dans les deux conditions, tandis que les compétences en théorie de l’esprit ne permettaient aucune prédiction, ce qui va à l’encontre des principales hypothèses formulées sur les fondements sociocognitifs de la culture cumulative. La deuxième étude explorait l’influence des facteurs de raisonnement technique et de théorie de l’esprit sur la même tâche, dans une condition Monitoring (i.e., les participant communiquent indirectement en s’aidant d’une transmission vidéo) et une condition Blind (i.e., les participants ne se voient pas ils ne peuvent que communiquer verbalement). Les compétences en raisonnement technique prédisent encore une fois l’émergence d’un ratchet effect, tandis que la théorie de l’esprit semble prédire le même effet dans la condition Blind uniquement. Ces résultats démontrent le poids de l’influence du raisonnement technique dans la création, la transmission et l’amélioration d’un trait culturel matériel, tandis que les compétences en théorie de l’esprit ne sont impliquées que dans une condition particulièrement abstraite où les individus n’ont pas de lien visuel. La troisième étude explore les conditions conduisant les individus à copier ou à innover une technique ou un outil. Il s’agit de reproduire une situation non familière, en demandant à un participant d’exécuter une tâche matérielle (fabrication d’un panier à partir d’objets de la vie quotidienne) dont on fait varier les risques et l’opacité de la tâche (i.e., dont les mécanismes intervenant entre l’état initial et le produit final sont difficiles à comprendre). Il s’avère que les participants avaient plus souvent tendance à reproduire les mêmes actions qu’en démonstration et en employant les mêmes objets lorsqu’ils étaient testés dans une conditions risquée et opaque, tandis qu’ils employaient de nouveaux objets et de nouvelles actions dans une tâche non risquée et transparente. / Culture is a set of information that members of a group share through social transmission (imitation, communication ...) in the form of ideas, behaviors or artifacts. Cultural traits developed by humans are more complex than in other species. This is attributed to the process of cultural evolution which, in humans, is cumulative. Along with their diffusion, cultural traits become more complex and perform progressively better by accumulating changes over generations, a process called the ratchet effect. The project of this thesis was to investigate cognitive mechanisms involved in the emergence of the ratchet effect. We simulated this phenomenon under experimental conditions using thechain transmission method in order to test the predictive power of technical reasoning, theory-of-mind skills, creativity and fluid intelligence in the constant progression of performances across generations. The first study investigated the role of these four factors in a mechanical problem solving task (tower construction with wires) in a Communication condition (i.e., participants are allowed to talk to each other) and an Observation condition (i.e., participants cannot communicate). Our strongest prediction regarding this paradigm involved technical reasoning, for having proven a better predictor of a ratchet effect than theory of mind skills. The same observation was made in both conditions, while theory of mind skills did not allow to predict any ratchet effect. The second study explored the influence of technical reasoning and theory-of-mind skills on the same task, in a Monitoring condition (i.e., participants communicate indirectly through a video feed) and a Blind condition (i.e., participants communicate verbally without seeing each other). Technical reasoning skills predicted once again the emergence of a ratchet effect, while theory-of-mind skills predicted the same effect in the Blind condition only. These results demonstrate the weight of technical reasoning in thecreation, transmission, and improvement of a material cultural trait, while theory-ofmind skills are involved only in a particularly abstract situation where individuals have no visual cues. The third study explored the conditions leading individuals to copy or innovate a technique or tool. Participants were tested in an unfamiliar situation, and were asked to achieve a material task (making a basket out of everyday life objects). Conditions varied based on opacity (i.e., mechanisms involved between the initial state and the final product are difficult to understand) and risk levels. It turned out that participants were more likely to reproduce the same actions and objects used in a demonstration when tested in a risky and opaque condition, while they used more often new objects and new actions in a non-risky, transparent task.

La mémoire de travail et le contrôle cognitif sont des construits proches ; on suppose généralement qu'une forte capacité en mémoire de travail est associée à un contrôle cognitif efficace. Cette hypothèse a des implications importantes pour la cognition humaine et apporte une explication élégante à la corrélation fréquemment reportée entre mémoire de travail et intelligence fluide. En revanche, les difficultés d'opérationnalisation et de mesure du contrôle cognitif rendent l'hypothèse difficile à tester. Un modèle récent du contrôle cognitif, le modèle à Deux Mécanismes de Contrôle (DMC), offre une solution à ce problème : ce modèle propose l'existence de deux mécanismes de contrôle cognitif distincts et permet de les opérationnaliser de façon efficace. La littérature prédit que l'un de ces deux mécanismes, le contrôle proactif, devrait être lié à la mémoire de travail. L'objectif de cette thèse était de tester l'existence d'une relation entre les différences inter-individuelles en mémoire de travail et la tendance à mettre en place un mécanisme de contrôle proactif. Cette relation a été testée sous quatre axes de travail : 1) en utilisant de nouveaux paradigmes expérimentaux pour mesurer la tendance à utiliser le contrôle proactif, 2) grâce à des tâches classiques de contrôle cognitif choisies pour leur sensibilité au contrôle proactif, 3) à travers une approche par imagerie cérébrale incluant électro-encéphalographie et imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle, et 4) en tant que facteur explicatif de la relation entre mémoire de travail et intelligence fluide. Dans l'ensemble, nos résultats n'ont pas permis de soutenir l'idée que la capacité en mémoire de travail est directement liée à la tendance à utiliser un mécanisme de contrôle proactif ; les données suggèrent plutôt un avantage général en faveur des participants à forte capacité en mémoire de travail dans toutes les situations. / The constructs of working memory and cognitive control are conceptually close; a high working memory capacity is hypothesized to be associated with an efficient cognitive control. This hypothetical association has large implications for human cognition and provides an elegant explanation for the frequently reported relationship between working memory capacity and fluid intelligence. However, the difficulty in operationalizing and measuring cognitive control makes this hypothesis hard to test. One model of cognitive control, the Dual Mechanisms of Control (DMC) framework, constitutes a possible solution to this problem: the model proposes two distinct mechanisms of cognitive control which can be efficiently operationalized and studied. There is reason to believe that one of these two mechanisms, proactive control, is specifically related to working memory capacity. The objective of the present research work was to assess the relationship between individual differences in working memory capacity and the tendency to use proactive control. This relationship was tested in four steps: 1) by using innovative measures of the tendency to use proactive control, based on newly developed paradigms, 2) with classic cognitive control tasks sensitive to proactive control, 3) with a neuroimaging approach using electro-encephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, and 4) by testing whether the use of proactive control explains the relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence. Overall, our results did not support the idea that working memory capacity is uniquely related to the tendency to use proactive control; the data were more consistent with a general advantage of participants with a high working memory capacity in all situations.

Introdução: As funções cognitivas sofrem influência da idade, tanto no seu desenvolvimento como no seu declínio. De forma geral, as medidas de inteligência se relacionam com o volume de substância cinzenta (SC) em áreas cerebrais específicas e sofrem influência com o processo de envelhecimento. Em crianças e adolescentes as áreas envolvidas são o córtex pré-frontal, enquanto nos idosos e adultos jovens os córtices frontais e temporais desempenham um papel importante. Objetivo: Identificar quais áreas cerebrais estão implicadas nas variações das medidas de inteligência em uma amostra representativa de adultos jovens e idosos saudáveis. As hipóteses principais são: 1) haverá uma associação indireta entre distribuição de SC e idade envolvendo áreas de córtex frontal e temporal; 2) em adultos, as medidas de QI estimado irão se mostrar estáveis em decorrência da estabilidade entre as funções de inteligência fluida e cristalizada; 3) em idosos, as medidas de QI estimado apresentarão correlação direta com a distribuição de SC envolvendo o córtex temporal e límbico; 4) em idosos, as medidas de inteligência fluida apresentarão correlação direta com a distribuição de SC em córtices frontal e pré-frontal; 5) em idosos, as medidas de inteligência cristalizada não apresentarão correlações significativas com a distribuição de SC. Metodologia: Os exames de imagens cerebrais foram obtidos a partir de uma amostra representativa com ampla faixa etária. Foi investigada uma amostra de 258 sujeitos entre 18 e 75 anos que preencheram os critérios de inclusão/exclusão, e para os quais é possível estimar o QI através de subtestes do WASI. Os resultados estatísticos de cada análise foram realizados utilizando a volumetria baseada em voxel sob a forma de mapas paramétricos estatísticos e a relação dos resultados foram somente os que sobreviveram a correção para comparações múltiplas. Todos os resultados foram corrigidos através das variáveis de confusão (protocolo,aparelho de ressonância magnética e volume cerebral). Resultados: Identificamos correlações entre QI estimado e de inteligência fluida em regiões temporais mediais e límbicas bilaterais, na população idosa. Na população adulta também identificamos correlações entre inteligência cristalizada envolvendo regiões frontais e pré-frontais direita. Observamos também que houve perda de SC na população adulta envolvendo as regiões pré-frontais e frontais à esquerda. Conclusão: As medidas de inteligência cristalizada e fluida apresentaram correlação direta com o volume cerebral total, e especificamente em córtices frontais, pré-frontais bilaterais, e em regiões temporais e límbicas / Introduction: The cognitive functions could be influenced by age, both during the development as well as during the decline. Measures of intelligence in general are related to the volume of gray matter (GM) in specific brain areas, and also are under influence of aging process. In children and adolescents the brain areas involved is mainly the prefrontal cortex, while in the elderly other areas, such as the frontal and temporal cortices play an important role. Objective: To identify which brain areas are involved in variations in intelligence measures in a representative sample of large age span, from young adults to healthy elderly. The main hypotheses are: 1) there would be an indirect association between age distribution of GM and surrounding areas of the frontal and temporal cortex, 2) in adults, estimated IQ measures would prove to be stable secondarily to adaptation between fluid intelligence and crystallized functions, 3) in the elderly, measures of IQ estimated would present direct correlation with the distribution of GM involving the temporal cortex and limbic, 4) in the elderly, measures of fluid intelligence would show a direct correlation with the distribution of GM and pre frontal cortices, 5) in the elderly, measures of crystallized intelligence would not present significant correlations with the distribution of GM. Methods: Brain images scans were obtained from a representative sample with large age span. We investigated a sample of 258 subjects between 18 and 75 who met the criteria for inclusion / exclusion, and for which it is possible to estimate the IQ subtests by the WASI. Correlation statistical analyses were performed using voxel-based methodology with Statistical Parametric Map Software, and reported only if survived multiple comparison correction. All results were corrected for confounding variables (protocol, MRI scan and total brain volume). Results: We identified correlations between IQ and estimated fluid intelligence in medial temporal and limbic regions bilateral in the elderly. In the adult population we also identified correlations between crystallized intelligence involving the frontal and prefrontal right. We also observed that there was loss of GM in adults involving the left prefrontal regions and frontal. Conclusion: Measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence showed direct correlation with the total brain volume, and specifically in the frontal cortex, bilateral prefrontal, and temporal and limbic regions

Zeit ist ein fundamentaler Aspekt menschlichen Verhaltens. Während Untersuchungen bislang meist nur auf einem der drei Hauptaspekte der Zeit: Dauer, Zeitfolge und individuelle zeitliche Orientierung fokussierten, untersucht diese Dissertation Zusammenhänge zwischen der individuellen zeitlichen Orientierung und der Zeitfolge. Zeit ist nicht direkt wahrnehmbar, sondern an kognitive Abstraktionsprozesse gebunden. Diese benötigen kognitive Ressourcen und werden kognitiven Fähigkeiten beeinflusst. Daher wurden Zusammenhänge zwischen individueller zeitlicher Orientierung und allgemeinen kognitiven Fähigkeiten ebenfalls untersucht. Studie 1 analysiert, wie verschiedene Aspekte individueller zeitlicher Orientierung korreliert sind, und diese Korrelationen von Alter und Geschlecht beeinflusst sind. Studien 2 und 3a analysieren Zusammenhänge zwischen individueller zeitlicher Orientierung und der Zeitfolge. Studie 3b untersucht mittels einer geometrischen Analogieanforderung Korrelationen zwischen individueller zeitlicher Orientierung und höheren fluiden Intelligenzleistungen. Befunde zu Zeitperspektive-Chronotyp- Relationen sowie Zeithorizont-Chronotyp-Relationen werden berichtet, ebenso Zusammenhänge zwischen Zeitperspektive, Zeithorizont und der Zeitfolge. Ausgehend von diesen und früheren Befunden wird ein kognitives Modell vorgestellt, welches alle drei Aspekte psychologischer Zeit (Zeitdauer; Zeitfolge; individuelle zeitliche Orientierung) integriert. Ferner werden als Ergebnis der Studien Zusammenhänge zwischen der Zukunftsperspektive und fluider Intelligenz sowie Chronotyp und verbaler Intelligenz berichtet. Verhaltensdaten und psychophysiologische Daten (Pupillendilation) zeigen ferner Zusammenhänge zwischen individueller zeitlicher Orientierung, analogem Denken, exekutiven Funktionen und Konfliktverarbeitung. So scheinen Zukunftsperspektive und Morgentyp eng mit Konfliktverarbeitung verbunden, der Zeithorizont hingegen eng mit inhibierenden Kontrollprozessen. / Time is a fundamental aspect of human experience. Whilst most research investigated major aspects of psychological time - time duration, time succession, individual temporal orientation - in isolation, this dissertation investigates interrelations between individual temporal orientation and time succession. Since psychological time is bound to cognitive abstraction processes that rely on cognitive resources and functions, interrelations between individual temporal orientation and cognitive capacities were also investigated. Study 1 explored how different levels of individuals’ temporal orientation may be interrelated, and how interrelations may be influenced by age and sex. Interrelations between individual temporal orientation and time succession were explored in a task predominantly requiring crystallized intelligence (Study 2) and in a semantic analogy task requiring crystallized and fluid intelligence (Study 3a). Study 3b investigated interrelations between individual temporal orientation and higher-level fluid intelligence measures by applying a geometric analogy task. Interrelations between time perspective and chronotype as well as between chronotype and temporal depth are reported. Further, both future time perspective and temporal depth are interrelated with time succession. A testable global working memory model of time perception integrating all three aspects of psychological time is proposed. Further, interrelations between individual temporal orientation and cognitive capacities are reported. Future time perspective was related to fluid intelligence, chronotype to verbal intelligence. Behavioral as well as pupillary data suggest that individual temporal orientation is related to analogical reasoning, executive functions and goal management. Whereas future time perspective and morningness appear interrelated with conflict detection, temporal depth appears interrelated with inhibitory control.

Wir können Mathematikleistungen über fluide Intelligenz (FI) vorhersagen. Der Einfluss von FI auf kognitive Prozesse und neuronale Mechanismen, die mathematischen Fähigkeiten in verschiedenen Teildisziplinen zugrunde liegen, ist jedoch wenig verstanden. Vorliegende Arbeit spezifiziert FI-bezogene Unterschiede in diesen Prozessen und Mechanismen beim Lösen von Geometrie-, Arithmetik- und Algebra-Aufgaben. Mithilfe eines multimethodalen Ansatzes beleuchtet sie das Zusammenspiel zwischen FI, Leistung und Faktoren wie Aufgabenkomplexität, Lernen und Strategiewahl, die kognitive Prozesse und Anforderungen beim Problemlösen beeinflussen. Leistungsunterschiede wurden durch Messung von Reaktionszeiten und Fehlerraten, Strategien durch Augenbewegungsanalyse erfasst. Als Indikator kortikaler Aktivität diente die ereigniskorrelierte (De-)Synchronisation (ERD/ERS) im Alpha-Band. Um kognitive Prozesse zu unterscheiden, haben wir die ERD/ERS im Theta-Band und den Alpha-Unterbändern einbezogen. Beim Lösen unvertrauter geometrischer Analogien zeichnete sich hohe FI durch verstärkte Verarbeitung visuell-räumlicher Informationen zum Repräsentieren von Merkmalszusammenhängen aus. Schüler mit hoher FI passten ihre Strategiewahl den Anforderungen flexibler an. Erstmals konnten wir durch trialweise Identifikation von Strategien FI-bezogene Unterschiede in der neuronalen Effizienz der Strategieausführung feststellen. Beim Lösen vertrauter arithmetischer und algebraischer Terme zeigten sich bei Schülern mit hoher im Vergleich zu Schülern mit durchschnittlicher FI geringere Anforderungen zur Aktualisierung numerischer Repräsentationen und eine bessere Leistung in komplexen Aufgaben. Weitere Analysen legen nahe, dass Schüler mit hoher FI Zusammenhänge in der Aufgabenstruktur besser erkennen und passende Routinen abrufen können. Die Fähigkeit Zusammenhangsrepräsentationen zu bilden könnte demnach ein Schlüsselaspekt zur Erklärung FI-abhängiger Unterschiede in mathematischen Fähigkeiten sein. / Fluid intelligence (FI) is a strong predictor of mathematical performance. However, the impact of FI on cognitive processes and neural mechanisms underlying differences in mathematical abilities across different subdivisions is not well understood. The present work specifies FI-related differences in these processes and mechanisms for students solving geometric, arithmetic, and algebraic problems. We chose a multi-methodological approach to shed light on the interplay between FI, performance, and factors such as task complexity, learning, and strategy selection that influence cognitive processes and task demands in problem-solving. We measured response times and error rates to evaluate performance, eye movements to identify solution strategies, and the event-related (de-)synchronization (ERD/ERS) in the broad alpha band as indicator of general cortical activity. Further, we considered the ERD/ERS in the theta band and the alpha sub-bands to distinguish between associated cognitive processes. For unfamiliar geometric analogy tasks, students with high FI built relational representations based on a more intense processing of spatial information. Strategy analyses revealed a more adaptive strategy choice in response to increasing task demands compared to students with average FI. Further, we conducted the first study identifying strategies and related cortical activity trial-wise and thereby identified FI-related differences in the neural efficiency of strategy execution. For solving familiar arithmetic and algebraic problems, high compared to average FI was associated with lower demands on the updating of numbers leading to a better performance in complex tasks. Further analyses suggest that students with high FI had an advantage to identify the relational structure of the problems and to retrieve routines that match this structure. Thus, the ability to build relational representations might be one key aspect explaining FI-related difference in mathematical abilities.

Hitherto, previous studies on the cerebral correlates of fluid intelligence (fluIQ) used tasks that did not exclusively demand fluIQ, or were restricted to participants of average fluIQ (ave-fluIQ) solving intelligence test items of varying difficulty, thus not allowing assumptions on interindividual differences in fluIQ. Geometric analogical reasoning (GAR) demands fluIQ very purely and thus is an eligible approach for research on interindividual differences in fluIQ. In a first study, we examined the cerebral correlates of GAR, and showed the involvement of parietal and frontal brain regions. This is in line with the assumptions of the parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) of intelligence and with literature reports for other visuo-spatial tasks. Building upon these findings, we report results from a second study with high fluIQ (hi-fluIQ) and ave-fluIQ school students solving a GAR task. Again in line with the P-FIT model, we demonstrated that the parieto-frontal network is involved in GAR in both groups. However, the extent of task-related brain activation in parietal and frontal brain regions was differentially modulated by fluIQ. Our results thus partly run counter to the postulates of the neural efficiency hypothesis, which assumes a negative brain activation-intelligence relationship. We conclude that this relationship is not generally unitary; rather, it can be conjectured that the adaptive and flexible modulation of brain activation is characteristic of hi-fluIQ. Knowledge on the stability of the cerebral correlates of hi-fluIQ during adolescence had been sparse. To elucidate this field, we examined the follow-up stability of the cerebral correlates of GAR in hi-fluIQ in a third study. We demonstrated that the relevant brain network is in place already at age 17 and that improvements in behavioral performance at age 18 due to task familiarity are indicative of more efficient use of the cerebral resources available. / Bisherige Studien zu zerebralen Korrelaten fluider Intelligenz (fluIQ) haben Aufgaben verwendet, die fluIQ nicht in Reinform erfordern oder haben Probanden mit durchschnittlicher fluIQ (ave-fluIQ) beim Lösen von Intelligenztestaufgaben mit variierenden Schwierigkeitsstufen untersucht und ermöglichen daher keine Aussagen zu interindividuellen Unterschieden in fluIQ. Geometrisches analoges Schließen (GA) beansprucht fluIQ in Reinform und eignet sich daher als differentielles Untersuchungsparadigma. In einer ersten Studie haben wir die zerebralen Korrelate des GA untersucht und nachgewiesen, dass parietale und frontale Hirnregionen involviert sind. Dies steht im Einklang mit der parieto-frontalen Integrationstheorie (P-FIT) der Intelligenz und mit Literaturberichten zu anderen visuell-räumlichen Aufgaben. Aufbauend auf diesen Befunden berichten wir Ergebnisse einer zweiten Studie, in der Schüler mit hoher fluIQ (hi-fluIQ) und ave-fluIQ GA-Aufgaben lösten. In Übereinstimmung mit den Annahmen des P-FIT-Modells konnten wir zeigen, dass GA in beiden Gruppen das parieto-frontale Netzwerk beansprucht. Das Ausmaß der Hirnaktivierung wurde jedoch differentiell durch fluIQ moduliert. Unsere Ergebnisse widersprechen damit teilweise den Postulaten der neuralen Effizienztheorie, die einen negativen Zusammenhang zwischen Hirnaktivierung und Intelligenz annimmt. Wir schlussfolgern, dass dieser Zusammenhang nicht generell einseitig gerichtet ist, sondern die flexible Modulation von Hirnaktivierung charakteristisch für hi-fluIQ ist. Befunde zur Stabilität zerebraler Korrelate von hi-fluIQ in der Jugend waren bisher rar. Um dieses Feld zu beleuchten, haben wir die follow-up-Stabilität zerebraler Korrelate des GA in der hi-fluIQ Gruppe in einer dritten Studie untersucht. Wir konnten zeigen, dass das relevante zerebrale Netzwerk schon mit 17 Jahren etabliert ist und Performanzverbesserungen über die Zeit für eine effizientere Nutzung der verfügbaren zerebralen Ressourcen sprechen.