How brain imaging redefine intelligence

High-tech scans of the resting human brain can provide a new way to define and interpret the brain's actual mental capacity, new research suggests. NYU School of Medicine researchers used a specialized imaging technology to measure patients' brains for entropy , the variety of nerve circuits used to interpret the surrounding world.

Part of theories on human consciousness, the concept of entropy has become a greater research focus with recent improvements in the ability of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track chemical activity patterns in the brain.

By analyzing fMRI images in every region of the brains in 892 American men and women, the study authors linked greater entropy to more versatile processing of information. This is considered a key aspect of intelligence, researchers say, because of the large volume of sensory information coming into the brain from its environment.

Functional MRI scans of brain entropy are a new means to understanding human intelligence," says study lead investigator Glenn Saxe, MD, a professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine and a member of NYU Langone Health's Neuroscience Institute.

Human intelligence is so meaningful because it is about the capacity to understand whatever may come, when there is no way beforehand to know what may come. An intelligent brain has to be flexible in the number of possible ways its nerve cells, or neurons, may be rearranged.

Functional MRI scans use magnetic fields and radio waves to measure subtle changes in blood flow to detect which brain cells and circuits are active or inactive. As part of the study, people were tested when their brains and minds were resting (not unengaged in a particular task) to get a base reading. Study participants had their brains imaged as they enrolled in the Harvard-based Brain Genomics Superstruct study over the last decade, with the stored images forming the foundation of the NYU team's analysis.

Researchers compared hundreds of fMRI scans taken milliseconds apart. The scans revealed the number of possible combinations of electrically active brain cells available to interact with each other in specific regions of the brain. The research team then used mathematical models validated by past studies to arrive at reliable, statistical entropy scores based on how well one set of active nerve-cell combinations captured by one image predicted those in the next image. Experts say the activity level of the estimated 100 billion neurons in the brain depends on how much sensory information is being processed at any instant, with many often inactive.

Scientists next compared their statistical measures of relatively higher or lower entropy with participants' scores on two standard IQ tests: the Shipley-Hartford test, which gauges verbal skills, and the Wechsler test, which assesses problem-solving abilities. If brain entropy could offer useful insight into intelligence, then it should track closely with IQ scores.

People with average intelligence have an IQ score of about 100, with current study participants having an above-average IQ, at 108. Study participants ' entropy scores were strongly tied to IQ. Using standard statistical techniques that were performed two different ways to ensure accuracy, the researchers found that higher entropy was significantly related to the brain regions where previous research has shown it matters most.

 Entropy scores closely matched IQ scores from the Shipley-Hartford test for the left side of the middle brain (the left inferior temporal lobe), which is tied to learning speech. Similarly, entropy scores tracked closely with those from the Wechsler test for the front region of the brain (bilateral anterior frontal lobes), a known center for organization, planning, and emotional control.
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Fish consumption linked to higher IQ

Children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have IQ scores that are 4 points higher, on average, than those who consume fish less frequently or not at all. Previous studies showed a relationship between omega-3s, the fatty acids in many types of fish and improved intelligence, as well as omega-3s and better sleep. But they've never all been connected before.

This work, conducted by Jianghong Liu, Jennifer Pinto-Martin and Alexandra Hanlon of the School of Nursing and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Adrian Raine, reveals sleep as a possible mediating pathway, the potential missing link between fish and intelligence.

For the work, a cohort of 541 9- to 11-year-olds in China, 54 percent boys and 46 percent girls, completed a questionnaire about how often they consumed fish in the past month, with options ranging from "never" to "at least once per week." They also took the Chinese version of an IQ test called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, which examines verbal and non-verbal skills such as vocabulary and coding.

Their parents then answered questions about sleep quality using the standardized Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire, which included topics such as sleep duration and frequency of night waking or daytime sleepiness. Finally, the researchers controlled for demographic information, including parental education, occupation and marital status and number of
children in the home.

Analyzing these data points, the Penn team found that children who reported eating fish weekly scored 4.8 points higher on the IQ exams than those who said they "seldom" or "never" consumed fish. Those whose meals sometimes included fish scored 3.3 points higher. In addition, increased fish consumption was associated with fewer disturbances of sleep, which the researchers say indicates better overall sleep quality. Lack of sleep is associated with antisocial behavior; poor cognition is associated with antisocial behavior, fish consumption has positive health benefits. Children should be introduced to it early on.
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Development of brain networks

According to new research, the brains of smart people are wired differently, it allows them to absorb important facts quickly – while blocking out irrelevant information. Scientists used MRI scans on many volunteers to shed light on the nature of intelligence. They had already identified areas of the brain that control IQ and now they have uncovered the mechanism behind it. Researchers said it is possible for people to make themselves more intelligent with brain training games.

Researchers discovered that regions interact more closely in brainy individuals – while others disconnect themselves. In more intelligent people, certain regions are clearly more strongly involved in the exchange of information between different 'sub networks' of neurons. This enables important information to be communicated faster, and more efficiently. On the other hand, the researchers also identified areas that are disconnected, or 'de-coupled', from the rest of the brain in brighter people.
They believe this results in better protection against distracting and irrelevant material.

It is possible that due to their biological predispositions, some individuals develop brain networks that favour intelligent behaviours or more challenging cognitive tasks. However, the frequent use of the brain for cognitively challenging tasks may positively influence the development of brain networks. Smart thinking requires various portions of the brain working together like different parts of an engine.

Differences in academic success and professional careers are attributed to a considerable degree to cognitive abilities. Higher level thinking are rooted in the patterns of integration among parts of the brain called functional modules.It combined the brain scans from the participants with an analysis of mathematical graphs of their networks of neurons to come up with the first neurobiological basis of human intelligence.

 The two brain regions involved in the cognitive processing of 'task relevant' information - the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex - are connected more efficiently to the rest of the brain. Another brain region, the junction area between temporal and parietal cortex that has been related to the shielding of thoughts against irrelevant information, is less strongly connected to the rest of the network.

The different topological embedding of these regions into the brain network could make it easier for smarter persons to differentiate between important and irrelevant information – which would be advantageous for many cognitive challenges. This is similar to a social network which consists of multiple sub-networks, for example: families, or circles of friends. Within these sub-networks or modules, the members of one family are more strongly interconnected than they are with people from other families or circles of friends.

Human brain is functionally organised in a very similar way. There are sub-networks of brain regions – modules that are more strongly interconnected among themselves while they have weaker connections to brain regions from other modules. Researchers examined whether the role of specific brain regions for communication within and among brain modules varies with individual differences in intelligence- whether a specific brain region supports the information exchange within their more than information exchange with other families, and how this relates to individual differences in intelligence.
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Fluoride levels in pregnancy affects children's IQ

Fluoride in the urine of pregnant women shows a correlation with lower measures of intelligence in their children, the growing fetal nervous system may be adversely affected by higher levels of fluoride exposure, the prenatal nervous system may be more sensitive to fluoride compared to that of toddler.

Some side effects of fluoride are dental defects like mild staining are common among those ingesting recommended levels of fluoride and skeletal fluorosis-excessive accumulation of fluoride in the bones.

The researchers analyzed urine samples that had been taken from mothers during pregnancy and from their children between six and twelve years of age to reconstruct personal measures of fluoride exposure for both mother and child.

The researchers then analyzed how levels of fluoride in urine related to the children's verbal, perceptual-performance, quantitative, memory, and motor abilities at age four, six and twelve. They discovered that urinary fluoride levels in pregnant women were higher but within the general range of urinary fluoride levels seen in non-pregnant.
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Breastfeeding is not linked to baby's IQ

Breastfeeding is the feeding of babies with breast milk, breastfed children  show normal response to stimuli at age 3 according to new research.

Their is no link between breastfeeding and intelligence quotient, researchers from University College of Dublin measured the cognitive abilities of 8000 children who were breast fed and discovered that breast milk does not improve their intellect.

National Health Service NHS advocates exclusive 6 months breastfeeding for babies, food can be added from 6 months.

Breastfeeding is good for mothers because a breastfeeding mother can burn more than 500 calories a day.