Science denialists are always telling us IQ is discredited. But then …

From bioRxiv:

Morphometric Similarity Networks Detect Microscale Cortical Organisation And Predict Inter-Individual Cognitive Variation [PDF]

Jakob Seidlitz, František Váša, Maxwell Shinn, Rafael Romero-Garcia, Kirstie J. Whitaker, Petra E. Vértes, Paul Kirkpatrick Reardon, Liv Clasen, Adam Messinger, David A. Leopold, Peter Fonagy, Raymond J. Dolan, Peter B. Jones, Ian M. Goodyer, the NSPN Consortium, Armin Raznahan, Edward T. Bullmore doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/135855

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed

Abstract

Macroscopic cortical networks are important for cognitive function, but it remains challenging to construct anatomically plausible individual structural connectomes from human neuroimaging. We introduce a new technique for cortical network mapping, based on inter-regional similarity of multiple morphometric parameters measured using multimodal MRI. In three cohorts (two human, one macaque), we find that the resulting morphometric similarity networks (MSNs) have a complex topological organisation comprising modules and high-degree hubs. Human MSN modules recapitulate known cortical cytoarchitectonic divisions, and greater inter-regional morphometric similarity was associated with stronger inter-regional co-expression of genes enriched for neuronal terms. Comparing macaque MSNs to tract-tracing data confirmed that morphometric similarity was related to axonal connectivity. Finally, variation in the degree of human MSN nodes accounted for about 40% of between-subject variability in IQ. Morphometric similarity mapping provides a novel, robust and biologically plausible approach to understanding how human cortical networks underpin individual differences in psychological functions.