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Intelligence and neural efficiency
Abstract
We review research on the neural efficiency hypothesis of intelligence, stating that brighter individuals display lower (more efficient) brain activation while performing cognitive tasks [Haier, R.J., Siegel, B.V., Nuechterlein, K.H., Hazlett, E., Wu, J.C., Paek, J., Browning, H.L., Buchsbaum, M.S., 1988. Cortical glucose metabolic rate correlates of abstract reasoning and attention studied with positron emission tomography. Intelligence 12, 199-217]. While most early studies confirmed this hypothesis later research has revealed contradictory evidence or has identified some moderating variables like sex, task type, task complexity or brain area. Neuroscientific training studies suggest that neural efficiency also seems to be a function of the amount and quality of learning. From integrating this evidence we conclude that neural efficiency might arise when individuals are confronted with tasks of (subjectively) low to moderate task difficulty and it is mainly observable for frontal brain areas. This is true for easier novel cognitive tasks or after sufficient practice allowing participants to develop appropriate (efficient) strategies to deal with the task. In very complex tasks more able individuals seem to invest more cortical resources resulting in positive correlations between brain usage and cognitive ability. Based on the reviewed evidence we propose future empirical approaches in this field.
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“To exclude the effects of age, gender, intellectual ability and depression,31–33 we included these measures as regressors.”
From Ventral striatum dysfunction in children and adolescents with reactive attachment disorder: functional MRI study (2015) · cites this paper as [32]
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Bellis, M. D. D., Morey, R. A., Nooner, K. B., Woolley, D. P., Haswell, C. C., & Hooper, S. R. (2019) · Child Maltreatment · doi:10.1177/1077559518810525 · Cited by 16
“Since higher IQ participants demonstrate a linear relationship with neural efficiency compared with lower IQ participants in the IQ range of our participants (Neubauer & Fink, 2009), we believe FSIQ group differences were appropriately addressed using statistical methods.”
Neuronal symphonies: Musical improvisation and the centrencephalic space of functional integration
Maldonato, M. N., Oliverio, A., & Esposito, A. A. (2017) · World Futures · doi:10.1080/02604027.2017.1345250 · Cited by 14
“Unlike the inexpert musician, the expert one is able to handle such processes more easily, which might explain the reduced metabolic activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex (Neubauer & Fink, 2009).”
BackgroundEffects of stress on functional connectivity during verbal processing
Nair, N., Hegarty, J. P., Ferguson, B. J., Hooshmand, S., Hecht, P. M., Tilley, M. R., Christ, S. E., & Beversdorf, D. Q. (2019) · Brain Imaging and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11682-019-00221-5 · Cited by 15
Thinking as Analogy-Making: Toward a Neural Process Account of General Intelligence
Theves, S. (2025) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1555-24.2025 · Cited by 15
Moriarty, T. A., Bourbeau, K., Mermier, C. M., Kravitz, L. R., Gibson, A. L., Beltz, N. M., Negrete, O., & Zuhl, M. (2020) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention · doi:10.1097/hcr.0000000000000545 · Cited by 14
Schumann, F., Steinborn, M. B., Flehmig, H. C., Kürten, J., Langner, R., & Huestegge, L. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.946626 · Cited by 17
“, 2017) and is thus suitable for comparing variability even of individuals who differ very much in their average cognitive speed (Jensen and Rohwer, 1966; Neubauer and Fink, 2009).”
BackgroundEarly electro-cortical correlates of inspection time task performance
Hill, D., Saville, C. W. N., Kiely, S., Roberts, M. V., Boehm, S. G., Haenschel, C., & Klein, C. (2011) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2011.06.005 · Cited by 14
Bergner, S., & Neubauer, A. C. (2011) · High Ability Studies · doi:10.1080/13598139.2011.628849 · Cited by 15
Self-citationMultifaceted pattern of neural efficiency in working memory capacity
Pahor, A., & Jaušovec, N. (2017) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2017.10.001 · Cited by 14
“However, neural efficiency is usually determined in relation to differences between resting and cognitive load conditions (e.g., Neubauer & Fink, 2009; Pfurtscheller, 1999), hence further research is needed to clarify this relation.”
BackgroundPsychopathic traits are differentially associated with efficiency of neural communication
Tillem, S., van Dongen, J. D. M., Brazil, I. A., & Baskin-sommers, A. R. (2018) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.13194 · Cited by 14
Towards an interdisciplinary framework about intelligence
Castán, N. P., Tajadura, B. S., & Cofré, R. (2021) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06268 · Cited by 19
Personality and the neural efficiency theory
Knyazev, G. G., Pylkova, L. V., Slobodskoj‐Plusnin, J. Y., Bocharov, A. V., & Ushakov, D. V. (2015) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.002 · Cited by 14
Giftedness and High Ability in Mathematics
Лейкин, Р. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77487-9_65-4 · Cited by 17
Weber, S., Hausmann, M., Kane, P., & Weis, S. (2020) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107536 · Cited by 13
Lu, R., Bao, N., Zhang, X., & Shi, J. (2022) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108190 · Cited by 13
Figeys, M., Loucks, T. M. J., Leung, A. W. S., & Kim, E. S. (2023) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114343 · Cited by 14
Smevik, H., Habli, S., Saksvik, S. B., Kliem, E., Evensmoen, H. R., Conde, V., Petroni, A., Asarnow, R. F., Dennis, E. L., Eikenes, L., et al. (2023) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhad024 · Cited by 14
“…time on task may therefore reflect an adaptive or more cost-efficient response - freeing up neural resources (lowering metabolic cost) and allowing participants to engage in other thought processes while still maintaining a satisfactory performance (Petersen et al. 1998; Neubauer and Fink 2009).”
BackgroundRen, X., & Libertus, M. E. (2023) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_02008 · Cited by 13
“In addition, human cognition tends to reach a stable state in early adulthood, and the effects of training or learning on cognitive performance are typically limited (Neubauer & Fink, 2009).”
BackgroundInfluentialEEG-based neurophysiological indices for expert psychomotor performance – a review
Morrone, J. M., & Pedlar, C. R. (2024) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106132 · Cited by 18
“For instance, within tasks of higher complexity, higher recruitment of cortical resources is observed, which suggests a positive correlation between cortical activation and performance abilities (e.g., cognitive performance, which was found in frontal regions; Neubauer & Fink, 2009).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialPenhale, S. H., Arif, Y., Schantell, M. D., Johnson, H. J., Willett, M. P., Okelberry, H. J., Meehan, C. E., Heinrichs‐Graham, E., & Wilson, T. W. (2024) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.26591 · Cited by 13
“…this hypothesis states that when performing the same cognitive task, younger individuals and people with higher intelligence use less cortical volume and/or have weaker activation than those who are older or have lower intelligence (Dunst et al., 2014; Haier et al., 1988; Neubauer & Fink, 2009).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialBrain, Creativity and Education
Jaušovec, N. (2011) · The Open Education Journal · doi:10.2174/1874920801104010050 · Cited by 13
“Neurophysiologic research [11, 14] has been mainly interested in the verbal and performance components of intelligence [15-18] and has, only recently paid some attention to emotional intelligence [19-21].”
BackgroundFluid intelligence and neural mechanisms of conflict adaptation
Liu, T., Xiao, T., & Shi, J. (2016) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2016.04.003 · Cited by 13
Fluid Intelligence and the Cross-Frequency Coupling of Neuronal Oscillations
Chuderski, A. (2016) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2016.86 · Cited by 13
“At the same time, the former brains show relatively larger activation when a task is especially difficult, or its computational characteristics demand so (Neubauer & Fink, 2009).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Neubauer, A. C., & Fink, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Graz (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Neubauer, Aljoscha C.
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-07
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1004-1023
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2072541188
- Cited by
- 878
- References
- 149
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 63 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 40.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Keywords
- neural efficiency hypothesis, intelligence, brain activation, cognitive task difficulty, frontal cortex, cortical glucose metabolism, cognitive training, learning, moderators, abstract thinking, attention
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Male, Models, Neurological, Practice, Psychological, Professional Competence, Sex Characteristics
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