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Parieto-frontal gyrification and working memory in healthy adults

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Abstract

Gyrification of the cortical mantle is a dynamic process that increases with cortical surface area and decreases with age. Increased gyrification is associated with higher scores on cognitive tasks in adults; however, the degree to which this relationship is independent of cortical surface area remains undefined. This study investigates whether regional variation in gyrification is associated with domain-general and domain-specific cognition. Our hypothesis is that increased local gyrification confers a functional advantage that is independent of surface area. To quantify regional gyrification, we computed the local gyrification index (LGI) at each vertex and averaged across a bilateral parietal-frontal region associated with general intelligence and reasoning (Jung and Haier 2007). A sample of 48 healthy adults (24 males/24 females; ages 18–68 years) completed a high-resolution 3 T T1-weighted MRI and standardized administration of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). We found a positive correlation between cortical gyrification and working memory, which remained significant after controlling for cortical surface area. Results suggest that a higher degree of local cortical folding confers a functional advantage that is independent from surface area and evident for more dynamic or “fluid” cognitive processes (i.e., working memory) rather than over-learned or “crystallized” cognitive processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Division, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Sophie Green, Karen Blackmon, Thomas Thesen, Xiuyuan Wang & Orrin Devinsky

  2. Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, FL, 33432, USA

    Sophie Green

  3. Department of Behavioral Sciences, St. George’s University School of Medicine, West Indies, Grenada

    Karen Blackmon

  4. Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Thomas Thesen

  5. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Jonathan DuBois

  6. Multimodal Imaging Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Eric Halgren

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  1. Sophie Green
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  2. Karen Blackmon
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  3. Thomas Thesen
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  4. Jonathan DuBois
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  5. Xiuyuan Wang
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  7. Orrin Devinsky
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Correspondence to Sophie Green.

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Funding

The study was funded by generous support from Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES).

Conflict of interest

Sophie Green declares that she has no conflict of interest. Orrin Devinsky declares that he has no conflict of interest. Karen Blackmon declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jonathan DuBois declares that he has no conflict of interest. Xiuyuan Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Eric Halgren declares that he has no conflict of interest. Thomas Thesen declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Green, S., Blackmon, K., Thesen, T. et al. Parieto-frontal gyrification and working memory in healthy adults. Brain Imaging and Behavior 12, 303–308 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-017-9696-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-017-9696-9

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