Many explanations have been proposed for the evolution of our anomalously large brains, including social, ecological, and epiphenomenal hypotheses. Recently, an additional hypothesis has emerged, suggesting that advanced cognition and, by inference, increases in brain size, have been driven over evolutionary time by the need to deal with…

Lynn and Vanhanen (2012) have convincingly established that national IQs correlate positively with GDP, education, and many other social and economic factors. The direction of causality remains debatable. The present study re-examines data from military psychological assessments of the German federal army that show strong IQ gains of 0.5 IQ point…

The current study tests if the type of children's daily main meal (slow versus fast food) mediates the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with cognitive ability and cognitive growth in childhood. A Scottish birth cohort (Growing Up in Scotland) was assessed at ages 3 (N = 4512) and 5 years (N = 3833) on cognitive ability (i.e. vocabulary…

Here gray and white matter changes after four weeks of videogame practice were analyzed using optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM), cortical surface and cortical thickness indices, and white matter integrity computed from several projection, commissural, and association tracts relevant to cognition. Beginning with a sample of one hundred young…

Though mental ability tends to be relatively stable throughout the lifespan, many still argue that late life cognitive function largely reflects education, social class, and environmental circumstances. Instead, it may be that early life cognitive function contributes to each of these in turn, as well as to late life cognitive function. This paper…

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is the non-pathological left-right asymmetry of body traits that are usually left-right symmetrical, such as eye breadths and elbow to wrist lengths in humans, but which can be affected by developmental stressors. It is generally considered throughout biology to be an indicator of developmental instability and thus of…

The association between intelligence and diet at 3.5 and 7 years was examined in 591 children of European descent. Approximately half of the children were born small-for-gestational age (birth weight @?10th percentile). The relationship between IQ and diet (measured by food frequency) was investigated using multiple regression analyses. Eating…

In our prior study the negative correlation between Topology, a behavioral measure of fluid reasoning, and adult age diminished with the increase in the level of expertise in a cognitively-demanding domain of expertise in the game of GO. The present fMRI study was designed to investigate neural substrates of Topology. The modified topology…

Derived changes in genes associated with primary microcephaly (MCPH) have been suggested to be "currently sweeping to fixation" i.e., increasing in frequency in most populations, with the likely outcome that the derived allele will completely displace the ancestral allele over time. Possible causes for this sweep include effects on human reasoning…

Recent literature suggests a causal link between malnutrition and impaired cognitive development. A selective literature review indicates that the presence or absence of such a link cannot be established. A reanalysis of an experiment indicated after four years of treatment there was no association between cognitive and nutritional status.…

A hierarchical factor solution was obtained from a psychometrized battery of Piagetian-type tasks individually administered to 660 kindergarten children. The first two levels of factors included Piagetian theoretical entities. A third level factor was identified as a g. The association of Piagetian tasks with academic achievement was through the g…

Do stage-related patterns of early cognitive development reported for normally developing children also characterize at-risk and handicapped children when mental age organization of data is used? Mental age predicted Piagetian-based cognitive levels one to three but did not predict highest-level symbolic functioning in 95 handicapped children.…

This study investigates the nature and the factor structure of infant intelligence. The Bayley Mental Scale items were administered. According to the analysis, intelligence at any age is a set of separate mental abilities at each age, and there are a variety of paths through which mental development occurs. (JAZ)

The construct of general intelligence is discussed in the context of factor models, differential validity of tests, Piagetian tasks, heritability, social class, and race. The general factor is an abstraction resulting from genes, environmental pressures, and neural structures involved in cognitive or intellectual human behavior. (Author/RD)

A reanalysis of Stephens' intercorrelations of Wechsler subtests, achievement tests, and Piagetian tasks was conducted. (EJ 055 112) Piagetian tasks contributed almost equally to the definition of the general factor in intelligence along with the Wechsler subtests and the achievement tests. Communality outweighed differences between intelligence…