After a Century of Confusion.. New Study Redefines "Source of Intelligence"

SadaNews - For decades, neuroscientists have been accustomed to dividing the brain into specialized networks, including networks for attention, memory, language, and logical thinking. However, a question has remained unanswered: if these systems are separate, why do we feel that our minds operate as a cohesive unit?

In search of an explanation for this complex question, a recent study from the University of Notre Dame proposed a different answer: intelligence is not located in a specific "smart" area within the brain, but rather arises from how brain networks communicate with each other and their ability to coordinate efficiently and flexibly, according to a report on the "ScienceDaily" website.

Psychology has pointed to the concept of "general intelligence" for over a century, an observation that suggests that a person who excels in memory often also excels in attention, problem-solving, and language. This interconnection between cognitive abilities implies the existence of a unified foundation behind them all, but identifying this foundation has been a scientific challenge.

Researchers believe that the problem was not in determining "where intelligence is located," but in understanding "how it arises." The research team relied on advanced neuroimaging data from 831 adults as part of the "Human Connectome Project," as well as an independent sample of 145 individuals.

Instead of focusing on a specific area of the frontal or parietal lobes as previous studies have done, the researchers studied the entire network architecture of the brain, which is the way different regions are interconnected.

The clear result was that intelligence is associated with general characteristics of the whole brain system, such as the efficiency of information transfer, the flexibility of reorganizing networks, and the strength of long-range connections between areas, alongside the presence of regulatory centers controlling the flow of information.

The Brain as an Integrated System

According to what is known as the "neural network science theory," intelligence emerges when tasks are distributed among different specialized systems, the outputs of these systems are integrated efficiently, and distant areas communicate through fast "shortcuts" of neural pathways. This achieves a balance between local specialization and global integration.

In other words, the brain resembles a huge city, with each neighborhood having a specific function, but optimal performance occurs when the highways between neighborhoods are efficient and smooth.

The study suggests that intelligence is not a single skill or a specific function, but an emergent property of the organization of the entire system.

This may explain why intelligence increases during childhood as neural networks mature, why it sometimes declines with aging, why widespread brain injuries affect cognitive abilities in general, and why artificial intelligence systems still struggle to transfer their skills from one context to another.

Researchers believe that building "general artificial intelligence" may not be achieved solely by improving a specific skill, but by designing systems that mimic the comprehensive network organization of the human brain.

Human intelligence is characterized by flexibility and the ability to adapt across different situations, a trait stemming from the integrated structure of the brain, not from a single processing unit.

In summary, intelligence is not a "point" inside the brain, nor is it a single network that can be easily identified; rather, it is the result of extensive cooperation between multiple networks that work in harmony. When the brain operates as a cohesive unit, intelligence emerges.