瑞典科学家的一项最新研究证实，那些在智力测验中得分较高的人，对时间节奏的把握准确程度也更高。研究人员发现，大脑对时间掌控的精确程度与解决问题和推理相关的神经过程，具有类似的生物学基础。相关论文发表在《神经科学杂志》（Journal of Neuroscience）上。
领导该项研究的是瑞典Umea大学的Guy Madison和卡罗林斯卡医学院（Karolinska Institutet）的Fredrik Ullén。他们让受试者自己敲出简单的节奏，结果发现，那些智力测验得分较高的人在对规律性节奏的把握上波动最小。研究人员特别强调，受试者要完成的任务与音乐上的节奏感没有任何关联，实验只是单纯测定他们维持节奏准确度的能力。
Ullén表示，“受试者完成的任务中不牵扯任何形式的问题解决（problem solving），这很有趣。造成时间把握无规律性的可能是更为基础的生物学层面上的某种大脑活动噪声。神经活动在毫秒尺度上的准确性对信息的处理和学习过程十分重要。”
进一步的研究证实，高智商、节奏性强与大脑额叶某些区域的白质体积具有相关性，此前科学家已经知道，额叶区域与解决问题、制定计划和操控时间密切相关。
Ullén总结道，“最新研究表明，我们称为‘智商’的大脑因素，其生物学基础隐藏在前额叶的神经纤维数量和相关的神经活动稳定性当中。”（科学网 任霄鹏/编译）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
（Journal of Neuroscience），April 16, 2008, 28(16):4238-4243，Fredrik Ullén, Guy Madison
Intelligence and Variability in a Simple Timing Task Share Neural Substrates in the Prefrontal White Matter
Fredrik Ullén,1 Lea Forsman,1 Örjan Blom,1 Anke Karabanov,1 and Guy Madison2
1Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden, and 2Department of Psychology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Correspondence should be addressed to Fredrik Ullén, Neuropediatric Research Unit Q2:07, Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. Email: fredrik.ullen@ki.se
General intelligence is correlated with the mean and variability of reaction time in elementary cognitive tasks, as well as with performance on temporal judgment and discrimination tasks. This suggests a link between the temporal accuracy of neural activity and intelligence. However, it has remained unclear whether this link reflects top-down mechanisms such as attentional control and cognitive strategies or basic neural properties that influence both abilities. Here, we investigated whether millisecond variability in a simple, automatic timing task, isochronous tapping, correlates with intellectual performance and, using voxel-based morphometry, whether these two tasks share neuroanatomical substrates. Stability of tapping and intelligence were correlated and related to regional volume in overlapping right prefrontal white matter regions. These results suggest a bottom-up explanation of the link between temporal stability and intellectual performance, in which more extensive prefrontal connectivity underlies individual differences in both variables.
