Aron Keith Barbey

Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Intelligence

Unlocking the nature and biological origins of human intelligence remains one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time – with the potential for transformative impact in the psychological and brain sciences. By achieving a deeper understanding of the network architecture of intelligence in the human brain, we aim to develop more precise biological models of cognitive function, establish neuroscience-guided interventions to enhance performance, and design personalized training programs for precision health.

Our research suggests that intelligence is made possible by the brain’s remarkable capacity to reconfigure itself – to continually update prior knowledge on the basis of new information and to actively generate internal predictions that guide adaptive behavior and decision making. Rather than lying dormant until stimulated, we now recognize that the brain is a dynamic and active inference generator that anticipates incoming sensory inputs, forming hypotheses about that world that can be tested against sensory signals that arrive in the brain. Plasticity and adaptation are therefore critical for the emergence of human intelligence, providing a powerful mechanism for updating prior beliefs, generating dynamic predictions about the world, and adapting in response to ongoing changes in the environment.

This perspective provides a catalyst for contemporary research on human intelligence, breaking away from the classic view that intelligence originates from individual differences in a fixed set of cortical regions or a primary brain network. Our research suggests that general intelligence emerges from global, system-wide brain network dynamics and reflects the interaction of executive, social, and emotional processes. We believe scientific advances in the study of human intelligence will be propelled by bringing together these core facets of intelligence – infused by new research on the dynamic and adaptive nature of brain network function and modern AI methods from computer science and engineering to elucidate the information processing architecture of intelligence in the human brain. Our research in clinical and translational neuroscience has focused on traumatic brain injury and sports-related concussion, conducting studies to investigate the network architecture of intelligence and guide the design of novel interventions to promote recovery of function (e.g., based on non-invasive brain stimulation (tDCS), mindfulness meditation, physical activity and aerobic fitness training, and nutritional interventions).