The minimal computational substrate of fluid intelligence.

Journal: Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior
PMID: 39141936

Abstract

The quantification of cognitive powers rests on identifying a behavioural task that depends on them. Such dependence cannot be assured, for the powers a task invokes cannot be experimentally controlled or constrained a priori, resulting in unknown vulnerability to failure of specificity and generalisability. Evaluating a compact version of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM), a widely used clinical test of fluid intelligence, we show that LaMa, a self-supervised artificial neural network trained solely on the completion of partially masked images of natural environmental scenes, achieves representative human-level test scores a prima vista, without any task-specific inductive bias or training. Compared with cohorts of healthy and focally lesioned participants, LaMa exhibits human-like variation with item difficulty, and produces errors characteristic of right frontal lobe damage under degradation of its ability to integrate global spatial patterns. LaMa's narrow training and limited capacity suggest matrix-style tests may be open to computationally simple solutions that need not necessarily invoke the substrates of reasoning.

Authors

  • Amy P K Nelson
    High Dimensional Neurology Group, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Russell Square House, Bloomsbury, London, UK. Electronic address: amy.nelson@ucl.ac.uk.
  • Joe Mole
    Department of Neuropsychology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK; UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
  • Guilherme Pombo
    High Dimensional Neurology Group, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Russell Square House, Bloomsbury, London, UK.
  • Robert J Gray
    High Dimensional Neurology Group, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Russell Square House, Bloomsbury, London, UK.
  • James K Ruffle
    Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, Blizard Institute, Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, 26 Ashfield Street, London, E1 2AJ, UK.
  • Edgar Chan
    Department of Neuropsychology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK; UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
  • Geraint E Rees
    UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK; University College London, Gower Street, London, UK.
  • Lisa Cipolotti
    Department of Neuropsychology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK; UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
  • Parashkev Nachev
    Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.

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