Visuospatial intelligence is one of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, which refers to the ability to visualize and manipulate objects in space. Individuals with high visuospatial intelligence are adept at tasks that involve spatial judgment and the ability to visualize with the mind's eye. Here are some key aspects of visuo-spatial intelligence:
Visualization: The ability to create mental images of objects, shapes, and spatial relationships. This includes imagining how objects might look from different angles or how they might fit together.
Spatial Reasoning: The capacity to think about objects in three dimensions and to understand how they relate to one another in space. This includes the ability to rotate and manipulate shapes mentally.
Artistic Ability: Many individuals with strong visuospatial intelligence are skilled in arts, such as drawing, painting, and sculpture, where visualization is key.
Navigation Skills: Good visuospatial thinkers often excel at tasks like reading maps, understanding diagrams, and navigating physical spaces.
Problem-Solving: This intelligence is useful in solving puzzles or dealing with mechanical or technical tasks that require an understanding of how parts fit together.
Applications: Visuospatial intelligence is particularly important in fields like architecture, engineering, design, and various sciences.
Overall, this intelligence is crucial for tasks that involve visualizing and manipulating the physical world, and it plays a significant role in learning and understanding complex concepts in various disciplines.
The prevailing opinion emphasizes that the fronto-parietal network (FPN) is key in mediating general fluid intelligence (gF). Meanwhile, recent studies show that the human middle temporal complex (hMT+), located at the occipitotemporal border and involved in 3D perception processing, also plays a key role in gF. However, the underlying mechanism is not clear, yet. To investigate this issue, our study targets visuospatial intelligence, which is considered to have a high loading on gF. We use ultra-high field magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure GABA/Glu concentrations in hMT+ combining resting-state fMRI functional connectivity (FC), behavioral examinations including hMT+ perception suppression test and gF subtest in the visuospatial component. Our findings show that both GABA in hMT+ and frontal-hMT+ functional connectivity significantly correlate with the performance of visuospatial intelligence. Further, the serial mediation model demonstrates that the effect of hMT+ GABA on visuospatial gF is fully mediated by the hMT+ frontal FC. Together our findings highlight the importance of integrating sensory and frontal cortices in mediating the visuospatial component of general fluid intelligence 1)