Neural information sharing across the orienting attentional network predicts intelligence in children

Abstract

Efficient brain functioning is often defined as the ability to achieve high performance with minimal cognitive resources. This study investigated the relationship between intelligence and attentional network efficiency in school-aged children, using electroencephalography (EEG) during the Attention Network Test (ANT). Participants were 38 children aged 11-14 years, recruited from schools in the Maule Region of Chile. Attentional network efficiency was assessed through event-related potentials (ERPs), midfrontal theta power as an index of conflict processing, and weighted Symbolic Mutual Information (wSMI) to quantify large-scale, nonlinear information sharing. Higher full-scale IQ scores were specifically associated with reduced wSMI within the orienting network, suggesting greater neural efficiency through less widespread information exchange between dorsal frontoparietal nodes. No significant associations were found between IQ and theta-band power during conflict processing. These findings provide novel evidence linking intelligence in childhood to network-level neural efficiency in attentional orienting, supporting the view that individual differences in cognitive ability reflect not only localized neural activity but also the efficiency of information integration within task-relevant networks.