Fluid and crystallised intelligence are associated with distinct regionalisation patterns of cortical morphology

Cognitive performance in children is predictive of academic and social outcomes; therefore, understanding neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in cognition during development may be important for improving outcomes. Some theories of intelligence argue that a single latent, psychological construct with a specific neural substrate underlies many cognitive processes. In a previous study, we showed that a distributed configuration of cortical surface area and apparent thickness was associated with cognitive performance in a large sample (N=10,145) of nine and ten year old children from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Here we have compared the similarity of the configuration of cortical morphology best associated with cognitive performance across different tasks. We discovered strikingly distinct regionalisation patterns of cortical areal expansion and apparent thickness associated with measures of crystallised and fluid intelligence. The minimal overlap in these associations has important implications for competing theories about developing intellectual functions.