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Cognition disconnected: the influence of domain-general cognition (g) in lesion-deficit mapping.

Overview

Authors: Lara Sozer1, Joseph Griffis2, Kathleen Langbehn3, Joel Bruss2, Emily Olafson4, Kenneth Manzel3, Maurizio Corbetta5,6, Daniel Tranel3,7, Aaron D Boes1,2,3, Mark Bowren1,3,8,9
ORCID iDs: Joseph Griffis, Emily Olafson, Aaron D Boes, Mark Bowren
  1. Department of Psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
  2. Department of Pediatrics, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
  3. Department of Neurology, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
  4. Clinical Imaging Group, Genentech, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080, United States
  5. Department of Neuroscience, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Via Giuseppe Orus, 2, Padova 35129, Italy
  6. Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Via Giuseppe Orus, 2/B, Padova 35129, Italy
  7. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, 340 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
  8. Department of Neurosurgery, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
  9. Iowa Neuroscience Institute, 169 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
Institutions: University of Iowa (United States); Genentech; University of Padua (Italy); Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (Italy)
Journal: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), volume 36, issue 8, article bhag120
Dates: received 26 November 2025; accepted 9 July 2026; published online 20 August 2026; in print August 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1093/cercor/bhag120 · PMID 42619488 · PMCID PMC13490751 · OpenAlex W4416724700
Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Preprint: doi:10.1101/2025.11.25.690275
Status: data only
Categories: human (organism), cognitive (subfield)
Methods: Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Connectivity, fMRI & imaging
Keywords: intelligence, language, lesion, memory, visuospatial
MeSH: Brain*, Brain Mapping*, Cognition*, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Language, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Processing Speed, Young Adult (* major topic)
Topic: Traumatic Brain Injury Research (Epidemiology, Medicine), according to OpenAlex
Funding: NIMH NIH HHS (1 R21 MH120441-01, T32 MH019113, P50 MH094258, R21 MH120441, 2T32MH019113-29A1, 1 P50 MH094258); BIAL foundation grant (361/18); NINDS NIH HHS (R01 NS114405, R01 NS095741); H2020 European School of Network Neuroscience (euSNN); H2020 Visionary Nature Based Actions For Heath, Wellbeing & Resilience in Cities (VARCITIES); National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NS095741, 1 R01 NS114405-01); European Research Council (101071900); University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, the Kiwanis Foundation, the Ministry of Health, Italy (RF-2008-12366899, RF-2019-12369300); NIH HHS (1S10RR028821-01); NIGMS NIH HHS (T32 GM108540, T32GM108540); European Union (101071900); NCRR NIH HHS (S10 RR028821)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 66 references in the paper

Abstract

Lesion-deficit mapping is a premier technique for dissociating neural correlates of cognitive functions. However, the contribution of domain-general cognition (g) to the performance of virtually all complex behavioral tasks may encumber such efforts. This possibility has been largely unexplored. Here, we examined the influence of g in lesion-deficit mapping using a combination of structural equation modeling, lesion-behavior mapping (LBM), and structural lesion network mapping (sLNM) and functional lesion network mapping (fLNM). We modeled latent variables for visuospatial ability, processing speed, language, and anterograde memory among 473 patients with focal brain damage (age range 20 to 93, 257 men, 216 women), both with and without g-associated variance embedded within each factor. Lesion-deficit maps for domain-specific cognitive abilities were statistically significantly less spatially inter-correlated after partitioning out g (P = 0.010 for LBM; P = 0.003 for sLNM; P = 0.003 for fLNM). Lesion-deficit maps also implicated the existence of distinct neuroanatomy for specific cognitive domains that was, in many cases, only apparent and clearly distinct from lesion-deficit maps of g after partitioning out the influence of g. Overall, our findings suggest that, if left unaccounted for, domain-general cognitive variance could tangibly affect conclusions about the extent to which different cognitive functions rely on distinct neuroanatomy.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

Datasets cited

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy and ethical restrictions.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 5 keywords, 15 MeSH terms, 12 funders, 64 references.

Cite

This paper

Sozer, L., Griffis, J., Langbehn, K., Bruss, J., Olafson, E., Manzel, K., Corbetta, M., Tranel, D., Boes, A. D., & Bowren, M. (2026). Cognition disconnected: the influence of domain-general cognition (g) in lesion-deficit mapping. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 36(8), bhag120. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhag120

BibTeX

@article{sozer2026cognition,
author = {Sozer, Lara and Griffis, Joseph and Langbehn, Kathleen and Bruss, Joel and Olafson, Emily and Manzel, Kenneth and Corbetta, Maurizio and Tranel, Daniel and Boes, Aaron D and Bowren, Mark},
title = {{Cognition disconnected: the influence of domain-general cognition (g) in lesion-deficit mapping}},
journal = {Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {36},
number = {8},
pages = {bhag120},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
issn = {1047-3211},
doi = {10.1093/cercor/bhag120},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhag120},
pmid = {42619488},
pmcid = {PMC13490751}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Sozer, Lara
AU - Griffis, Joseph
AU - Langbehn, Kathleen
AU - Bruss, Joel
AU - Olafson, Emily
AU - Manzel, Kenneth
AU - Corbetta, Maurizio
AU - Tranel, Daniel
AU - Boes, Aaron D
AU - Bowren, Mark
TI - Cognition disconnected: the influence of domain-general cognition (g) in lesion-deficit mapping
T2 - Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
J2 - Cereb Cortex
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
VL - 36
IS - 8
SP - bhag120
SN - 1047-3211
PB - Oxford University Press
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhag120
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhag120
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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