Domain-general and language-specific brain networks are differentially associated with verbal intelligence during development

Understanding how verbal intelligence develops requires clarifying the roles of domain-general and language-selective brain systems. Here, we examined this question in an accelerated longitudinal cohort of children and adolescents from Beijing ( N = 170) by relating gray matter volume measures to the verbal comprehension index (VCI) of the Wechsler intelligence scale, a widely used measure of verbal intelligence. We observed that individual differences in VCI were more strongly associated with structural maturation of domain-general networks, including the default mode (DM) and multiple-demand (MD) systems, than with the language-selective network, and that these effects varied with age. Independent validation in a Chongqing cohort ( N = 150) confirmed significant contributions of domain-general networks during adolescence (13–15 years). These findings highlight a previously underappreciated role of domain-general cortical systems in the development of verbal intelligence during adolescence and provide new insight into the neural basis of abstract verbal reasoning across development.