Brain rCBF and performance in visual imagery tasks: Common and distinct processes

• Published in: European journal of cognitive psychology Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 696 - 716
• Main Authors: Kosslyn, Stephen, Thompson, William, Shephard, Jennifer, Ganis, Giorgio, Bell, Deborah, Danovitch, Judith, Wittenberg, Leah, Alpert, Nathaniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Psychology Press Ltd 01.09.2004
• ISSN: 0954-1446; 1464-0635
• DOI: 10.1080/09541440340000475

The present study was designed to discover whether variations in normalised regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in different brain areas predict variations in performance of different imagery tasks. Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to assess brain activity as 16 participants performed four imagery tasks. These tasks were designed so that performance was particularly sensitive to the participant's ability to form images with high resolution, to generate images from distinct segments, to parse imaged forms into parts while inspecting them, or to transform (rotate) images. Response times and error rates were recorded. Multiple regression analyses revealed that variations in most brain areas predicted variations in performance of only one task, thus demonstrating that the four tasks tap largely independent imagery processes. However, we also found that some underlying processes were recruited by more than one task, particularly those implemented in the occipito-parietal sulcus, the medial frontal cortex, and Area 18.