Transcranial Doppler ultrasonic assessment of middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity changes during verbal and visuospatial cognitive tasks

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 32; no. 12; p. 1443
• Main Authors: Hartje, W, Ringelstein, E B, Kistinger, B, Fabianek, D, Willmes, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.12.1994
• Subjects: Adult; Arousal - physiology; Attention - physiology; Blood Flow Velocity - physiology; Cerebral Cortex - blood supply; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Humans; Male; Orientation - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Problem Solving - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reading; Reference Values; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial; Verbal Learning - physiology
• ISSN: 0028-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(94)90116-3

Hemisphere specific changes of blood flow velocity in the right and left middle cerebral artery (MCA) induced by cognitive demands of verbal and nonverbal tasks were examined by means of a newly developed technique of simultaneous bilateral transcranial ultrasonic Doppler sonography (TCD). Thirty-one right-handed healthy volunteers served as subjects. Identical stimulus and response procedures were used with all tasks to avoid possible differential effects of these conditions on blood flow velocity. Compared to the preceding resting phase, the increase in flow velocity induced by each of the verbal tasks (sentence completion, similar or contrasting word meaning, similarities) proved to be significantly higher in the left than in the right MCA. Among the non-verbal visuospatial tasks only the "identical pictures" (perceptual speed) task led to a complementary higher increase in right MCA blood flow velocity. No such asymmetry in blood flow acceleration was observed, however, with the tasks "figure assembly" and "cube comparison" which require visualization and mental rotation of figures. The findings underline the recently emerging uncertainty in neuropsychological research with regard to the functional specialization of the right hemisphere.