Influence of cognitive strategies on the pattern of cortical activation during mental subtraction. A functional imaging study in human subjects

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 287; no. 1; pp. 76 - 80
• Main Authors: BURBAUD, P, CAMUS, O, GUEHL, D, BIOULAC, B, CAILLE, J.-M, ALLARD, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier 16.06.2000
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognition - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mathematics; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Vision, Ocular - physiology; Human; Cerebral cortex; Imaging; Central nervous system; Cognition; Mental activity; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3940(00)01099-5

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 1.5 T was used to investigate the influence of cognitive strategies on cortical activation during mental calculation. Twenty-nine right-handed subjects performed a serial subtraction of prime numbers. Even though a common corpus of brain areas was activated during this mental calculation, differences appeared between subjects in function of their spontaneous cognitive strategy. In subjects using a so called verbal strategy (n=15), the main activation was located in the whole left dorsolateral frontal cortex with a little activation of the inferior parietal cortex. In subjects using a so called visual strategy (n=14), a bilateral activation in the prefrontal cortex and a high activation in the left inferior parietal cortex were observed. These results demonstrate that numbers are processed through a distributed network of cortical areas, the lateralization of which is clearly influenced by subject strategy.