Visualizing cortical activation during mental calculation with functional MRI.
Cortical activation during arithmetic calculation (silent subtraction by sevens) was compared to that observed during a control condition for which subjects were required to count forward by ones. Nine normal subjects underwent 1.5-T functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing these tasks. All subjects showed bilateral premotor, posterior parietal, and prefrontal cortex activation during serial calculation. There was a large degree of individual variation in activation outside of these areas. These results confirm the role of posterior parietal cortex in arithmetic calculation and implicate other regions, including prefrontal cortex.
Rueckert
L
L
Cognitive Neuroscience Section, MNB, NINDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1440, USA.
Lange
N
N
Partiot
A
A
Appollonio
I
I
Litvan
I
I
Le Bihan
D
D
Grafman
J
J
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values