title: [Influence of individual strategies on brain activation patterns during cognitive tasks].
abstract: 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. Data were analyzed taking into account whether the spontaneous strategy of subjects was verbal (n = 15) or visual (n = 14). Even thought a common corpus of brain areas was activated during this mental calculation task, i.e. the dorsolateral prefrontal, premotor and parietal cortices, and Broca's area, differences appeared between the two groups of subjects. In subjects using a verbal strategy, the main activation was located in the whole left dorsolateral frontal cortex with a little activation of the inferior parietal cortices. In subjects using a visual strategy, 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. Taken together this data reveals a functional interaction between the left inferior parietal cortex and the right prefrontal cortex in the visuo-spatial sketchpad for number processing. This network could be involved in sustained selective attention to mental numerical images generated in the left inferior parietal cortex.
authors.affiliation: Service de Neuroradiologie et de Neurophysiologie, CNRS UMR 5543, Université Victor-Ségalen Bordeaux 2, CHU de Bordeaux.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burbaud
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Camus
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Caillé
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Biolac
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Allard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male
vernacular_title: Influence des stratégies individuelles sur le patron d'activation cérébrale au cours de tâches cognitives.