The functional neuroanatomy of simple calculation and number repetition: A parametric PET activation study.
We examined cerebral activation patterns with positron emission tomography (PET) in 12 right-handed normal volunteers while they were completing simple calculation tasks or merely repeating numbers. Using a parametric experimental design, during calculation we found activation in the medial frontal/cingulate gyri, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left anterior insular cortex and right anterior insular cortex/putamen, left lateral parietal cortex, and the medial thalamus. Number repetition engaged bilateral inferior sensorimotor cortex, bilateral temporal areas, and left inferior frontal cortex. These results suggest a functional anatomical network for simple calculation, which includes aspects of attention, auditory, and motor processing and the phonological store and articulatory loop components of working memory; they add some support for a special role of the parietal cortex in calculation tasks.
Cowell
S F
SF
School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Egan
G F
GF
Code
C
C
Harasty
J
J
Watson
J D
JD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed