Functional MRI neuroanatomic correlates of the Hooper Visual Organization Test.
The Hooper Visual Organization Test (VOT), a commonly applied neuropsychological test of visual spatial ability, is used for assessing patients with suspected right hemisphere, or parietal lobe involvement. A controversy has developed over whether the inferences of this test metric can be assumed to involve global, lateralized, or regional functionality. In this study, the characteristic visual organization and object naming aspects of the VOT task presentation were adapted to a functional MR imaging (fMRI) paradigm to probe the neuroanatomic correlates of this neuropsychological test. Whole brain fMRI mapping results are reported on a cohort of normal subjects. Bilateral fMRI responses were found predominantly in the posterior brain, in regions of superior parietal lobules, ventral temporal-occipital cortex, and posterior visual association areas, and to a lesser extent, the frontal eye fields bilaterally, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The results indicate a general brain region or network in which VOT impairment, due to its visuospatial and object identification demands, is possible to be detected. Discussion is made of interpretive limitations when adapting neuropsychological tests to fMRI analysis.
Moritz
Chad H
CH
Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, USA. cmoritz@mail.radiology.wisc.edu
Johnson
Sterling C
SC
McMillan
Kathryn M
KM
Haughton
Victor M
VM
Meyerand
M Elizabeth
ME
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*