title: Prefrontal cerebral activity during a simple "rock, paper, scissors" task measured by the noninvasive near-infrared spectroscopy method.
abstract: We conducted a noninvasive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) study using the game of rock, paper, scissors (RPS) as a simple neurocognitive task for the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in 15 healthy volunteers. We employed an opposite "to lose" RPS task coupled with a normal "to win" RPS task, since the former requires inhibition of behavior, one of the most important functions of the prefrontal cortex. During the NIRS examination, subjects had to present one of the three RPS hands in response to hands displayed randomly on a computer screen every 1.5 s, and were required to show hands that lose to the computer, or that beat the computer. We measured the relative concentrations of oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) using the prefrontal probes of the NIRS system during the tasks. The increases in oxy-Hb during the "to win" RPS task were small, but were quite large and laterally dominant during the "to lose" RPS task. The difference between the two tasks might have been due to the participants' cognitive conflict with losing on the RPS. We conclude that losing is better than winning on the RPS as a sensitive indicator in the NIRS examination of PFC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Jichi Medical University, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke City, Tochigi pref., 329-0498, Japan. skikuchi@jichi.ac.jp
authors.forename: Senichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Onishi
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nisijima
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamai
authors.forename: Yuiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Eiju
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*