title: A study on the frontal cortex in cognitive tasks using near-infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: The frontal cortex is the part of the brain that relates to higher brain functions, such as logical thinking and emotion. As part of the development of a brain-computer interface, we tested whether the frontal cortex reacts differently in people as they performed three different cognitive tasks. The reaction of the cortex was tested using near-infrared spectroscopy. Our preliminary research results showed a difference in blood flow volume occurred before and after two assigned tasks: a math task and a word task. However, after a naming task there was no particular reaction. We believe that mental stress might be the cause of the difference in frontal cortex activity.
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan. ogata@io.mei.titech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yagi
mesh_terms: D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D008433:Mathematics; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D010108:Oxyhemoglobins