title: The Influence of verbalization on the pattern of cortical activation during mental arithmetic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study at 3 T was to investigate the influence of the verbal-visual cognitive style on cerebral activation patterns during mental arithmetic. In the domain of arithmetic, a visual style might for example mean to visualize numbers and (intermediate) results, and a verbal style might mean, that numbers and (intermediate) results are verbally repeated. In this study, we investigated, first, whether verbalizers show activations in areas for language processing, and whether visualizers show activations in areas for visual processing during mental arithmetic. Some researchers have proposed that the left and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and the left angular gyrus (AG), two areas involved in number processing, show some domain or modality specificity. That is, verbal for the left AG, and visual for the left and right IPS. We investigated, second, whether the activation in these areas implied in number processing depended on an individual's cognitive style.
  
  
  METHODS
  42 young healthy adults participated in the fMRI study. The study comprised two functional sessions. In the first session, subtraction and multiplication problems were presented in an event-related design, and in the second functional session, multiplications were presented in two formats, as Arabic numerals and as written number words, in an event-related design. The individual's habitual use of visualization and verbalization during mental arithmetic was assessed by a short self-report assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed in both functional sessions that the use of verbalization predicts activation in brain areas associated with language (supramarginal gyrus) and auditory processing (Heschl's gyrus, Rolandic operculum). However, we found no modulation of activation in the left AG as a function of verbalization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results confirm that strong verbalizers use mental speech as a form of mental imagination more strongly than weak verbalizers. Moreover, our results suggest that the left AG has no specific affinity to the verbal domain and subserves number processing in a modality-general way.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 2/III, 8010 Graz, Austria. sabrina.zarnhofer@uni-graz.at
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zarnhofer
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Braunstein
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ebner
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koschutnig
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neuper
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reishofer
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ischebeck
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007206:Individuality; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult