title: Healthy children show gender differences in correlations between nonverbal cognitive ability and brain activation during visual perception.
abstract: Humans perceive textual and nontextual information in visual perception, and both depend on language. In childhood education, students exhibit diverse perceptual abilities, such that some students process textual information better and some process nontextual information better. These predispositions involve many factors, including cognitive ability and learning preference. However, the relationship between verbal and nonverbal cognitive abilities and brain activation during visual perception has not yet been examined in children. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between nonverbal and verbal cognitive abilities and brain activation during nontextual visual perception in large numbers of children. A significant positive correlation was found between nonverbal cognitive abilities and brain activation in the right temporoparietal junction, which is thought to be related to attention reorienting. This significant positive correlation existed only in boys. These findings suggested that male brain activation differed from female brain activation, and that this depended on individual cognitive processes, even if there was no gender difference in behavioral performance.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Hikariga-oka 1, Fukushima City 960-1295, JAPAN. Electronic address: kohei.asano911@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8573, Japan; Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hashizume
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sassa
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 2-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8573, Japan.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thyreau
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Hikaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Smart Ageing International Research Center, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Seiryo-machi 4-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawashima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Gender difference; Nonverbal cognitive ability; The right temporoparietal junction; Visual perception