title: Differences in Brain Hemodynamics in Response to Achromatic and Chromatic Cards of the Rorschach: A fMRI Study.
abstract: In order to investigate the effects of color stimuli of the Rorschach inkblot method (RIM), the cerebral activity of 40 participants with no history of neurological or psychiatric illness was scanned while they engaged in the Rorschach task. A scanned image of the ten RIM inkblots was projected onto a screen in the MRI scanner. Cerebral activation in response to five achromatic color cards and five chromatic cards were compared. As a result, a significant increase in brain activity was observed in bilateral visual areas V2 and V3, parietooccipital junctions, pulvinars, right superior temporal gyrus, and left premotor cortex for achromatic color cards (p< .001). For the cards with chromatic color, significant increase in brain activity was observed in left visual area V4 and left orbitofrontal cortex (p< .001). Furthermore, a conjoint analysis revealed various regions were activated in responding to the RIM. The neuropsychological underpinnings of the response process, as described by Acklin and Wu-Holt (1996), were largely confirmed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Arts and Sciences, Osaka Kyoiku University, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Socio-Arts and Sciences, Tokushima University, Japan.
authors.forename: Chigusa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uchiumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Development, University of Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Minyoung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychological and Physical Science, Aichi Gakuin University, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Makita
authors.affiliation: National Mental Support Center for School Crisis, Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan.
authors.forename: Yugo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Japan; Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Saito
keywords: Rorschach; achromatic and chromatic colors; brain hemodynamics; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)