Non-dominant dorsal-prefrontal activation during chess problem solution evidenced by single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT)

Onofrj, Marco; Curatola, L.; Valentini, Gianluca; Antonelli, Michela; Thomas, Astrid; Fulgente, T.

doi:10.1016/0304-3940(95)11985-6

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Lastly, in accordance with previous studies in brain imaging with chess-players (Amizdic et al, 2001;Atherton et al, 2003;Nichelli et al, 1994;Onofrj et al, 1995), our study revealed brain activation in frontal areas of the novices but not in the masters. This may reflect the fact that, for the novices, the chess symbols generated an additional demand in the process of maintaining the information of the reference stimulus and, therefore, more activation in frontal areas.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Nichelli and colleagues (1994) found brain activation in the left middle temporal lobe in a task that consisted of determining whether or not a move was legal. Onofrj et al (1995) and Atherton, Zhuang, Bart, Hu, and Sheng (2003) studied chess-players who had to solve a chess problem while their brain activity was recorded. Onofrj et al found brain activity in the nondominant superior frontal lobe and medial temporal lobe (that is, the right hemisphere in right-handed individuals and the left one in left-handed individuals).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Structure and Stimulus Familiarity: A Study of Memory in Chess-Players with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Campitelli

Gobet

Parker³

2005

Span. J. Psychol.

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A grandmaster and an international chess master were compared with a group of novices in a memory task with chess and non-chess stimuli, varying the structure and familiarity of the stimuli, while functional magnetic resonance images were acquired. The pattern of brain activity in the masters was different from that of the novices. Masters showed no differences in brain activity when different degrees of structure and familiarity where compared; however, novices did show differences in brain activity in such contrasts. The most important differences were found in the contrast of stimulus familiarity with chess positions. In this contrast, there was an extended brain activity in bilateral frontal areas such as the anterior cingulate and the superior, middle, and inferior frontal gyri; furthermore, posterior areas, such as posterior cingulate and cerebellum, showed great bilateral activation. These results strengthen the hypothesis that when performing a domain-specific task, experts activate different brain systems from that of novices. The use of the expertsversus-novices paradigm in brain imaging contributes towards the search for brain systems involved in cognitive processes. Keywords: memory, fMRI, expertise, stimulusUn gran maestro y un maestro internacional de ajedrez se compararon con un grupo de aficionados en una tarea de memoria con estímulos ajedrecísticos y no ajedrecísticos, variando la estructura y familiaridad de los estímulos, mientras se tomaron imágenes cerebrales usando resonancia magnética funcional. El patrón de activación cerebral difirió entre los maestros y los aficionados. Los maestros no presentaron ninguna diferencia en activación cerebral cuando se compararon distintos niveles de familiaridad y estructura de los estímulos; en cambio, los aficionados presentaron diferencias en activación cerebral en dichas comparaciones. Las diferencias más considerables se encontraron en el contraste de familiaridad del estímulo en posiciones de ajedrez. En ese contraste hubo una extensa actividad cerebral bilateral en regiones frontales como la corteza cingulada anterior y los giros frontales superior, medio e inferior; asimismo, áreas posteriores como la corteza cingulada posterior y el cerebelo también mostraron gran activación bilateral. Estos resultados fortalecen la hipótesis de que cuando los expertos realizan tareas específicas de dominio activan sistemas cerebrales diferentes a los que usan los aficionados ejecutando la misma tarea. El uso del paradigma expertos-versus-novatos en imaginería cerebral contribuye a la búsqueda de sistemas cerebrales involucrados en procesos cognoscitivos.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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confidence: 99%

Structure and Stimulus Familiarity: A Study of Memory in Chess-Players with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Campitelli

Gobet

Parker³

2005

Span. J. Psychol.

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“…During chess playing, many kinds of cognitive processes are involved, e.g. attention, visuo-spatial perception, motivation, working memory, and decision making [4], [5], [6], [7]. Brain imaging studies have suggested that the human brain is delicately organized into multiple distinct yet inherently interacted functional networks to support these processes [8], [9], [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chess, as one of the most popular strategic board games, has been widely used to study individual differences in visuo-spatial perception, working memory, problem solving, and judgment and decision making [7], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45]. Brain imaging studies on chess cognition indicate that frontal and posterior parietal circuits, which are known to be involved in working memory, visuo-spatial attention and perception, are engaged in chess playing [1], [4], [5], [46]. However, traditional theories of expert performance and skill acquisition indicate that superior performance levels attained after learning and practice reflects the importance of domain-specific knowledge in chess expertise, which suggests that skills do not reside in differences in short-term memory capacity or perceptual abilities, but in the number of chunks held in long-term memory [7], [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-Scale Brain Networks in Board Game Experts: Insights from a Domain-Related Task and Task-Free Resting State

et al. 2012

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Cognitive performance relies on the coordination of large-scale networks of brain regions that are not only temporally correlated during different tasks, but also networks that show highly correlated spontaneous activity during a task-free state. Both task-related and task-free network activity has been associated with individual differences in cognitive performance. Therefore, we aimed to examine the influence of cognitive expertise on four networks associated with cognitive task performance: the default mode network (DMN) and three other cognitive networks (central-executive network, dorsal attention network, and salience network). During fMRI scanning, fifteen grandmaster and master level Chinese chess players (GM/M) and fifteen novice players carried out a Chinese chess task and a task-free resting state. Modulations of network activity during task were assessed, as well as resting-state functional connectivity of those networks. Relative to novices, GM/Ms showed a broader task-induced deactivation of DMN in the chess problem-solving task, and intrinsic functional connectivity of DMN was increased with a connectivity pattern associated with the caudate nucleus in GM/Ms. The three other cognitive networks did not exhibit any difference in task-evoked activation or intrinsic functional connectivity between the two groups. These findings demonstrate the effect of long-term learning and practice in cognitive expertise on large-scale brain networks, suggesting the important role of DMN deactivation in expert performance and enhanced functional integration of spontaneous activity within widely distributed DMN-caudate circuitry, which might better support high-level cognitive control of behavior.

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“…In our previous study [Bilalić et al, 2010], we started investigating the cognitive processes important in everyday life such as object and pattern recognition using the game of chess. Although there were other studies that used chess for their neuroimaging investigations [Amidzic et al 2001; Atherton et al 2003; Campitelli et al 2005, 2007, 2008; Nichelli et al, 1994; Onofrj et al, 1995; Righi et al, in press; Saariluoma et al, 2004], this was the first study to use the expertise approach of comparing experts and novices in conjunction with a clear‐cut task aimed at studying pattern and object recognition processes. We employed a version of a visual search task where participants had to enumerate the number of certain objects in chess positions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expertise modulates the neural basis of context dependent recognition of objects and their relations

Bilalić

Turella

Campitelli

et al. 2011

Human Brain Mapping

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Recognition of objects and their relations is necessary for orienting in real life. We examined cognitive processes related to recognition of objects, their relations, and the patterns they form by using the game of chess. Chess enables us to compare experts with novices and thus gain insight in the nature of development of recognition skills. Eye movement recordings showed that experts were generally faster than novices on a task that required enumeration of relations between chess objects because their extensive knowledge enabled them to immediately focus on the objects of interest. The advantage was less pronounced on random positions where the location of chess objects, and thus typical relations between them, was randomized. Neuroimaging data related experts' superior performance to the areas along the dorsal stream-bilateral posterior temporal areas and left inferior parietal lobe were related to recognition of object and their functions. The bilateral collateral sulci, together with bilateral retrosplenial cortex, were also more sensitive to normal than random positions among experts indicating their involvement in pattern recognition. The pattern of activations suggests experts engage the same regions as novices, but also that they employ novel additional regions. Expert processing, as the final stage of development, is qualitatively different than novice processing, which can be viewed as the starting stage. Since we are all experts in real life and dealing with meaningful stimuli in typical contexts, our results underline the importance of expert-like cognitive processing on generalization of laboratory results to everyday life.

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Non-dominant dorsal-prefrontal activation during chess problem solution evidenced by single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT)

Cited by 21 publications

References 11 publications

Structure and Stimulus Familiarity: A Study of Memory in Chess-Players with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Structure and Stimulus Familiarity: A Study of Memory in Chess-Players with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Large-Scale Brain Networks in Board Game Experts: Insights from a Domain-Related Task and Task-Free Resting State

Expertise modulates the neural basis of context dependent recognition of objects and their relations

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