Pattern of focal γ-bursts in chess players

Amidzic, Ognjen; Riehle, Hartmut; Fehr, Thorsten; Wienbruch, Christian; Elbert, Thomas

doi:10.1038/35088119

Cited by 71 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Brain imaging studies show a hypo-activity in schizophrenics' prefrontal cortex (Weinberger and Berman, 1996) but an increased frontal activity in chess masters (Amidzic et al, 2001). We speculate that external factors more likely to be present in late winter and early spring (such as viruses, Torrey et al, 1997) affect the normal developmental trajectory of the prefrontal cortex, and that this atypical brain development later induces differences in frontal activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Season of Birth and Chess Expertise

Gobet

Chassy

2008

J. Biosoc. Sci.

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SummaryThe origin of talent and expertise is currently the subject of intense debate, with explanations ranging from purely biological to purely environmental. This report shows that the population of expert chess players in the northern hemisphere shows a seasonal pattern, with an excess of births in late winter and early spring. This effect remains when taking into account the distribution of births in the population at large, using statistics from the European Union member countries. A similar pattern has been found with schizophrenia, and the possible link between these two phenomena is discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Season of Birth and Chess Expertise

Gobet

Chassy

2008

J. Biosoc. Sci.

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“…Summing up, the previous studies showed that the tasks requiring a greater cognitive demand, such as solving a chess problem or playing a game of chess, tend to activate frontal and parietal areas (Amizdic et al, 2001;Atherton et al, 2003;Onofrj et al, 1995). Conversely, tasks that require the mere retrieval of relevant information, such as chess rules, tend to activate temporal areas (Nichelli et al, 1994).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Atherton et al found left hemisphere activation in the superior frontal lobe and cerebellum, and bilateral activation in the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. Lastly, Amizdic, Riehle, Fehr, Wienbruch, and Elbert, (2001) obtained brain images of chessplayers while they played a game against a computer. They found a different distribution of brain activation in masters as compared with players of a lower level.…”

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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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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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“…E lectroencephalographic (EEG) fast rhythm power increases have been shown to occur during numerous cognitive tasks, including learning, reading, face perception, posture recognition, and chess playing (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Cortical electrode recording in cat (6-9) and nonhuman primate (10) during visual perception indicates that phase-locked, fast rhythm power can reflect synchronous activity between distinct neuronal populations that may ''bind'' features into unitary objects.…”

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confidence: 99%

Interactions between thalamic and cortical rhythms during semantic memory recall in human

Slotnick

Moo

Kraut

et al. 2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human scalp electroencephalographic rhythms, indicative of cortical population synchrony, have long been posited to reflect cognitive processing. Although numerous studies employing simultaneous thalamic and cortical electrode recording in nonhuman animals have explored the role of the thalamus in the modulation of cortical rhythms, direct evidence for thalamocortical modulation in human has not, to our knowledge, been obtained. We simultaneously recorded from thalamic and scalp electrodes in one human during performance of a cognitive task and found a spatially widespread, phase-locked, low-frequency rhythm (7-8 Hz) power decrease at thalamus and scalp during semantic memory recall. This low-frequency rhythm power decrease was followed by a spatially specific, phase-locked, fast-rhythm (21-34 Hz) power increase at thalamus and occipital scalp. Such a pattern of thalamocortical activity reflects a plausible neural mechanism underlying semantic memory recall that may underlie other cognitive processes as well.E lectroencephalographic (EEG) fast rhythm power increases have been shown to occur during numerous cognitive tasks, including learning, reading, face perception, posture recognition, and chess playing (1-5). Cortical electrode recording in cat (6-9) and nonhuman primate (10) during visual perception indicates that phase-locked, fast rhythm power can reflect synchronous activity between distinct neuronal populations that may ''bind'' features into unitary objects. Simultaneous thalamic and cortical electrode recording in cat and thalamic computational modeling indicate that low-frequency (7-14 Hz) and fast cortical rhythms (11) are influenced by spatially widespread (12, 13) and spatially specific (14-16) thalamocortical connections, respectively. Similar to findings in cat, there is convincing evidence that human thalamus interacts with fast cortical rhythms (17,18).Although fast rhythms have been postulated to reflect other cognitive functions, the role of such rhythms in semantic recall has not been explored. Recent functional MRI (fMRI) results (19,20) suggest that the human thalamus is involved during semantic memory recall. We hypothesized that fMRI thalamic activation during semantic recall could reflect a thalamocortical interaction associated with this memory component. To investigate this possibility, we simultaneously recorded from thalamic and scalp electrodes and conducted epoch-based frequency analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first time in human when such a procedure has been conducted during a cognitive process, revealing a phase-locked, thalamocortical fast rhythm during semantic memory recall.

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Pattern of focal γ-bursts in chess players

Cited by 71 publications

References 5 publications

Season of Birth and Chess Expertise

Season of Birth and Chess Expertise

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

Interactions between thalamic and cortical rhythms during semantic memory recall in human

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