TY - JOUR
T1 - Mathematically gifted male adolescents activate a unique brain network during mental rotation
AU - O'Boyle, Michael W.
AU - Cunnington, Ross
AU - Silk, Timothy J.
AU - Vaughan, David
AU - Jackson, Graeme
AU - Syngeniotis, Ari
AU - Egan, Gary F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Melbourne University Research Development Grant to MOB and by National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) Fellowships to RC and to GFE. The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of Roy Morgan Research Pty. Ltd.(Melbourne, Australia) and Neurosciences Victoria. Address reprint requests to Dr. Michael W. O'Boyle, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1162, USA.
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - Mental rotation involves the creation and manipulation of internal images, with the later being particularly useful cognitive capacities when applied to high-level mathematical thinking and reasoning. Many neuroimaging studies have demonstrated mental rotation to be mediated primarily by the parietal lobes, particularly on the right side. Here, we use fMRI to show for the first time that when performing 3-dimensional mental rotations, mathematically gifted male adolescents engage a qualitatively different brain network than those of average math ability, one that involves bilateral activation of the parietal lobes and frontal cortex, along with heightened activation of the anterior cingulate. Reliance on the processing characteristics of this uniquely bilateral system and the interplay of these anterior/posterior regions may be contributors to their mathematical precocity.
AB - Mental rotation involves the creation and manipulation of internal images, with the later being particularly useful cognitive capacities when applied to high-level mathematical thinking and reasoning. Many neuroimaging studies have demonstrated mental rotation to be mediated primarily by the parietal lobes, particularly on the right side. Here, we use fMRI to show for the first time that when performing 3-dimensional mental rotations, mathematically gifted male adolescents engage a qualitatively different brain network than those of average math ability, one that involves bilateral activation of the parietal lobes and frontal cortex, along with heightened activation of the anterior cingulate. Reliance on the processing characteristics of this uniquely bilateral system and the interplay of these anterior/posterior regions may be contributors to their mathematical precocity.
KW - Mathematical giftedness
KW - Mental rotation
KW - Visuospatial processing
KW - fMRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=26644447618&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.08.004
DO - 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.08.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 16150579
AN - SCOPUS:26644447618
SN - 0926-6410
VL - 25
SP - 583
EP - 587
JO - Cognitive Brain Research
JF - Cognitive Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -