scholarly journals Mental Rotation Meets the Motion Aftereffect: The Role of hV5/MT+ in Visual Mental Imagery

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1395-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Seurinck ◽  
Floris P. de Lange ◽  
Erik Achten ◽  
Guy Vingerhoets
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Motion Aftereffect ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery

A growing number of studies show that visual mental imagery recruits the same brain areas as visual perception. Although the necessity of hV5/MT+ for motion perception has been revealed by means of TMS, its relevance for motion imagery remains unclear. We induced a direction-selective adaptation in hV5/MT+ by means of an MAE while subjects performed a mental rotation task that elicits imagined motion. We concurrently measured behavioral performance and neural activity with fMRI, enabling us to directly assess the effect of a perturbation of hV5/MT+ on other cortical areas involved in the mental rotation task. The activity in hV5/MT+ increased as more mental rotation was required, and the perturbation of hV5/MT+ affected behavioral performance as well as the neural activity in this area. Moreover, several regions in the posterior parietal cortex were also affected by this perturbation. Our results show that hV5/MT+ is required for imagined visual motion and engages in an interaction with parietal cortex during this cognitive process.

scholarly journals From visual affordances in monkey parietal cortex to hippocampo–parietal interactions underlying rat navigation

1997 ◽  
Vol 352 (1360) ◽  
pp. 1429-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Arbib
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Graph Model ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Formal Similarity ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Saccade Task

This paper explores the hypothesis that various subregions (but by no means all) of the posterior parietal cortex are specialized to process visual information to extract a variety of affordances for behaviour. Two biologically based models of regions of the posterior parietal cortex of the monkey are introduced. The model of the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) emphasizes its roles in dynamic remapping of the representation of targets during a double saccade task, and in combining stored, updated input with current visual input. The model of the anterior intraparietal area (AIP) addresses parietal–premotor interactions involved in grasping, and analyses the interaction between the AIP and premotor area F5. The model represents the role of other intraparietal areas working in concert with the inferotemporal cortex as well as with corollary discharge from F5 to provide and augment the affordance information in the AIP, and suggests how various constraints may resolve the action opportunities provided by multiple affordances. Finally, a systems–level model of hippocampo–parietal interactions underlying rat navigation is developed, motivated by the monkey data used in developing the above two models as well as by data on neurons in the posterior parietal cortex of the monkey that are sensitive to visual motion. The formal similarity between dynamic remapping (primate saccades) and path integration (rat navigation) is noted, and certain available data on rat posterior parietal cortex in terms of affordances for locomotion are explained. The utility of further modelling, linking the World Graph model of cognitive maps for motivated behaviour with hippocampal–parietal interactions involved in navigation, is also suggested. These models demonstrate that posterior parietal cortex is not only itself a network of interacting subsystems, but functions through cooperative computation with many other brain regions.

scholarly journals The Influence of Mental Imagery Expertise of Pen and Paper Players versus Computer Gamers upon Performance and Electrocortical Correlates in a Difficult Mental Rotation Task

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2337
Author(s):  
Johannes Rodrigues ◽  
Dorna Marzban ◽  
Johannes Hewig
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Small Female ◽  
Role Players ◽  
Rotation Strategy

We investigated the influence of mental imagery expertise in 15 pen and paper role-players as an expert group compared to the gender-matched control group of computer role-players in the difficult Vandenberg and Kuse mental rotation task. In this task, the participants have to decide which two of four rotated figures match the target figure. The dependent measures were performance speed and accuracy. In our exploratory investigation, we further examined midline frontal theta band activation, parietal alpha band activation, and parietal alpha band asymmetry in EEG as indicator for the chosen rotation strategy. Additionally, we explored the gender influence on performance and EEG activation, although a very small female sample section was given. The expected gender difference concerning performance accuracy was negated by expertise in pen and paper role-playing women, while the gender-specific difference in performance speed was preserved. Moreover, gender differences concerning electro-cortical measures revealed differences in rotation strategy, with women using top-down strategies compared to men, who were using top-down strategies and active inhibition of associative cortical areas. These strategy uses were further moderated by expertise, with higher expertise leading to more pronounced activation patters, especially during successful performance. However, due to the very limited sample size, the findings of this explorative study have to be interpreted cautiously.

scholarly journals The role of frontal and parietal cortex in the performance of gifted and average adolescents in a mental rotation task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. e0232660
Author(s):  
Renata Figueiredo Anomal ◽  
Daniel Soares Brandão ◽  
Silvia Beltrame Porto ◽  
Sóstenes Silva de Oliveira ◽  
Rafaela Faustino Lacerda de Souza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Mental Rotation Task

scholarly journals Multimodal integration for the representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex

1997 ◽  
Vol 352 (1360) ◽  
pp. 1421-1428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Representation Of Space ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Association Area

The posterior parietal cortex has long been considered an ‘association’ area that combines information from different sensory modalities to form a cognitive representation of space. However, until recently little has been known about the neural mechanisms responsible for this important cognitive process. Recent experiments from the author's laboratory indicate that visual, somatosensory, auditory and vestibular signals are combined in areas LIP and 7a of the posterior parietal cortex.The integration of these signals can represent the locations of stimuli with respect to the observer and within the environment. Area MSTd combines visual motion signals, similar to those generated during an observer's movement through the environment, with eye–movement and vestibular signals. This integration appears to play a role in specifying the path on which the observer is moving. All three cortical areas combine different modalities into common spatial frames by using a gain–field mechanism. The spatial representations in areas LIP and 7a appear to be important for specifying the locations of targets for actions such as eye movements or reaching; the spatial representation within area MSTd appears to be important for navigation and the perceptual stability of motion signals.

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