Fri 19.09.2014 - 15:20-17:30 - Plečnik 5

Differences in Brain Activity During the Visuospatial Working Memory Task: An FMRI Study in Mathematically and Scientifically Talented Students with and Without High IQ   Paper  Presentation

Presenter: Ching-chih Kuo
Author(s): Jun-ren Lee, (National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan), Shou-ying Tsai, (National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan), Chia-en Hsieh, (National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan), Ching-chih Kuo, (Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan).

This study compared the visuospatial working memory performance in mathematically and scientifically talented (MST) students with and without high IQ using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-five male university students, aged 19 to 24 were assigned to three groups according to the IQ level and a talent in mathematics and science. Such assignment yield the high-IQ MST (MSTHIQ, n=17), average-IQ (MSTAIQ, n=13), and typically developing groups (TD, n=15). Participants completed a non-verbal working memory n-back task with three memory load condition (0-, 1-, and 2-back) during whole-brain fMRI. The behavioral performance among these three groups was very similar to each other with high levels of accuracy and resulted in no significant group difference. We hypothesized that the MSTHIQ group demonstrate more activation during this n-back task. As predicted, when comparing the brain activation between easy task (0-back and 1-back) and more difficult task (2-back), the MSTHIQ group showed higher activation than the MSTAIQ group in many brain areas, including bilateral superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus (BA6), inferior parietal lobule, superamarginal (BA40), and superior temporal gyrus (BA39). The MSTAIQ group, on the other hand, exhibited more activation in the left precuneus (BA7), left superior frontal gyrus (BA6), and right inferior parietal lobule, angular (BA40). The TD students showed more activation in the right middle frontal gyrus (BA6), right occipital lobe, lingual gyrus (BA18), right occipital lobe, cuneus (BA18), and left inferior parietal lobule (BA40). The results support previous research and indicate that the MSTHIQ group exhibits more brain activation during memory-related and higher cognitive load tasks and larger visuospatial working memory capacities.

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