ABSTRACT
We performed a fMRI study during which 18 healthy subjects passively viewed abstract images and tried to name them. The images were geometric primitives, impossible images (Penrose images), and ambiguous images (Rorschach inkblots). Activation and deactivation areas were revealed for each task. The results of psychological assessment of ambiguity tolerance according to MSTAT-I inventory were used as regressors. Deactivation of the precuneus (Brodmann area 7) and neighboring structures (especially when observing geometric primitives and inventing names for them) and in the fronto-temporal areas was associated with high ambiguity tolerance. Similar links were observed for both activation and deactivation (depending on the certain contrast) of the occipito-cerebellar area.
Subject(s)
Cerebellum/physiology , Decision Making/physiology , Occipital Lobe/physiology , Parietal Lobe/physiology , Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology , Temporal Lobe/physiology , Adult , Brain Mapping , Cerebellum/anatomy & histology , Cerebellum/diagnostic imaging , Female , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Occipital Lobe/anatomy & histology , Occipital Lobe/diagnostic imaging , Parietal Lobe/anatomy & histology , Parietal Lobe/diagnostic imaging , Temporal Lobe/anatomy & histology , Temporal Lobe/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
Comparative identification of cerebral regions activated in men and women during perception of indefinite images was carried out by fMRT and psychological testing. Nine men and nine women aged 20-26 years took part in the study. The volunteers examined simple geometric figures, slightly structurized images (tables from Rorschach's test), and images of impossible figures. Activation in the cerebellum and visual cortex (bilateral) was more pronounced in women in response to all types of images and less so in the right G. temporalis medius. The right frontal regions (G. precentralis, G. frontalis superior, G. frontalis medius) were also stronger activated in women in response to indefinite stimuli.
