A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of overt letter verbal fluency using a clustered acquisition sequence: greater anterior cingulate activation with increased task demand.

TY - JOUR

T1 - A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of overt letter verbal fluency using a clustered acquisition sequence: greater anterior cingulate activation with increased task demand.

AU - Fu, C

AU - Morgan, K

AU - Suckling, J

AU - Williams, S C R

AU - Andrew, C

AU - Vythelingum, G N

AU - McGuire, P K

PY - 2002

Y1 - 2002

N2 - Regional cerebral activation during a cognitive task can vary with task demand and task performance. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined the effect of manipulating task demand on activation during verbal fluency by using "easy" and "hard" letters. A "clustered" image acquisition sequence allowed overt verbal responses to be made in the absence of scanner noise which facilitated "online" measurement of task performance. Eleven right-handed, healthy male volunteers participated. Twice as many errors were produced with hard as with easy letters (20.8 +/- 13.6 and 10.1 +/- 10.7% errors, respectively). For both conditions, the distribution of regional activation was comparable to that reported in studies of covert verbal fluency, but with greater engagement of subcortical areas. The hard condition was associated with greater dorsal anterior cingulate activation than the easy condition. This may reflect the greater demands of the former, particularly in terms of arousal responses with increased task difficulty and the monitoring of potential response errors. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

AB - Regional cerebral activation during a cognitive task can vary with task demand and task performance. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined the effect of manipulating task demand on activation during verbal fluency by using "easy" and "hard" letters. A "clustered" image acquisition sequence allowed overt verbal responses to be made in the absence of scanner noise which facilitated "online" measurement of task performance. Eleven right-handed, healthy male volunteers participated. Twice as many errors were produced with hard as with easy letters (20.8 +/- 13.6 and 10.1 +/- 10.7% errors, respectively). For both conditions, the distribution of regional activation was comparable to that reported in studies of covert verbal fluency, but with greater engagement of subcortical areas. The hard condition was associated with greater dorsal anterior cingulate activation than the easy condition. This may reflect the greater demands of the former, particularly in terms of arousal responses with increased task difficulty and the monitoring of potential response errors. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

U2 - 10.1016/S1053-8119(02)91189-4

DO - 10.1016/S1053-8119(02)91189-4

M3 - Article

SN - 1095-9572

VL - 17

SP - 871

EP - 879

JO - NeuroImage

JF - NeuroImage

IS - 2

ER -