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Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2012
A Preliminary Study of Brain Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Text Reading and Comprehension
Qi Xie1, Huixian Chen1, Wenjuan He1
1Medical Imaging Department, Nansha Hospital, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 511457, China.
Background:
Few studies have focused on the changes in human brain function activities caused by reading Chinese characters with different intelligibility and whether it can reflect the understanding and cognitive ability of the human brain.
Objective:
Task-fMRI based on Chinese character reading tasks with different intelligibility was used to explore activated brain regions and their cognitive changes.
Methods:
Volunteers were randomly recruited using advertisements. Forty volunteers were recruited based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 40 volunteers were recruited. Brain function data of 40 healthy right-handed volunteers in fuzzy/clear Chinese reading tasks were collected using a Siemens Skyra 3.0T magnetic resonance scanner. Data were preprocessed and statistically analyzed using the statistical software SPM12.0 to observe the activation of the cortex and analyze its characteristics and possible changes in cognitive function.
Results:
Task-fMRI analysis: (1) The main brain regions activated in fuzzy/clear reading tasks were located in the occipital visual cortex (P < 0.001); (2) a paired sample t-test suggested that there was a significant difference in BOLD signals in the brain regions activated by fuzzy/clear reading tasks (P < 0.001, equiv Z = 4.25). Compared with the fuzzy reading task, the brain regions more strongly activated in the clear reading task were mainly located in the right superior frontal gyrus and the bilateral temporal lobe. Compared with the clear reading task, the brain region that was more strongly activated in the fuzzy reading task was mainly located in the right fusiform gyrus.
Conclusion:
Clear Chinese character information mainly activates the dorsal stream of the visual-spatial network. This reflects the information transmission of the brain after understanding the text content and is responsible for guiding and controlling attention. Fuzzy words that cannot provide clear text content activate the fusiform gyrus of the ventral stream of the visual-spatial network, strengthening the function of orthographic processing.
