The predictive value of white matter organization in posterior parietal cortex for spatial visualization ability.
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The predictive value of white matter organization in posterior parietal cortex for spatial visualization ability. / Wolbers, Thomas; Schoell, Eszter; Büchel, Christian.
In: NEUROIMAGE, Vol. 32, No. 3, 3, 2006, p. 1450-1455.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The predictive value of white matter organization in posterior parietal cortex for spatial visualization ability.
AU - Wolbers, Thomas
AU - Schoell, Eszter
AU - Büchel, Christian
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Humans differ substantially in their ability to imagine spatial transformations of novel stimuli (i.e., mental rotation). Whereas "high-spatial" individuals are able to maintain high-quality representations even after complex mental transformations, "low-spatial" individuals often experience substantial degradation of the initial representation. Even though subdivisions of the posterior parietal cortex are known to instantiate the necessary spatial transformations, a direct demonstration of neuroanatomical differences predicting this behavioral variability is currently missing. Because recent evidence suggests that interindividual differences on the behavioral level might be related to regionally specific white matter organization, we addressed this question using diffusion tensor imaging in combination with well-established psychometric tests. As expected, behavioral results revealed a substantial disparity in mental rotation performance. Most importantly, despite controlling for differences in spatial short-term memory capacity, we observed a tight relationship between mental rotation proficiency and white matter organization near the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus. Whereas high-level proficiency was paralleled by high fractional anisotropy (FA) values, the opposite pattern was observed in "low spatials". The present results strongly indicate that the efficiency of information transfer between posterior parietal regions involved in the mental transformation process could be one decisive factor in individual spatial visualization proficiency.
AB - Humans differ substantially in their ability to imagine spatial transformations of novel stimuli (i.e., mental rotation). Whereas "high-spatial" individuals are able to maintain high-quality representations even after complex mental transformations, "low-spatial" individuals often experience substantial degradation of the initial representation. Even though subdivisions of the posterior parietal cortex are known to instantiate the necessary spatial transformations, a direct demonstration of neuroanatomical differences predicting this behavioral variability is currently missing. Because recent evidence suggests that interindividual differences on the behavioral level might be related to regionally specific white matter organization, we addressed this question using diffusion tensor imaging in combination with well-established psychometric tests. As expected, behavioral results revealed a substantial disparity in mental rotation performance. Most importantly, despite controlling for differences in spatial short-term memory capacity, we observed a tight relationship between mental rotation proficiency and white matter organization near the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus. Whereas high-level proficiency was paralleled by high fractional anisotropy (FA) values, the opposite pattern was observed in "low spatials". The present results strongly indicate that the efficiency of information transfer between posterior parietal regions involved in the mental transformation process could be one decisive factor in individual spatial visualization proficiency.
M3 - SCORING: Zeitschriftenaufsatz
VL - 32
SP - 1450
EP - 1455
JO - NEUROIMAGE
JF - NEUROIMAGE
SN - 1053-8119
IS - 3
M1 - 3
ER -