Brain Activation in the Prefrontal Cortex during Motor and Cognitive Tasks in Adults

Abstract

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in cognitive function, involved in Executive Functions (EFs) such as planning, working memory, and inhibition. Activation in the PFC also occurs during some motor activities. One commonly used tool to assess EF is the Tower of Hanoi, demonstrating sensitivity to PFC dysfunction. However, limited neuroimaging evidence is available to support the contribution of the PFC in the Tower of Hanoi task. In the current study, we use functional near infrared (fNIR) spectroscopy to examine hemodynamic responses associated with neural activity in the PFC in adults as they participate in the Tower of Hanoi task. We compared changes in cerebral oxygenation during resting, a motor task (tapping), and the Tower of Hanoi in 16 neurotypical adults, with measures of relative changes in concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (Δoxy-Hb) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Δdeoxy-Hb) taken throughout tasks, as well as total hemoglobin (ΔHbT) and oxygenation (Δoxy). Performance on the Tower of Hanoi was measured by the number of moves used to complete each level and the highest level of successful performance (3, 4, or 5 disks). We found a significant higher value of Δoxy-Hb and Δoxy in dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) during the Tower of Hanoi as compared to tapping and resting. Significant changes in Δdeoxy-Hb and ΔHbT during the Tower of Hanoi were found in the right DLPFC only. These results support the notion that the Tower of Hanoi task requires higher levels of PFC activity than a similar motor task with low executive function demands.

Single- and Dual-Task Balance Training Are Equally Effective in Youth

“…Findings from imaging studies provided evidence that the prefrontal cortex which is associated with executive functions and DT performance ( Szameitat et al, 2002 ) is not fully developed at age of 14–16 years ( Arain et al, 2013 ) as there is a developmental mismatch in brain maturation, with subcortical regions maturing during adolescence, whereas the prefrontal cortex does not reach a similar level of maturity until adulthood ( Somerville et al, 2010 ; Mills et al, 2014 ). The (dorsolateral) prefrontal cortex plays a critical role for the regulation and processing of complex cognitive (mostly in executive functions) and motor tasks ( Diamond, 2000 ; Liang et al, 2016 ). In a recent study, Beurskens et al (2016b) examined the underlying neural correlates of single- and dual-task walking.…”

Dynamics of the Prefrontal Cortex during Chess-Based Problem-Solving Tasks in Competition-Experienced Chess Players: An fNIR Study

“…The absolute values obtained after data processing were Z-scored and outliers were removed [ 37 ]. Data per channel was averaged for each condition and four regions of interest (ROI) for the prefrontal cortex were created, as previously proposed [ 13 ], by grouping anatomically congruent channels. The generated ROIs were the left prefrontal cortex (L-PFC), the right prefrontal cortex (R-PFC), the left medial prefrontal cortex (LM-PFC), and the right medial prefrontal cortex (RM-PFC).…”

“…It also involves the recognition of complex spatial relationships as determined by the game rules, and thus, the need to simultaneously handle multiple objects under such rule constraints [ 12 ]. In addition, motor timing, movement selection, and gait control are also enrolled in the multi-componential processes involved in chess-playing, all facets under PFC control [ 13 ]. Other studies have looked into the overall pattern of brain activation as a function of the level of expertise, identifying differences in the cortical resources engaged during chess-playing activities, with the experts manifesting significant activation of areas related to object perception or expertise-related pattern recognition [ 14 , 15 ], as well as recruitment in brain areas involved in knowledge storage and retrieval and memory, whilst the novice players activate predominantly brain areas involved in learning and retrieving of new information [ 10 ].…”

Does Movement Matter? Prefrontal Cortex Activity During 2D vs. 3D Performance of the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

“…The experimental evidence for a better understanding of EF is the result of using different tasks such as the Stroop Task, where the ink of a word representing a color might mismatch such color (Smith et al, 2006), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, where participants classify cards based on different criteria (Koch et al, 2018), and the Tower of Hanoi puzzle (ToH), a disk-transfer task that requires the relocation of disks from an initial configuration to a target configuration in the least possible number of moves (Liang et al, 2016b). ToH requires participants to appropriately respond to new situations, as well as demands related to anticipatory, means-end problem-solving (Welsh and Huizinga, 2001).…”

“…Notably, the ToH puzzle has the advantage of being sensitive to disruption in the PFC (Simon, 1975; Saint-Cyr et al, 1988; Casey et al, 1994; Goel and Grafman, 1995). Additionally, the activity of the PFC during the computerized version of ToH has been shown using different neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI (Head et al, 2002; Griebling et al, 2010; Crescentini et al, 2012) and EEG (Ruiz-Díaz et al, 2012; Guevara et al, 2013), in addition to functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS; Liang et al, 2016a,b). fNIRS is a neuroimaging tool that is non-invasive, portable, affordable, and safe for continuous and repeated measurements.…”