A functional MRI study of high-level cognition. I. The game of chess.

Chess is a game that involves many aspects of high level cognition and requires sophisticated problem solving skills. However, there is little understanding of the neural basis of chess cognition. This study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify cortical areas that are active during the analysis of chess positions compared with a spatial task with matched visual stimuli. Bilateral activation was revealed in the superior frontal lobes, the parietal lobes, and occipital lobes. Some small areas of activation were observed unilaterally in the left hemisphere. The left hemisphere showed more activation than the right. Results are discussed in relation to a similar brain imaging study on the game Go.

[1]  Robert J. Sternberg,et al.  The Holey Grail of General Intelligence , 2000, Science.

[2]  Monty Newborn.  Deep Blue's contribution to AI , 2004, Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence.

[3]  M. Albert,et al.  The Chess Mind , 1960 .

[4]  P. Goldman-Rakic,et al.  Segregation of working memory functions within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , 2000, Experimental Brain Research.

[5]  Vinod Goel,et al.  Anatomical Segregation of Component Processes in an Inductive Inference Task , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[6]  W. Singer,et al.  The constructive nature of vision: direct evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of apparent motion and motion imagery , 1998, The European journal of neuroscience.

[7]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Where in the brain does visual attention select the forest and the trees? , 1996, Nature.

[8]  Edward E. Smith,et al.  Working Memory: A View from Neuroimaging , 1997, Cognitive Psychology.

[9]  A. D. D. Groot.  Thought and Choice in Chess , 1978 .

[10]  Judith S Reitman,et al.  Skilled perception in Go: Deducing memory structures from inter-response times , 1976, Cognitive Psychology.

[11]  Pietro Pietrini,et al.  Brain activity in chess playing , 1994, Nature.

[12]  M. Diamond,et al.  Primary Motor and Sensory Cortex Activation during Motor Performance and Motor Imagery: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study , 1996, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[13]  M. Erb,et al.  Activation of Cortical and Cerebellar Motor Areas during Executed and Imagined Hand Movements: An fMRI Study , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[14]  M. Torrens.  Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268 , 1990 .

[15]  R. Cabeza,et al.  Imaging Cognition II: An Empirical Review of 275 PET and fMRI Studies , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[16]  D. LeBihan,et al.  Modulation of Parietal Activation by Semantic Distance in a Number Comparison Task , 2001, NeuroImage.

[17]  W. Singer,et al.  Functional imaging of mirror and inverse reading reveals separate coactivated networks for oculomotion and spatial transformations , 1998, Neuroreport.

[18]  F. Gobet.  Expert memory: a comparison of four theories , 1998, Cognition.

[19]  M. Raichle,et al.  Localization of a human system for sustained attention by positron emission tomography , 1991, Nature.

[20]  R W Cox,et al.  AFNI: software for analysis and visualization of functional magnetic resonance neuroimages. , 1996, Computers and biomedical research, an international journal.

[21]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  An area specialized for spatial working memory in human frontal cortex. , 1998, Science.

[22]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  A neural system for human visual working memory. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[23]  D. Holding.  The Psychology of Chess Skill , 1985 .

[24]  Pertti Saariluoma,et al.  Chess players' thinking : a cognitive psychological approach , 1995 .

[25]  J. Foley.  The Exceptional Brain , 1988, Neurology.

[26]  Mark S. Cohen,et al.  Changes in cortical activity during mental rotation. A mapping study using functional MRI. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[27]  Loraine K. Obler,et al.  The exceptional brain: Neuropsychology of talent and special abilities. , 1988 .

[28]  E. Spelke,et al.  Sources of mathematical thinking: behavioral and brain-imaging evidence. , 1999, Science.

[29]  E. Miller,et al.  The prefontral cortex and cognitive control , 2000, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[30]  R. Goebel,et al.  Matching two imagined clocks: the functional anatomy of spatial analysis in the absence of visual stimulation. , 2000, Cerebral cortex.

[31]  Newell,et al.  A neural basis for general intelligence , 2000, American journal of ophthalmology.

[32]  A. Georgopoulos,et al.  Time‐resolved fMRI of mental rotation , 1997, Neuroreport.

[33]  Atsushi Yoshikawa,et al.  Relations between Skill and the Use of Terms - An Analysis of Protocols of the Game of Go , 1998, Computers and Games.

[34]  A. Nobre,et al.  Where and When to Pay Attention: The Neural Systems for Directing Attention to Spatial Locations and to Time Intervals as Revealed by Both PET and fMRI , 1998, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[35]  M. Jeannerod,et al.  Possible involvement of primary motor cortex in mentally simulated movement: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. , 1996, Neuroreport.