Abstract:
1. We measured relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes with
positron emission tomography and H(2) 15O in six normal subjects
repeatedly performing a spatial stimulus-response compatibility task.
Subjects had two motor response conditions. They were instructed to
respond with the left hand to a left visual field light stimulus and
with the right hand to a right visual field light stimulus (compatible
condition), and with the right hand to a left visual field light
stimulus and with the left hand to a right visual field light stimulus
(incompatible condition). Six rCBF measurements per condition were
performed in each subject. 2. Reaction times were faster (P < 0.0005) in
the compatible (287 ms) than the incompatible (339 ms) condition
(spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect). A bilateral increase
(P < 0.05) in rCBF in the superior parietal lobule of the two
hemispheres was observed during the incompatible condition when compared
with the compatible one. No rCBF decreases were observed. Reaction times
correlated (P < 0.0001) with the rCBF in the two activated superior
parietal lobule areas. 3. Reaction times decreased with practice
according to a linear trend (P < 0.05). Practice-related linear rCBF
increases (P < 0.05) were observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal,
premotor, and primary motor cortex of the left hemisphere. No
significant rCBF decreases were observed. 4. Practice did not affect the
spatial stimulus-response compatibility effect. A parallel shortening of
reaction times was observed in both compatible and incompatible
conditions, in both left and right hand responses, and in both left and
right visual fields. Accordingly, when rCBF was analyzed, the spatial
stimulus-response compatibility by practice interaction did not show any
significant activated area. 5. These findings suggest that the two
activated areas in the left and right superior parietal lobules subserve
the mapping of the visual stimulus spatial attributes onto the motor
response spatial attributes and that the rCBF increases in the
incompatible response condition represent the more complex computational
remapping required when stimuli and response do not match spatially. 6.
The dorsolateral prefrontal, premotor, and motor rCBF linear increases
in the left hemisphere seem to reflect the effect of practice on
cortical processes common to both compatible and incompatible response
conditions. These cortical processes presumably strengthen the links
between stimuli and responses under different stimulus-response
compatibility conditions. The lateralization of the rCBF increases
suggests a left hemisphere superiority in these processes