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Structure and Stimulus Familiarity: A Study of Memory in Chess-Players with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Guillermo Campitelli ,
Fernand Gobet  and
Amanda Parker
Guillermo Campitelli
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Fernand Gobet*
Affiliation:
Brunel University
Amanda Parker
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Prof. Fernand Gobet, Cleveland Road, School of Social Sciences and Law, Brunel University, West London. Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH –United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

A grandmaster and an international chess master were compared with a group of novices in a memory task with chess and non-chess stimuli, varying the structure and familiarity of the stimuli, while functional magnetic resonance images were acquired. The pattern of brain activity in the masters was different from that of the novices. Masters showed no differences in brain activity when different degrees of structure and familiarity where compared; however, novices did show differences in brain activity in such contrasts. The most important differences were found in the contrast of stimulus familiarity with chess positions. In this contrast, there was an extended brain activity in bilateral frontal areas such as the anterior cingulate and the superior, middle, and inferior frontal gyri; furthermore, posterior areas, such as posterior cingulate and cerebellum, showed great bilateral activation. These results strengthen the hypothesis that when performing a domain-specific task, experts activate different brain systems from that of novices. The use of the experts-versus-novices paradigm in brain imaging contributes towards the search for brain systems involved in cognitive processes.

Un gran maestro y un maestro internacional de ajedrez se compararon con un grupo de aficionados en una tarea de memoria con estímulos ajedrecísticos y no ajedrecísticos, variando la estructura y familiaridad de los estímulos, mientras se tomaron imágenes cerebrales usando resonancia magnética funcional. El patrón de activación cerebral difirió entre los maestros y los aficionados. Los maestros no presentaron ninguna diferencia en activación cerebral cuando se compararon distintos niveles de familiaridad y estructura de los estímulos; en cambio, los aficionados presentaron diferencias en activación cerebral en dichas comparaciones. Las diferencias más considerables se encontraron en el contraste de familiaridad del estímulo en posiciones de ajedrez. En ese contraste hubo una extensa actividad cerebral bilateral en regiones frontales como la corteza cingulada anterior y los giros frontales superior, medio e inferior; asimismo, áreas posteriores como la corteza cingulada posterior y el cerebelo también mostraron gran activación bilateral. Estos resultados fortalecen la hipótesis de que cuando los expertos realizan tareas específicas de dominio activan sistemas cerebrales diferentes a los que usan los aficionados ejecutando la misma tarea. El uso del paradigma expertos-versus- novatos en imaginería cerebral contribuye a la búsqueda de sistemas cerebrales involucrados en procesos cognoscitivos.

Keywords

memoryfMRIexpertisestimulusmemoriaresonancia magnética funcionalpericiaestímulo
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , November 2005 , pp. 238 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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