RUI: fMRI Investigation of the Role of Motor Processes in Mental Rotation

心理旋转使人能够参与各种空间推理任务，从解决几何问题到阅读地图再到学习跳舞。该领域的许多实证工作都集中在物体的心理旋转上。然而，在过去的几十年里，研究人员已经开始研究其他类型的心理旋转，包括身体部位和自己身体的心理旋转。研究人员也开始使用神经成像技术来探索这些不同的心理转变是否由独特的神经机制所控制。认知神经科学文献中一个有争议的发现是，某些类型的心理旋转被证明可以激活大脑的额叶运动区域，而另一些则没有。例如，研究人员在一些想象的物体旋转任务中发现了初级运动皮层和运动前激活，大概是因为这些任务允许人们预测如果他们操纵了一个物理物体会看到什么。相比之下，研究表明，一个人的身体的心理旋转任务不会引起额叶运动区域的激活，尽管它与身体运动有明确的联系。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，Maryjane Wraga博士的研究集中在这个问题上，通过研究运动处理在更广泛的心理旋转任务中的作用，而不是之前的研究。这项研究将使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）进行，这将允许在实验条件下对特定的大脑区域进行直接比较。这个项目更广泛的影响是为史密斯学院的女本科生提供参与认知神经科学领域的机会。学生将在功能磁共振实验的各个方面获得实践经验，从设计和编程研究，到在功能磁共振扫描仪中运行参与者，再到分析和解释结果。这样的机会将促进一个代表性不足的群体，妇女，在认知神经科学领域的参与。

Mental rotation enables one to participate in a variety of spatial reasoning tasks, from solving geometry problems to reading maps to learning how to dance. Much of the empirical work in the field has focused on mental rotation of objects. However, within the last few decades, researchers have begun to examine other classes of mental rotation, including mental rotation of body parts and of one's own body. Researchers also have begun using neuroimaging techniques to explore whether these different mental transformations are subserved by unique neural mechanisms. One contentious finding within the cognitive neuroscience literature is that some classes of mental rotation have been shown to activate frontal motor areas of the brain, while others have not. For example, researchers have found primary motor cortex and premotor activation in some imagined object rotation tasks, presumably because such tasks allow people to anticipate what they would see if they had manipulated a physical object. In contrast, the task of mental rotation of one's body has been shown to elicit no activation in frontal motor areas, despite its explicit link to body movement. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Maryjane Wraga's research focuses on this question this by examining the role of motor processing within a wider range of mental rotation tasks than previously has been studied. The research will be conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which will allow for direct comparisons of specific brain regions of interest across experimental conditions. The broader impacts of this project are to provide opportunities for undergraduate women at Smith College to become involved in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Students will gain hands-on experience in every aspect of fMRI experimentation, from designing and programming studies, to running participants in the fMRI scanner, to analyzing and interpreting results. Such opportunities will facilitate participation of an underrepresented group, women, within the field of cognitive neuroscience.