Nature Neuroscience
3, 404 - 408 (2000)
doi:10.1038/73980
Brain activation during human navigation: gender-different neural networks as substrate of performanceGeorg Grön1, Arthur P. Wunderlich2, Manfred Spitzer1, Reinhard Tomczak2
& Matthias W. Riepe31
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12−14, D-89075 Ulm, Germany
2
Department of Radiology, University of Ulm, Steinhövelstr.9, D-89075 Ulm, Germany
3
Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Steinhövelstr. 1, D-89075 Ulm, Germany
Correspondence should be addressed to Matthias W. Riepe matthias.riepe@medizin.uni-ulm.deVisuospatial navigation in animals and human subjects is generally studied using maze exploration. We used functional MRI to observe brain activation in male and female subjects as they searched for the way out of a complex, three-dimensional, virtual-reality maze. Navigation activated the medial occipital gyri, lateral and medial parietal regions, posterior cingulate and parahippocampal gyri as well as the right hippocampus proper. Gender-specific group analysis revealed distinct activation of the left hippocampus in males, whereas females consistently recruited right parietal and right prefrontal cortex. Thus we demonstrate a neural substrate of well established human gender differences in spatial-cognition performance.
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