Functional Neuroanatomy of Dynamic Visuo-Spatial Imagery

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was the examination of the neural bases of dynamic visuo-spatial imagery. In addition to the assessment of brain activity during dy-namic visuo-spatial imagery using single-trial functional magnetic resonance im-aging (fMRI) and slow cortical potentials (SCPs), several methodological issues have been investigated. The theoretical part of this thesis consists of a selective overview of fMRI and SCPs, and of the advantages of their combination for functional neuroimaging (chapter 2). The methodological and empirical chapters include: Ø the presentation of a new, highly accurate and practicable method for the co-registration of MRI- and EEG-data (chapter 3), Ø the description of the increase in the accuracy of SCP mapping resulting from the use of individual electrode coordinates and realistic head models (chapter 4), Ø the description of regional differences in the consistency of brain activity across several executions of the same task type, as assessed by a new analysis con-cept based on single-trial fMRI data (chapter 5), Ø the demonstration of the involvement of premotor regions in dynamic visuo-spatial imagery, as assessed via a combination of single-trial fMRI and SCPs (chapter 6), Ø the description of a combined fMRI-SCP investigation in which earlier findings concerning individual differences in neural efficiency during dynamic imagery could not be replicated (chapter 7).