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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

Published ahead of print on October 5, 2007
doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A0696

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Increased Gray Matter Density in the Parietal Cortex of Mathematicians: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

K. Aydin^a, A. Ucar^b, K.K. Oguz^c, O.O. Okur^d, A. Agayev^b, Z. Unal^e, S. Yilmaz^b and C. Ozturk^d

^a Department of Neuroradiology Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
^b Department of Radiology Istanbul Medical School, Istanbul University, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey
^c Department of Radiology, Hacettepe University, Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey
^d Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey
^e Department of Radiology, KVK American Hospital, Nisantasi, Istanbul, Turkey

View larger version (57K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig 1. Distribution of significant voxels with increased gray matter density in the mathematicians relative to the control subjects (statistical significance is thresholded at P < .0001, uncorrected). Only clusters of voxels consisting of at least 100 voxels are displayed. The 3D overlay images demonstrate the regions with significantly increased gray matter density (red-labeled regions) in the mathematicians compared with the control subjects. The anatomic sectional images show the overlay of the results on the normalized T1-weighted images of a mathematician. The color scale on the T1-weighted images shows the ranges of T values.

View larger version (29K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig 2. A, The result of the regression analysis testing the correlation between gray matter density of the mathematicians and period of time spent as an academician is overlayed on the normalized T1-weighted images. They show that gray matter density in the right inferior parietal region (Talaraich coordinates: x = 57, y = –60, z = 34) of the mathematicians is strongly correlated with the duration of time spent as an academician (z = 7.28; P < .05, FWE corrected). B, The gray matter density values from the voxels showing the maximum correlation on the SPM regression analysis are extracted into SPSS. The scatter-plot graph shows the linear regression between the gray matter density and the duration of time spent as an academician (r = 0.84; P < .01). The middle line represents the linear regression, and the curves around it represent the 95% confidence intervals.