Putative tests of frontal lobe function: a PET-study of brain activation during Stroop's Test and verbal fluency

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Barbara Ravnkilde
  • Poul Videbech
  • Raben Rosenberg
  • Gjedde, Albert
  • Anders Gade
Stroop's test and the Verbal Fluency test are commonly argued to be measures of the integrity of the prefrontal cortex. This assumption has only to some degree been confirmed by lesion studies. In the present study, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with H(2)(15)O was used to further validate Stroop's test and the Verbal Fluency as measures of frontal lobe function; both tests were implemented as activation paradigms during scanning of normal middleaged individuals. Stroop interference was found to activate the left anterior cingulate cortex, the supplementary motor cortex, thalamus, and the cerebellum. Although the prominent anterior cingulate activation is in the frontal lobe, it is not prefrontal. Verbal Fluency activated the left inferior frontal cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the supplementary motor cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum. These results bring this latter test closer to being a specific test of prefrontal function.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
Volume24
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)534-47
Number of pages13
ISSN1380-3395
Publication statusPublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes

ID: 14942605