The effect of a go/no-go naming task on fMRI BOLD activation in the ventral visual processing stream

• Author / Creator

  Amyotte, Josee J.

• Background: The go/no-go naming behavioural paradigm has furthered our understanding of basic reading processes, however, its neural representations remain largely unknown. Pilot data using this task (with nonwords) produced fMRI ventral stream activation for regular and exception words. This activation may be due to subjects‘ strategic reliance on phonology or orthography. Accordingly, using pseudohomophones in a go/no-go naming task served to elucidate behavioural and neural activation associated with the evaluation of orthography. Method: Subjects (n=10) were instructed to name aloud letter string stimuli if they spelt a real word, during a go/no-go reading task with pseudohomophones. Results: Using pseudohomophones as a foil should have forced subjects to rely solely on orthography, resulting in ventral stream activation. Conversely, activation was constrained primarily to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Discussion: Manipulation of the experiment‘s instructions forced participants to rely on higher-level cognitive functions to complete the go/no-go paradigm.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Ventral stream
  • Dorsolateral
  • Activation
  • Go/No-Go
  • FMRI
  • Reading

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3CW88

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.