Focal frontal (de)oxyhemoglobin responses during simple arithmetic

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a functional brain imaging method able to study hemodynamic changes during cortical activation. We studied the changes of oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin ([oxy-Hb], [deoxy-Hb]) with a 52-channel NIRS system during simple mental arithmetic in ten healthy volunteers over the prefrontal cortex. We found that eight of the ten subjects showed a relative focal bilateral increase of [oxy-Hb] in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in parallel with a decrease in the medial area of the anterior prefrontal cortex (APFC). The [oxy-Hb] response in left DLPFC and APFC was significant, while the [deoxy-Hb] response was clearly smaller and not significant. These observations were discussed within the context of “focal activation/surround deactivation”.