The neural organization of perception in chess experts

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2011-07, Vol.499 (2), p.64-69
• Main Authors: Krawczyk, Daniel C., Boggan, Amy L., McClelland, M. Michelle, Bartlett, James C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Chess; Expertise; Face processing; fMRI; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Nerve Net - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Perception; Photic Stimulation - methods; Play and Playthings; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.05.033

► In chess experts face-processing regions showed no selectivity to chess configurations. ► The posterior cingulate was consistently active to chess board displays. ► The posterior cingulate was responsive to chess only and not faces. The human visual system responds to expertise, and it has been suggested that regions that process faces also process other objects of expertise including chess boards by experts. We tested whether chess and face processing overlap in brain activity using fMRI. Chess experts and novices exhibited face selective areas, but these regions showed no selectivity to chess configurations relative to other stimuli. We next compared neural responses to chess and to scrambled chess displays to isolate areas relevant to expertise. Areas within the posterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, and right temporal cortex were active in this comparison in experts over novices. We also compared chess and face responses within the posterior cingulate and found this area responsive to chess only in experts. These findings indicate that the configurations in chess are not strongly processed by face-selective regions that are selective for faces in individuals who have expertise in both domains. Further, the area most consistently involved in chess did not show overlap with faces. Overall, these results suggest that expert visual processing may be similar at the level of recognition, but need not show the same neural correlates.