Visuospatialcognitive functioning is very important in everyday activities. However, in
psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and dementia, this function is
impaired, and patients with these diseases are inconvenienced in daily life.Various visuospatial tasks were used to investigate the brain function in
previous studies. Using the Trail Making Test (TMT), Shibuya-Tayoshi, et al.
reported that this task activates the prefrontal cortex during Near-Infrared
Spectroscopy (NIRS), and Nakahachi, et al. suggested that this task is
appropriate for examining the visuospatial working memory and functionallocalization. Using a task related to spatial positioning of a dot, Silver, et
al. examined visuospatial working memory and noted that working memory in
schizophrenia was impaired, and Lee, et al. compared trials with errors in
maintaining spatial working memory between normal subjects and schizophrenic
patients using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and NIRS.
Theyreported a reduced functional asymmetry of the prefrontal cortex during a
spatial working memory task in schizophrenic patients. In addition, Henseler,
et al. used fMRI and reported that schizophrenic patients showed impairments in
activation of the superior parietal cortex and in maintaining visuospatial information.
Kirsch, et al. also reported that during a maze task, both sides of the
prefrontal cortex were activated on fMRI. A variety of tasks, such as the
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and visual object contracting tasks are used to
investigate the visuospatial cognitive function. These tasks have been psycho
physiologically examined, the localization of the brain function and the
validity of these tasks have been demonstrated, and their use as markers of
psychiatric disorders is expected in the future.
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