Regional cerebral blood flow during the auditory oddball task measured by positron emission tomography

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured by employing PET in nine healthy right-handed male subjects, while they simultaneously performed the auditory oddball task using tone bursts. Results showed that the rCBF value was highest in the transverse gyrus of Heschl in both right and left hemispheres. When comparing the rCBF values between right and left hemispheres, four areas had higher rCBF values in the left hemisphere and eight areas had higher rCBF values in the right hemisphere. Of these, the anterior and posterior parts of the superior temporal gyrus, especially, showed significant differences. The hemispheric differences in the rCBF values of the auditory areas can be attributed to the performance of the oddball task which requires higher processing of non verbal auditory input. The P300 amplitude which reflects the amount of the allocated information processing resources correlated positively with rCBF in the following areas: left piriform cortex, the transverse gyrus of Heschl in both left and right hemispheres. Mean-while, P300 amplitude correlated negatively with rCBF in the nucleus accumbens septi in both right and left hemispheres. The N100 amplitude evoked by frequent stimulus did not correlate with rCBF in almost all ROIs. (K.H.)