PET Scan of the Chess Brain

PET scans allow scientists to identify specific brain areas that are activated by different tasks. Here researchers have used PET scans to identify the brain areas stimulated in the complex mental activities during a chess game (Nichelli and others, 1994). In scan (a), areas at the back of the brain, where visual information is processed, are most active when a player distinguishes between black and white chess pieces. In (b), the lower middle region of the brain is more active when a player is determining if a particular chess piece can capture another piece.*________________________________________
*Don Hockenbury and Sandra Hockenbury, Psychology, New York: Worth Publishers, 1997, p.68.