PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wan, Xiaohong
AU  - Nakatani, Hironori
AU  - Ueno, Kenichi
AU  - Asamizuya, Takeshi
AU  - Cheng, Kang
AU  - Tanaka, Keiji
TI  - The Neural Basis of Intuitive Best Next-Move Generation in Board Game Experts
AID  - 10.1126/science.1194732
DP  - 2011 Jan 21
TA  - Science
PG  - 341--346
VI  - 331
IP  - 6015
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6015/341.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6015/341.full
SO  - Science2011 Jan 21; 331
AB  - The superior capability of cognitive experts largely depends on quick automatic processes. To reveal their neural bases, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity of professional and amateur players in a board game named shogi. We found two activations specific to professionals: one in the precuneus of the parietal lobe during perception of board patterns, and the other in the caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia during quick generation of the best next move. Activities at these two sites covaried in relevant tasks. These results suggest that the precuneus-caudate circuit implements the automatic, yet complicated, processes of board-pattern perception and next-move generation in board game experts.