Measurements of right / left hemisphere activation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy during incongruent Stroop test.

The human brain automatically processes information at multiple sites when recognizing various types of information at the same time, such as color, shape, etc. Cognitive conflict may occur when conflicting information is recognized at the same time. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is often used to examine the brain activity associated with this phenomenon. To examine activation of the visual system, we measured brain activity in the right / left hemispheres during cognitive conflict in the Stroop test. Consistent with the results reported previously by Ehlis, the brain activity in the near inferior-frontal gyrus of the left hemisphere was increased during the incongruent task. The brain activity also increased in the near inferior-frontal gyrus of the right hemisphere during the incongruent task. These results indicated that fNIRS can be used to detect brain activity in the inferior-frontal gyrus of the right / left hemispheres during the Stroop test.