Using neuroimaging methods to localize mechanisms for making decisions concerning the ordering of textures

The development of methods of digitally synthesizing and processing images has made it possible to use the methods of iconics to deliberately create test images that selectively activate various structures of the visual system. The methods of processing neurophysiological data, including not only images of the activity of the entire brain but also so-called neuroimaging methods, have made it possible to discriminate the brain structures activated as a result of this selective action. The goal of this study is the spatiotemporal localization (mapping) of the regions of the brain that participate in making decisions concerning the shape of textures. It is established that a subject’s reaction time correlates with the degree of ordering of the textures and with the latency of the late components of the induced potentials in the frontal cortex. The time for a person to make decisions in the task of recognizing a specified class of textures is thereby determined. Mapping of the brain by the method of functional magnetic-resonance tomography showed that the activity of the brain in the process of making decisions involving recognition occurs in the frontal cortex of the human brain.