Cortical distribution of EEG activity for component processes during mental rotation

Alpha power (8-12 Hz) was monitored over the frontal, temporal, parietal an d occipital lobes of the left and right cerebral hemispheres while particip ants mentally rotated three-dimensional shapes to match a specified target. By comparing the activational patterns generated during three experimental conditions, each designed to systematically isolate the involvement of the various subcomponents comprising this mental rotation task, it was suggest ed that the right frontal lobe mediates encoding and comparison/decision pr ocesses, while the left parietal and the left temporal region appear most i nvolved in the generation of images and their mental rotation. A preliminar y model describing the cooperative interaction of these cortical regions du ring mental rotation tasks is proposed.