The role of executive function in the flexible reading of the diagrams

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K00215
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Sugio Takeshi 同志社大学, 文化情報学部, 教授 (60335205)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小川 健二 北海道大学, 文学研究科, 准教授 (50586021)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 図的表現 / 抑制的制御 / 大域的特性 / 局所的特性 / 慣習的知識

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Reading a diagram in a flexible manner requires the utilization of the conventional knowledge about the diagram for deriving its meaning. In the present study, we investigated how both visual attention and cognitive control are involved in the perception and the cognition of the diagrams at both a global and a local level. In addition, we explored the neural mechanisms of global reading of the diagrams by using fMRI. As a result, we found that the category-specific knowledge of the diagrams indeed influenced both the global and the local processing of the diagrams. Moreover, the brain activation showed that inhibitory control was involved in the global processing of the diagrams. These results suggest that the role of conventional knowledge in the flexible reading of the diagrams, and it is necessary to consider how to apply such principle to a diagram design.

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