Study of change in brain activity due to blood flow while playing Shogi (Japanese chess).

Background: The study of brain activity has been studied with the use of various techniques like electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission topography (PET) and magneto-encephalography (MEG). These techniques are unsuitable because of restriction of moving of subject's body while playing "shogi (Japanese Chess)" matching However, optical topography (OT) is possible to measure. Therefore, brain activity is here studied with use of OT.

Materials and method: The measurement and analyses of the activity of brain is carried out by cerebral blood flow with use of OT. The equipment of OP is 16-channel maximum OMM-2000 device (Shimadzu, Tokyo, Japan). Two subjects play the game, and the cerebral blood flow of only one subject is measured, since the capacity of the equipment is limited.

Results and conclusion: When the subject does decision-making for a matter of chance during the game, the right side of frontal part (Fp2) proves more activity than that of left side (Fp1), and proves that the activity of both parts of visual field (O1, O2) communicates each other. The present study with use of OT is highly useful for observing brain activity during play of shogi game.