Jeong Seungpil, Hong Ji Sun, Han Doug Hyun
Department of Psychiatry, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Psychiatry Investig. 2025 May;22(5):574-582. doi: 10.30773/pi.2025.0035. Epub 2025 May 15.
A humanities-based approach to understanding the brain can yield valuable insights, advancing neuroscience and enhancing mental, emotional, and social well-being. This study was aimed at exploring how engagement in literature-related activities stimulates brain activity in the prefrontal cortex.
We recruited 24 healthy male participants aged 20 to 29 years. They completed clinical scales assessing depression, anxiety, attention, and humanistic knowledge. They also performed six tasks comprising various literature-related cognitive challenges while hemodynamic changes in their frontal cortices were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Task 1 (word memory and recognition) increased activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), as did Task 2 (emotional words classification), which also elevated activity in the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Task 3 (understanding context) increased activation in the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC). Tasks 4 (interpersonal relationship) and 5 (listening, memory, understanding, and expression) drove similar increases in the frontopolar and DLPFC regions. Task 6 (creative activities using characters and items) significantly activated multiple regions, including the right and left VLPFC and OFC. Humanistic knowledge scores were positively correlated with left and right DLPFC activation in Tasks 3 and 5, respectively. Conversely, Task 6 showed negative correlations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder scores and both right DLPFC and right OFC activation.
This study identified key brain regions involved in literature activities. Complex activities (semantic processing, understanding and creative expression, decision-making and emotional regulation, etc.) stimulated various regions of prefrontal cortices, including the VLPFC, DLPFC, and OFC.
基于人文学科的方法来理解大脑能够产生有价值的见解，推动神经科学发展，并增进心理、情感和社会幸福感。本研究旨在探索参与与文学相关的活动如何刺激前额叶皮质的大脑活动。
我们招募了24名年龄在20至29岁之间的健康男性参与者。他们完成了评估抑郁、焦虑、注意力和人文知识的临床量表。他们还执行了六项任务，这些任务包含各种与文学相关的认知挑战，同时使用功能性近红外光谱法测量其额叶皮质的血流动力学变化。
任务1（单词记忆与识别）增加了腹外侧前额叶皮质（VLPFC）的激活，任务2（情感词汇分类）也有同样效果，且该任务还增强了左侧眶额皮质（OFC）的活动。任务3（理解语境）增加了背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）的激活。任务4（人际关系）和任务5（倾听、记忆、理解和表达）在前额极和DLPFC区域产生了类似的激活增加。任务6（使用角色和物品的创造性活动）显著激活了多个区域，包括左右VLPFC和OFC。人文知识得分分别与任务3和任务5中左右DLPFC的激活呈正相关。相反，任务6显示注意力缺陷多动障碍得分与右侧DLPFC和右侧OFC的激活均呈负相关。
本研究确定了参与文学活动的关键脑区。复杂活动（语义处理、理解与创造性表达、决策与情绪调节等）刺激了前额叶皮质的各个区域，包括VLPFC、DLPFC和OFC。
