Neural substrates in color processing: A comparison between painting majors and non-majors

Although several studies provide evidence of differences in the neural mechanisms of art professionals and non-professionals, little is known about the neural mechanism differences between painting professionals/majors and non-professionals/non-majors during color processing. For the first time, we compared functional activation patterns, functional connectivity during both color naming and passive color viewing, and gray-matter density in 12 painting majors and 12 controls through both functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Inter-group comparisons revealed that the painting majors showed more activation in the color selective areas and increased correlation between left V4 and the left ventral lateral prefrontal cortex during color naming. In contrast, the controls exhibited stronger activity in the Broca's area during color naming. Moreover, increased gray matter density in the left V4 complex was found when the painting majors were compared to the controls. This study demonstrates that the left V4 complex shows both functional and structural differences between painting majors and non-majors. In addition, the results suggest the reorganization of the brain circuit underlying lexical retrieval during color naming in the anterior regions of the painting major group. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.