RESEARCH ARTICLE
Identification of Biology Researcher’s Prefrontal Cortex Activation During the Process of Biological Task Commitment
Su-Min Lee, Bo-Mi Kim, Yong-Ju Kwon*
Korea National University of Education
Correspondence to Yong-Ju Kwon, kwonyj@knue.ac.kr
Brain, Digital, & Learning. Volume 16, Number 1, 13–28, March 2026. https://doi.org/10.31216/BDL.2026.16.1.2
Received on January 15, 2026, Revised on March 15, 2026, Accepted on March 19, 2026, Published on March 31, 2026.
Copyright © 2026 Institute of Brain based Education, Korea National University of Education This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Biological task commitment plays a crucial role in the discovery of new knowledge and in learning biology. It is essential for becoming a scientist and for successfully engaging in scientific task-solving. Recently, brain-based approaches have been introduced to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying task commitment. In this study, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to identify prefrontal cortex activation in biology researchers during biological task commitment. The results showed that biology researchers tend to pursue high goals and persist in completing tasks. Significant activation was observed in the VLPFC, right DLPFC, right FP, and right OFC. The left VLPFC is associated with the inhibitory control of scientific concepts and selective attention, suggesting that researchers selectively process relevant concepts while focusing attention to solve biological tasks. The right FP and right OFC are related to goal-directed thinking and motivational regulation, indicating that researchers maintain goal-directed thinking and regulate their motivation during biological task commitment. Overall, the findings identify the left VLPFC, right FP, and right OFC as key brain regions involved in biological task commitment. These results offer implications for the development of neuroscientific assessment tools for biological task commitment and for designing brain-based biology instruction.
Keywords
Biological task commitment, biology researcher, prefrontal cortex, fNIRS