Neural substrates of mathematical reasoning: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of neocortical activation during performance of the necessary arithmetic operations test.
Brain activation was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging during mathematical problem solving in 7 young healthy participants. Problems were selected from the Necessary Arithmetic Operations Test (NAOT; R. B. Ekstrom, J. W. French, H. H. Harman, & D. Dermen, 1976). Participants solved 3 types of problems: 2-operation problems requiring mathematical reasoning and text processing, 1-operation problems requiring text processing but minimal mathematical reasoning, and 0-operation problems requiring minimal text processing and controlling sensorimotor demands of the NAOT problems. Two-operation problems yielded major activations in bilateral frontal regions similar to those found in other problem-solving tasks, indicating that the processes mediated by these regions subserve many forms of reasoning. Findings suggest a dissociation in mathematical problem solving between reasoning, mediated by frontal cortex, and text processing, mediated by temporal cortex.
Prabhakaran
V
V
Program in Neurosciences, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. vivekpr@leland.stanford.edu
Rypma
B
B
Gabrieli
J D
JD
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D019579:Neocortex / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology