Interactions between number and space in parietal cortex.
Since the time of Pythagoras, numerical and spatial representations have been inextricably linked. We suggest that the relationship between the two is deeply rooted in the brain's organization for these capacities. Many behavioural and patient studies have shown that numerical-spatial interactions run far deeper than simply cultural constructions, and, instead, influence behaviour at several levels. By combining two previously independent lines of research, neuroimaging studies of numerical cognition in humans, and physiological studies of spatial cognition in monkeys, we propose that these numerical-spatial interactions arise from common parietal circuits for attention to external space and internal representations of numbers.
Hubbard
Edward M
EM
Inserm Unit 562 Cognitive Neuroimaging, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, 4 place du Général Leclerc, F94101 Orsay, France. ehubbard@gmail.com
Piazza
Manuela
M
Pinel
Philippe
P
Dehaene
Stanislas
S
D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*