title: Dissociated brain organization for single-digit addition and multiplication.
abstract: This study compared the patterns of brain activation elicited by single-digit addition and multiplication problems. 20 Chinese undergraduates were asked to verify whether arithmetic equations were true or false during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed that both addition and multiplication were supported by a broad neural system that involved regions within SMA, precentral gyrus, intraparietal sulcus, occipital gyri, superior temporal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus, as well as some subcortical structures. Nevertheless, addition problems elicited more activation in the intraparietal sulcus and middle occipital gyri at the right hemisphere, and superior occipital gyri at both hemispheres, whereas multiplication had more activation in precentral gyrus, supplementary motor areas, and posterior and anterior superior temporal gyrus at the left hemisphere. This pattern of dissociated activation supports our hypothesis that addition has greater reliance on visuospatial processing and multiplication on verbal processing.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Xinlin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chuansheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zang
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Chunhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sibing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*