The ABC of cardinal and ordinal number representations.
Numerical cognition encompasses the concepts of quantity ('how many?') and serial order ('which position?'). Yet, although numbers can convey different meanings, a recent imaging study by Fias and coworkers showed that ranking letters in the alphabet is subserved by a cortical network highly similar to that involved in judging magnitudes. In terms of neural processing, quantity and rank might just be two sides of the same coin.
Jacob
Simon N
SN
Primate NeuroCognition Laboratory, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 27, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Nieder
Andreas
A
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*