title: Numbers in the cultural brain.
abstract: Recent functional neuroimaging studies have indicated that culture may contribute to differential representation of Arabic numbers in the brain of Chinese and English speakers. The brain networks underlying even very simple arithmetic operation differ among these groups. To what extent do different cultures lead to differences in functional connectivity among the distributed brain areas that constitute the network supporting numerical and arithmetic processes? Key cultural differences are educational system, learning strategy, reading experience, and even genetic background; which ones are important? This review addresses these questions and summarizes findings from recent research on number/arithmetic cognition as well related studies in other cognitive domains. Future directions are also addressed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroinformatics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. yiyuan@uoregon.edu
authors.forename: Yi-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yijun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003469:Culture; D005006:Ethnicity; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008433:Mathematics; D009484:Neuropsychology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D011603:Psychophysiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology