Arithmetic processing in the brain shaped by cultures.
Yi-Yuan Tang,Wutian Zhang,Kewei Chen,Shigang Feng,Ye Ji,Junxian Shen,Eric M. Reiman,Yijun Liu +7 more
TLDR
The results indicate that the different biological encoding of numbers may be shaped by visual reading experience during language acquisition and other cultural factors such as mathematics learning strategies and education systems, which cannot be explained completely by the differences in languages per se.Abstract:
The universal use of Arabic numbers in mathematics raises a question whether these digits are processed the same way in people speaking various languages, such as Chinese and English, which reflect differences in Eastern and Western cultures. Using functional MRI, we demonstrated a differential cortical representation of numbers between native Chinese and English speakers. Contrasting to native English speakers, who largely employ a language process that relies on the left perisylvian cortices for mental calculation such as a simple addition task, native Chinese speakers, instead, engage a visuo-premotor association network for the same task. Whereas in both groups the inferior parietal cortex was activated by a task for numerical quantity comparison, functional MRI connectivity analyses revealed a functional distinction between Chinese and English groups among the brain networks involved in the task. Our results further indicate that the different biological encoding of numbers may be shaped by visual reading experience during language acquisition and other cultural factors such as mathematics learning strategies and education systems, which cannot be explained completely by the differences in languages per se.read more
Citations
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Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation
Yi-Yuan Tang,Yinghua Ma,Junhong Wang,Yaxin Fan,Shigang Feng,Qilin Lu,Qingbao Yu,Danni Sui,Mary K. Rothbart,Ming Fan,Michael I. Posner +10 more
TL;DR: It is shown that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative body–mind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training.
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Cultural Recycling of Cortical Maps
TL;DR: A neuronal recycling hypothesis is proposed, according to which cultural inventions invade evolutionarily older brain circuits and inherit many of their structural constraints.
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Neural reuse: A fundamental organizational principle of the brain.
TL;DR: Neural reuse theories offer a distinct perspective on several topics of general interest, including the evolution and development of the brain, including (for instance) the evolutionary-developmental pathway supporting primate tool use and human language.
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Representation of number in the brain.
Andreas Nieder,Stanislas Dehaene +1 more
TL;DR: Studies in human and nonhuman primates using a broad range of methodologies provide evidence that numerical information is represented and processed by regions of the prefrontal and posterior parietal lobes, with the intraparietal sulcus as a key node for the representation of the semantic aspect of numerical quantity.
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Effects of development and enculturation on number representation in the brain
TL;DR: This Review provides an evaluation of the contention that cultural number symbols acquire their meaning by being mapped onto non-symbolic representations of numerical magnitude and proposes hypotheses to guide investigations into the neural mechanisms that constrain the acquisition of cultural representations of numeric magnitude.
References
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