Origins of the brain networks for advanced mathematics in expert mathematicians

The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned pro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 18; pp. 4909 - 4917
Main Authors Amalric, Marie, Dehaene, Stanislas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 03.05.2016
National Acad Sciences
SeriesFrom the Cover
Subjects
Biological Sciences
Brain
Brain Mapping
Humans
INAUGURAL ARTICLE
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Mathematicians
Mathematics
Semantics
Social Sciences
Topology
functional MRI
semantic judgment
mathematical cognition
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI10.1073/pnas.1603205113

Cover

More Information
Summary:The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned professional mathematicians and mathematically naive subjects of equal academic standing as they evaluated the truth of advanced mathematical and nonmathematical statements. In professional mathematicians only, mathematical statements, whether in algebra, analysis, topology or geometry, activated a reproducible set of bilateral frontal, Intraparietal, and ventrolateral temporal regions. Crucially, these activations spared areas related to language and to general-knowledge semantics. Rather, mathematical judgments were related to an amplification of brain activity at sites that are activated by numbers and formulas in nonmathematicians, with a corresponding reduction in nearby face responses. The evidence suggests that high-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a nonlinguistic brain circuit.
Bibliography:SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 14
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ObjectType-Commentary-3
content type line 23
Reviewers: D.A., Western University, Brain and Mind Institute; and M.M., University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology.
Contributed by Stanislas Dehaene, March 2, 2016 (sent for review January 19, 2016; reviewed by Daniel Ansari and Martin Monti)
This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2010.
Author contributions: M.A. and S.D. designed research; M.A. performed research; M.A. and S.D. analyzed data; and M.A. and S.D. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1603205113