Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 7 May 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5416, pp. 928 - 929
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5416.928
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

NEUROSCIENCE:
A Head for Figures

Brian Butterworth

It has long been debated whether the ability to solve mathematical problems depends on language. In this issue, Dehaene et al. show that exact calculations involve linguistic representations of numbers and are controlled by the speech-related areas of the left frontal lobe in the brain. In contrast, approximate calculations are language-independent, relying on visuo-spatial representations of numbers controlled by the left and right parietal lobes. In an accompanying Perspective, Brian Butterworth discusses these findings and postulates that the parietal lobes may also be involved in finger counting, an almost universal stage in the learning of exact arithmetic.

The author is at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK. E-mail: ucjtsbb{at}ucl.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Arithmetic in newborn chicks.
R. Rugani, L. Fontanari, E. Simoni, L. Regolin, and G. Vallortigara (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 2451-2460
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Touch perception reveals the dominance of spatial over digital representation of numbers.
C. Brozzoli, M. Ishihara, S. M. Gobel, R. Salemme, Y. Rossetti, and A. Farne (2008)
PNAS 105, 5644-5648
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)