New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Neurons In Primate Cortex Associate Numerical Meaning With Visual Signs

Date:
November 2, 2007
Source:
Public Library of Science
Summary:
Single neurons in the primate cortex associate numerical meaning with visual signs, thus providing insight into precursor mechanisms of human symbol acquisition.
Share:
FULL STORY

Single neurons in the primate cortex associate numerical meaning with visual signs, thus providing insight into precursor mechanisms of human symbol acquisition.

Humans share with animals a language-independent system for representing numerical quantity, but number symbols have to be acquired throughout childhood. A first step in the acquisition of number symbols entails the association of a sign, such as "4," with a specific quantity.

However, it is not known how the brain accomplishes this feat.

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this process of semantic association, Ilka Diester and Andreas Nieder from the University of Tübingen recorded from neurons in cortical brain regions of monkeys as they learned to associate shapes with Arabic numerals.

Published online in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, the scientists show how they first simulated the process of symbolic mapping by training rhesus monkeys to associate the visual shapes of Arabic numerals with the numerosity of multiple-dot displays.

They found that many individual neurons in the prefrontal cortex, but only few in the posterior parietal cortex, responded in a tuned fashion to the same numerical values of dot sets and associated shapes.

The distribution of these "association neurons" across prefrontal and parietal areas resembles activation patterns in children and suggests how symbolic numerical abilities might have evolved in the human brain, building on existing precursor systems that are used by other animals for numerical judgments.

Citation: Diester I, Nieder A (2007) Semantic associations between signs and numerical categories in the prefrontal cortex. PLoS Biol 5(11): e294. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio. 0050294


Story Source:

Materials provided by Public Library of Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Public Library of Science. "Neurons In Primate Cortex Associate Numerical Meaning With Visual Signs." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 November 2007. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030080638.htm>.
Public Library of Science. (2007, November 2). Neurons In Primate Cortex Associate Numerical Meaning With Visual Signs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 13, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030080638.htm
Public Library of Science. "Neurons In Primate Cortex Associate Numerical Meaning With Visual Signs." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030080638.htm (accessed October 13, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES