scholarly journals Critical Time Course of Right Frontoparietal Involvement in Mental Number Space

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Rusconi ◽  
Martynas Dervinis ◽  
Frederick Verbruggen ◽  
Christopher D. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Sampling Interval ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Large Numbers

Neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging studies suggest that right frontoparietal circuits may be necessary for the processing of mental number space, also known as the mental number line (MNL). Here we sought to specify the critical time course of three nodes that have previously been related to MNL processing: right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC), right FEF (rFEF), and right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG). The effects of single-pulse TMS delivered at 120% distance-adjusted individual motor threshold were investigated in 21 participants, within a window of 0–400 msec (sampling interval = 33 msec) from the onset of a central digit (1–9, 5 excluded). Pulses were delivered in a random order and with equal probability at each time point, intermixed with noTMS trials. To analyze whether and when TMS interfered with MNL processing, we fitted bimodal Gaussian functions to the observed data and measured effects on changes in the Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect (i.e., an advantage for left- over right-key responses to small numbers and right- over left-key responses to large numbers) and in overall performance efficiency. We found that, during magnitude judgment with unimanual key-press responses, TMS reduced the SNARC effect in the earlier period of the fitted functions (∼25–60 msec) when delivered over rFEF (small and large numbers) and rIFG (small numbers); TMS further reduced the SNARC effect for small numbers in a later period when delivered to rFEF (∼200 msec). In contrast, TMS of rPPC did not interfere with the SNARC effect but generally reduced performance for small numbers and enhanced it for large numbers, thus producing a pattern reminiscent of “neglect” in mental number space. Our results confirm the causal role of an intact right frontoparietal network in the processing of mental number space. They also indicate that rPPC is specifically tied to explicit number magnitude processing and that rFEF and rIFG contribute to interfacing mental visuospatial codes with lateralized response codes. Overall, our findings suggest that both ventral and dorsal frontoparietal circuits are causally involved and functionally connected in the mapping of numbers to space.

scholarly journals Different Brains Process Numbers Differently: Structural Bases of Individual Differences in Spatial and Nonspatial Number Representations

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 768-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Krause ◽  
Oliver Lindemann ◽  
Ivan Toni ◽  
Harold Bekkering
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Force Production ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
Large Numbers

A dominant hypothesis on how the brain processes numerical size proposes a spatial representation of numbers as positions on a “mental number line.” An alternative hypothesis considers numbers as elements of a generalized representation of sensorimotor-related magnitude, which is not obligatorily spatial. Here we show that individuals' relative use of spatial and nonspatial representations has a cerebral counterpart in the structural organization of the posterior parietal cortex. Interindividual variability in the linkage between numbers and spatial responses (faster left responses to small numbers and right responses to large numbers; spatial–numerical association of response codes effect) correlated with variations in gray matter volume around the right precuneus. Conversely, differences in the disposition to link numbers to force production (faster soft responses to small numbers and hard responses to large numbers) were related to gray matter volume in the left angular gyrus. This finding suggests that numerical cognition relies on multiple mental representations of analogue magnitude using different neural implementations that are linked to individual traits.

scholarly journals The SNARC effect: A preregistered study on the interaction of horizontal,vertical, and sagittal spatial-numerical associations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Aleotti ◽  
Stefano Massaccesi ◽  
Konstantinos Priftis
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Right

Small numbers are processed faster through left-sided than right-sided responses, whereas large numbers are processed faster through right-sided than left-sided responses (i.e., the Spatial-numerical Association of Response Codes [SNARC] effect). This effect suggests that small numbers are represented on the left side of space, whereas large numbers are represented on the right side of space, along a mental number line. The SNARC effect has been widely investigated along the horizontal Cartesian axis (i.e., left-right). Aleotti et al. (2020), however, have shown that the SNARC effect could also be observed along the vertical (i.e., small numbers-down side vs. large numbers-up side) and the sagittal axis (i.e., small numbers-near side vs. large numbers-far side). Here, we investigated whether the three Cartesian axes could interact to elicit the SNARC effect. Participants were asked to decide whether a centrally presented Arabic digit was odd or even. Responses were collected through an ad hoc-made response box on which the SNARC effect could be compatible for one, two, or three Cartesian axes. The results showed that the higher the number of SNARC-compatible Cartesian axes, the stronger the SNARC effect. We suggest that numbers are represented in a three-dimensional number space defined by interacting Cartesian axes.

scholarly journals The SNARC Effect in the Processing of Second-Language Number Words: Further Evidence for Strong Lexico-Semantic Connections

2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien De Brauwer ◽  
Wouter Duyck ◽  
Marc Brysbaert
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Number Magnitude ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Word Translation ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Semantic Mediation

We present new evidence that word translation involves semantic mediation. It has been shown that participants react faster to small numbers with their left hand and to large numbers with their right hand. This SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect is due to the fact that in Western cultures the semantic number line is oriented from left (small) to right (large). We obtained a SNARC effect when participants had to indicate the parity of second-language (L2) number words, but not when they had to indicate whether L2 number words contained a particular sound. Crucially, the SNARC effect was also obtained in a translation verification task, indicating that this task involved the activation of number magnitude.

Time course of overt attentional shifts in mental arithmetic: Evidence from gaze metrics

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 1009-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Masson ◽  
Clément Letesson ◽  
Mauro Pesenti
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Attentional Shifts ◽  
Addition And Subtraction ◽  
The Right ◽  
Target Detection Task

Processing numbers induces shifts of spatial attention in probe detection tasks, with small numbers orienting attention to the left and large numbers to the right side of space. This has been interpreted as supporting the concept of a mental number line with number magnitudes ranging from left to right, from small to large numbers. Recently, the investigation of this spatial-numerical link has been extended to mental arithmetic with the hypothesis that solving addition or subtraction problems might induce attentional displacements, rightward or leftward, respectively. At the neurofunctional level, the activations elicited by the solving of additions have been shown to resemble those induced by rightward eye movements. However, the possible behavioural counterpart of these activations has not yet been observed. Here, we investigated overt attentional shifts with a target detection task primed by addition and subtraction problems (2-digit ± 1-digit operands) in participants whose gaze orientation was recorded during the presentation of the problems and while calculating. No evidence of early overt attentional shifts was observed while participants were hearing the first operand, the operator or the second operand, but they shifted their gaze towards the right during the solving step of addition problems. These results show that gaze shifts related to arithmetic problem solving are elicited during the solving procedure and suggest that their functional role is to access, from the first operand, the representation of the result.

scholarly journals Registered Replication Report on Fischer, Castel, Dodd, and Pratt (2003)

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln J. Colling ◽  
Dénes Szűcs ◽  
Damiano De Marco ◽  
Krzysztof Cipora ◽  
Rolf Ulrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Anxiety ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Snarc Effect ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Mathematics Fluency ◽  
Finger Counting ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Number Representations ◽  
And Mathematics

The attentional spatial-numerical association of response codes (Att-SNARC) effect (Fischer, Castel, Dodd, & Pratt, 2003)—the finding that participants are quicker to detect left-side targets when the targets are preceded by small numbers and quicker to detect right-side targets when they are preceded by large numbers—has been used as evidence for embodied number representations and to support strong claims about the link between number and space (e.g., a mental number line). We attempted to replicate Experiment 2 of Fischer et al. by collecting data from 1,105 participants at 17 labs. Across all 1,105 participants and four interstimulus-interval conditions, the proportion of times the effect we observed was positive (i.e., directionally consistent with the original effect) was .50. Further, the effects we observed both within and across labs were minuscule and incompatible with those observed by Fischer et al. Given this, we conclude that we failed to replicate the effect reported by Fischer et al. In addition, our analysis of several participant-level moderators (finger-counting habits, reading and writing direction, handedness, and mathematics fluency and mathematics anxiety) revealed no substantial moderating effects. Our results indicate that the Att-SNARC effect cannot be used as evidence to support strong claims about the link between number and space.

Timing Spatial Conflict within the Parietal Cortex: A TMS Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3998-4007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Schiff ◽  
Lara Bardi ◽  
Demis Basso ◽  
Daniela Mapelli
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
The Right

Orienting and motor attention are known to recruit different regions within right and left parietal lobes. However, the time course and the role played by these modules when visual information competes for different motor response are still unknown. To deal with this issue, single-pulse TMS was applied over the angular (AG) and the supramarginal (SMG) gyri of both hemispheres at several time intervals during the execution of a Simon task. Suppression of the conflict between stimulus and response positions (i.e., the Simon effect) was found when TMS pulse was applied 130 msec after stimulus onset over the right AG and after 160 msec when applied over the left AG and SMG. Interestingly, only stimulation of the left SMG suppressed the asymmetry in conflict magnitude between left- and right-hand responses, usually observed in the Simon task. The present data show that orienting attention and motor attention processes are temporally, functionally, and spatially separated in the posterior parietal cortex, and both contribute to prime motor response during spatial conflict.

The Development of the Mental Representation of Numbers 0-10 in Elementary School Children

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Feldman ◽  
Michael Shmueli ◽  
Dror Dotan ◽  
Joseph Tzelgov ◽  
Andrea Berger
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Number Representation ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Position Task ◽  
Sigmoidal Curve ◽  
Anchor Points ◽  
The Right ◽  
Line P ◽  
Best Fit

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the development of mental number line (MNL) representation examined using a number-to-position task. In the present study, we investigated the development of number representation on a 0-10 number line using a computerized version of the number-to-position task on a touchscreen, with restricted response time; 181 children from first through sixth grade were tested. We found that the pattern of estimated number position on the physical number line was best fit by the sigmoidal curve function–which was characterized by underestimation of small numbers and overestimation of large numbers–and that the breakpoint changed with age. Moreover, we found that significant developmental leaps in MNL representation occurred between the first and second grades and again between the second and third grades, which was reflected in the establishment of the right endpoint and the number 5 as anchor points, yielding a more accurate placement of other numbers along the number line.

scholarly journals Possibilities of the primary and secondary prophylaxis in treatment of childhood asthma

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Slobodanka Petrovic ◽  
Jelena Tomic ◽  
Radmila Ljustina-Pribic
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Allergic Sensitization ◽  
Primary Prophylaxis ◽  
Secondary Prophylaxis ◽  
Childhood All ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
New Information ◽  
Common Precursor ◽  
Primary Sensitization ◽  
Timing Of Exposure

Introduction The natural course of asthma is unpredictable and appears to be unaffected by any therapeutic strategy. Under such circumstances, the attention must be focused on the opportunities for prevention of a disease which is chronic, life long and incurable, even thought it can be very effectively controlled. During the past decades, a lot of a studies have been performed and started, in which relatively large numbers of children were included and followed prospectively to determine the incidence of risk factors for asthma in childhood. All these studies have contributed significant new information. The levels of prevention must be considered in all patients. There are two main separate components to the strategy. Primary prophylaxis Primary prophylaxis (time course of allergic sensitization, timing of exposure to allergens, influence of tobacco smoke, maternal health and allergen exposure) is introduced before there is any evidence of sensitization to factors which might have caused the disease. There is increasing evidence that allergic sensitization is a very common precursor to the development of asthma. Secondary prophylaxis Secondary prophylaxis (allergen avoidance, hygiene hypothesis) is important after primary sensitization to allergen has occurred, but before there is any evidence of asthma. Conclusion In this article the authors reviewed all results of studies about primary and secondary prophylaxis of asthma and its influence on the course of disease.

Parietal Area 5 Activity Does Not Reflect the Differential Time-Course of Motor Output Kinetics During Arm-Reaching and Isometric-Force Tasks

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3353-3370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Hamel-Pâquet ◽  
Lauren E. Sergio ◽  
John F. Kalaska
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Isometric Force ◽  
Arm Movement ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Related Area ◽  
Area 5

Many single-neuron recording studies have examined the degree to which the activity of primary motor cortex (M1) neurons is related to the kinematics and kinetics of various motor tasks. This has not been explored as extensively for arm movement-related neurons in posterior parietal cortex area 5. We recorded the activity of 78 proximal arm–related neurons in area 5 of two monkeys while they used their whole arm to make reaching movements toward eight targets on a horizontal plane against an inertial load or to generate isometric forces at the hand in the same eight horizontal directions. The overall range of measured output forces was similar in the two tasks. The forces increased monotonically in the desired direction in the isometric task. In the movement task, in contrast, they showed a rapid initial increase in the direction of movement, followed by a transient reversal of forces as the hand approached the target. Many task-related area 5 neurons were tuned for the direction of motor output in the tasks, but most area 5 neurons were more strongly active or exclusively active in the movement task than in the isometric task. Furthermore, their activity at either the single cell or population level did not reflect the transient reversal of output forces during movement. In contrast, M1 neuronal activity was typically strong in both tasks and showed task-related changes that reflected the differences in the time course and directionality of force outputs between both tasks, including the transient reversal of forces in the movement task. These results show that area 5 neurons are less strongly related to the time-course of task kinetics than M1 during isometric and arm-movement tasks.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document