Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:22:37.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Are non-abstract brain representations of number developmentally plausible?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2009

Daniel Ansari
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6G 2K3, Canada. [email protected]://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/ansari_res.htm

Abstract

The theory put forward by Cohen Kadosh & Walsh (CK&W) proposing that semantic representations of numerical magnitude in the parietal cortex are format-specific, does not specify how these representations might be constructed over the course of learning and development. The developmental predictions of the non-abstract theory are discussed and the need for a developmental perspective on the abstract versus non-abstract question highlighted.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ansari, D. & Holloway, I. (2008) Common and segregated neural pathways for the processing of symbolic and non-symbolic numerical magnitude: Evidence from children and adults. Poster presented at IPSEN-Cell Exciting Biologies 2008: Biology of Cognition, Chantilly, France.Google Scholar
Brannon, E. M. (2006) The representation of numerical magnitude. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 16:222–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cantlon, J. F., Libertus, M. E., Pinel, P., Dehaene, S., Brannon, E. M. & Pelphrey, K. A. (in press) The neural development of an abstract concept of number. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. [Epub ahead of print]Google Scholar
Dehaene, S. (1997) The number sense. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Feigenson, L., Dehaene, S. & Spelke, E. (2004) Core systems of number. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(7):307–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M. H. (2001) Functional brain development in humans. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2(7):475–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Corre, M. & Carey, S. (2007) One, two, three, four, nothing more: An investigation of the conceptual sources of the verbal counting principles. Cognition 105(2):395438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santens, S., Roggeman, C., Fias, W. & Verguts, T. (in press) Number processing pathways in human parietal cortex. Cerebral Cortex. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verguts, T. & Fias, W. (2004) Representation of number in animals and humans: A neural model. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16(9):1493–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed