You can count on the motor cortex finger counting habits modulate motor cortex activation evoked by numbers
- The embodied cognition framework suggests that neural systems for perception and action are engaged during higher cognitive processes. In an event-related fMRI study, we tested this claim for the abstract domain of numerical symbol processing: is the human cortical motor system part of the representation of numbers, and is organization of numerical knowledge influenced by individual finger counting habits? Developmental studies suggest a link between numerals and finger counting habits due to the acquisition of numerical skills through finger counting in childhood. In the present study, digits 1 to 9 and the corresponding number words were presented visually to adults with different finger counting habits, i.e. left- and right-starters who reported that they usually start counting small numbers with their left and right hand, respectively. Despite the absence of overt hand movements, the hemisphere contralateral to the hand used for counting small numbers was activated when small numbers were presented. The correspondence betweenThe embodied cognition framework suggests that neural systems for perception and action are engaged during higher cognitive processes. In an event-related fMRI study, we tested this claim for the abstract domain of numerical symbol processing: is the human cortical motor system part of the representation of numbers, and is organization of numerical knowledge influenced by individual finger counting habits? Developmental studies suggest a link between numerals and finger counting habits due to the acquisition of numerical skills through finger counting in childhood. In the present study, digits 1 to 9 and the corresponding number words were presented visually to adults with different finger counting habits, i.e. left- and right-starters who reported that they usually start counting small numbers with their left and right hand, respectively. Despite the absence of overt hand movements, the hemisphere contralateral to the hand used for counting small numbers was activated when small numbers were presented. The correspondence between finger counting habits and hemispheric motor activation is consistent with an intrinsic functional link between finger counting and number processing.…
| Author details: | Nadja Tschentscher, Olaf Hauk, Martin H. FischerORCiDGND, Friedemann Pulvermüller |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.037 |
| ISSN: | 1053-8119 |
| Title of parent work (English): | NeuroImage : a journal of brain function |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Place of publishing: | San Diego |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Year of first publication: | 2012 |
| Publication year: | 2012 |
| Release date: | 2017/03/26 |
| Tag: | Embodied cognition; Finger counting habits; Numerical cognaion; SNARC effect |
| Volume: | 59 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Number of pages: | 10 |
| First page: | 3139 |
| Last Page: | 3148 |
| Funding institution: | Medical Research Council [MC_US_A060_0034, MC_US_A060_0050]; German National Academic Foundation |
| Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
| Institution name at the time of the publication: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Psychologie |
