National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Kansai Center, Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka, Japan.
Percept Mot Skills. 2012 Aug;115(1):1-6. doi: 10.2466/22.04.11.PMS.115.4.1-6.
A grand expert of abacus looked at a display on which three-digit numbers were aligned vertically with constant spacing, for sequentially adding the numbers mentally. His eye regularly moved downward by alternating a fixation to one of the numbers with a saccade to another below it, with the average period of the alternations at 271 msec. His magnetoencephalogram averaged with respect to start of the fixations revealed activity in the right superior parietal cortex. This finding not only supported the previous view that abacus experts mentally calculate by manipulating spatial representations of numbers, but also showed that the calculation was synchronized with the periodic eye movements. Thus, each process of the mental sequential addition, which starts with visual recognition of an addend, was estimated to require less than 271 msec. on average.
一位算盘高手看着显示屏，上面垂直排列着三位数，每个数字之间的间隔固定，以便他进行心算。他的眼睛有规律地向下移动，每次交替注视一个数字和其下方的另一个数字，每次交替的平均时间为 271 毫秒。他的脑磁图相对于注视的开始进行平均化，揭示了右顶叶上皮质的活动。这一发现不仅支持了以前的观点，即算盘高手通过操纵数字的空间表示来进行心算，还表明计算与周期性的眼球运动同步。因此，从视觉识别加数开始的心理连续加法的每个过程，平均估计需要不到 271 毫秒。
