Boston Children's Hospital.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Apr;26(4):854-63. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00514. Epub 2013 Oct 29.
Both numerals and quantifiers (like some) have more than one possible interpretation (i.e., weak and strong interpretations). Some studies have found similar behavior for numerals and quantifiers, whereas others have shown critical differences. It is, therefore, debated whether they are processed in the same way. A previous fMRI investigation showed that the left inferior frontal gyrus is linked to the computation of the strong interpretation of quantifiers (derived by a scalar implicature) and that the left middle frontal gyrus and the medial frontal gyrus are linked to processing the mismatch between the strong interpretation of quantifiers and the context in which they are presented. In the current study, we attempted to characterize the similarities and differences between numbers and quantifiers by examining brain activation patterns related to the processing of numerals in these brain regions. When numbers were presented in a mismatch context (i.e., where their strong interpretation did not match the context), they elicited brain activations similar to those previously observed with quantifiers in the same context type. Conversely, in a match context (i.e., where both interpretations of the scalar item matched the context), numbers elicited a different activation pattern than the one observed with quantifiers: Left inferior frontal gyrus activations in response to the match condition showed decrease for numbers (but not for quantifiers). Our results support previous findings suggesting that, although they share some features, numbers and quantifiers are processed differently. We discuss our results in light of various theoretical approaches linked to the representation of numerals.
数字和量词（如 some）都有不止一种可能的解释（即弱解释和强解释）。一些研究发现数字和量词具有相似的行为，而另一些研究则表明存在关键差异。因此，它们是否以相同的方式处理仍存在争议。以前的 fMRI 研究表明，左额下回与量词强解释的计算有关（由数量蕴含推导而来），左中额回和内侧额回与量词强解释与它们所处的语境之间的不匹配的处理有关。在本研究中，我们试图通过检查与这些脑区中数字处理相关的大脑激活模式来描述数字和量词之间的相似性和差异。当数字在不匹配的语境中呈现（即它们的强解释与语境不匹配）时，它们会引起与之前在相同语境类型中观察到的量词相似的大脑激活。相反，在匹配的语境中（即，标量项目的两种解释都与语境匹配），数字会引起与观察到的量词不同的激活模式：对匹配条件的左额下回激活显示出数字的减少（但不是量词）。我们的结果支持了之前的发现，即尽管数字和量词具有一些共同特征，但它们的处理方式不同。我们根据与数字表示相关的各种理论方法讨论了我们的结果。
