LEAD Graduate School, Eberhardt Karls University of Tuebingen Tuebingen, Germany.
LEAD Graduate School, Eberhardt Karls University of Tuebingen Tuebingen, Germany ; Knowledge Media Research Center Tuebingen, Germany.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2015 Mar 5;9:110. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00110. eCollection 2015.
Recent neuro-imaging research identified the bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) to be a key area associated with number processing. However, causal structure-function relationships are hard to evaluate from neuro-imaging techniques such as fMRI. Nevertheless, brain stimulation methods like transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) allow for investigating the functional relevance of the IPS for number processing. Following up on a study using bilateral bi-cephalic tDCS over the IPS, the current study aimed at evaluating the differential lateralized functional contributions of the left and right IPS to number processing using unilateral bi-cephalic tDCS over either the left or right IPS. Results indicated a right lateralization for the processing of the place-value structure of the Arabic number system. Importantly, the processing of number magnitude information was not affected by unilateral IPS corroborating the assumption that number magnitude is processed in the bilateral IPS. Taken together, these data suggest that even though number magnitude is represented bilaterally, the left and right IPS seem to contribute differentially to numerical cognition with respect to the processing of specific other aspects of numerical information.
最近的神经影像学研究发现，双侧顶内沟（IPS）是与数字处理相关的关键区域。然而，从 fMRI 等神经影像学技术很难评估因果结构-功能关系。尽管如此，脑刺激方法，如经颅直流电刺激（tDCS），可以研究 IPS 对数字处理的功能相关性。在一项使用双侧双颅 tDCS 刺激 IPS 的研究之后，本研究旨在使用单侧双颅 tDCS 刺激左或右 IPS 来评估左、右 IPS 对数字处理的不同偏侧化功能贡献。结果表明，阿拉伯数字系统的位置值结构的处理存在右侧偏侧化。重要的是，单侧 IPS 刺激并不影响数字大小信息的处理，这证实了数字大小在双侧 IPS 中被处理的假设。总之，这些数据表明，尽管数字大小是双侧表示的，但左、右 IPS 在处理特定的其他数字信息方面似乎对数字认知有不同的贡献。
