Amalric Marie, Dehaene Stanislas
Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction des Sciences du Vivant/Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale, INSERM, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Sud and Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Institut de Formation Doctorale, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Université Paris 06, Sorbonne Universités, 75005 Paris, France;
Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction des Sciences du Vivant/Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale, INSERM, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Sud and Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Collège de France, 75005 Paris, France
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 May 3;113(18):4909-17. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1603205113. Epub 2016 Apr 11.
The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned professional mathematicians and mathematically naive subjects of equal academic standing as they evaluated the truth of advanced mathematical and nonmathematical statements. In professional mathematicians only, mathematical statements, whether in algebra, analysis, topology or geometry, activated a reproducible set of bilateral frontal, Intraparietal, and ventrolateral temporal regions. Crucially, these activations spared areas related to language and to general-knowledge semantics. Rather, mathematical judgments were related to an amplification of brain activity at sites that are activated by numbers and formulas in nonmathematicians, with a corresponding reduction in nearby face responses. The evidence suggests that high-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a nonlinguistic brain circuit.
一些理论认为，它们建立在进化上古老的负责数字和空间的脑回路基础之上，而另一些理论则认为，它们基于语言能力。为了评估哪些脑系统是高等数学的基础，我们对专业数学家和具有同等学术地位的数学零基础受试者进行了扫描，让他们评估高等数学和非数学陈述的真实性。仅在专业数学家中，数学陈述，无论是代数、分析、拓扑学还是几何学方面的，都会激活一组可重复的双侧额叶、顶内和颞叶腹外侧区域。至关重要的是，这些激活避开了与语言和常识语义相关的区域。相反，数学判断与非数学家中由数字和公式激活的脑区活动增强有关，同时附近面部反应相应减少。证据表明，高水平的数学专业知识和基本数字感在非语言脑回路中有共同的根源。
