Lee Taeyoung, Jo Hang Joon, Kim Minah, Kwon Jun Soo
Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Institute of Human Behavioral Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2025 May 12;15(1):16400. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98605-9.
Studies have shown that newborns and nonhuman animals innately estimate quantities using the approximate number system (ANS), raising questions about whether the ANS is a precursor to advanced computational abilities or an independent cognitive function. Professional board game Go players, who can quickly judge territory sizes without explicit calculations, provide a unique insight into the ANS. Using fMRI, we investigated the neural correlates of the approximate number system in professional Go players. Results showed that during the difficult task, professional Go players exhibited significantly increased activity in the right cerebellum compared to the controls, while several parts of the cerebrum were activated during the easy task. The observed activation in the right cerebellum was inversely correlated with the number of years of training required to become professional players. The findings indicate that the ANS is either facilitated by training or reflects an inherent, exceptional ability in certain individuals, suggesting a cerebellar-based alternative to the computational role of the cerebral cortex.
研究表明，新生儿和非人类动物天生就使用近似数字系统（ANS）来估计数量，这引发了关于ANS是高级计算能力的前身还是一种独立认知功能的疑问。职业围棋棋手能够在不进行明确计算的情况下快速判断地盘大小，这为研究ANS提供了独特视角。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究了职业围棋棋手中近似数字系统的神经关联。结果显示，在困难任务中，职业围棋棋手右侧小脑的活动相较于对照组显著增强，而在简单任务中大脑的几个部分被激活。观察到的右侧小脑激活与成为职业棋手所需的训练年限呈负相关。这些发现表明，ANS要么通过训练得到促进，要么反映了某些个体固有的特殊能力，这暗示了基于小脑的一种替代大脑皮质计算作用的方式。
