Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Neurobehavioral Assessments in a Mouse Model of Neonatal Hypoxic-ischemic Brain Injury
Published on: November 24, 2017
Brain damage: neglect disrupts the mental number line
Marco Zorzi1, Konstantinos Priftis, Carlo Umiltà
1Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy. marco.zorzi@unipd.it
Patients with hemispatial neglect show errors in number line tasks, similar to physical line bisection. This suggests the mental number line has a real spatial basis, not just a metaphor.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuropsychology
Background:
- The 'mental number line' is a common metaphor for how the brain represents numerical quantities.
- This representation is thought to be analogical and continuous.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the spatial nature of the mental number line.
- To determine if numerical representation is functionally similar to physical space representation.
Main Methods:
- Assessed patients with hemispatial neglect on numerical interval bisection tasks.
- Compared their performance to the bisection of physical lines.
Main Results:
- Patients with hemispatial neglect exhibited significant errors in bisecting numerical intervals.
- The pattern of numerical bisection errors closely mirrored the errors made when bisecting physical lines.
Conclusions:
- The findings provide strong evidence against the mental number line being solely a metaphor.
- The spatial nature of numerical representation is functionally isomorphic to physical lines, supporting a representational neglect phenomenon.
More Related Videos
07:04Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection
Published on: March 10, 2021
08:53Randomized, Triple-Blind, and Parallel-Controlled Trial of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Cognitive Rehabilitation after Stroke
Published on: June 6, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Neurogenesis and Regeneration of Nervous Tissue
Disorders of the Nervous Tissue
Homeostatic Imbalances:
Alzheimer's disease manifests as a gradual decline in memory and cognitive abilities, attributed to the buildup of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.
Parkinson's disease arises from the...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
Visual Agnosia
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
Amnesia
The severity and duration of memory loss vary depending on the type and underlying cause. Amnesia is classified into two main types: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is marked by the loss of memories formed before the onset of the condition. Patients may recall distant past events but often forget those occurring shortly before the incident.
Anterograde...