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Related Experiment Videos

Response-selection-related parietal activation during number comparison.

Silke M Göbel1, Heidi Johansen-Berg, Tim Behrens

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK. silke.goebel@psy.ox.ac.uk

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|December 17, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Neuroimaging studies show intraparietal sulcus (IPS) activation during number comparison. This study found IPS activation linked to reaction time, not numerical distance itself, suggesting magnitude representation involves response selection.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroimaging
  • Human Brain Function

Background:

  • Intraparietal sulcus (IPS) activation is consistently observed in number comparison tasks.
  • Recent research suggests IPS activation may vary with numerical distance, potentially influencing reaction time (RT).
  • However, IPS activation is also linked to attention and response selection, complicating interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if numerical distance independently affects IPS activation, separate from reaction time (RT).
  • To compare brain activations during single-digit versus double-digit number comparison.
  • To disentangle magnitude representation from basic stimulus and response-selection processes in the IPS.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment comparing number comparison with perceptual control tasks.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Subjects compared digits to a reference (5 or 65) or performed a line detection task.
  • Numerical distance and RT were manipulated and analyzed independently.

    • Main Results:

    • A widespread bilateral parietal-posterior frontal network was active during number comparison versus rest.
    • No significant differences in activation were found based on numerical distance.
    • A left-lateralized parietal-posterior frontal network showed significant variation with reaction time (RT).

    Conclusions:

    • IPS activations related to numerical magnitude and distance may be intertwined with stimulus and response-selection processes.
    • Magnitude representation in the human IPS might occur within the context of response selection.
    • This suggests a potential similarity between human and nonhuman primate magnitude representation in the parietal cortex.