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Related Experiment Videos

Discrete and analogue quantity processing in the parietal lobe: a functional MRI study.

Fulvia Castelli1, Daniel E Glaser, Brian Butterworth

  • 1Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. fulvia@hss.caltech.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|March 16, 2006
PubMed
Summary

The human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) shows distinct activity for processing discrete quantities (numerosity) versus continuous amounts. This suggests a unique neural basis for estimating "how many" separate items.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Brain Imaging

Background:

  • The human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) is known to be involved in processing symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical information.
  • However, specific IPS activity differentiating the processing of discrete quantities (numerosities) from continuous, analogue quantities has not been clearly demonstrated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and differentiate brain activity associated with the automatic estimation of discrete quantities (numerosity) versus continuous, analogue quantities.
  • To determine if the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) exhibits specific activation patterns for processing "how many" versus "how much" or "how long."

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a stimulus-driven paradigm called the discrete analogue response task (DART).
  • Employed perception of hues that changed either abruptly (discrete, numerous stimuli) or smoothly (analogue, nonnumerous stimuli) in space or time.

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  • Subjects performed a task to decide whether they observed more green or blue hues, allowing for the analysis of discrete vs. analogue processing.

    • Main Results:

    • A conjunction analysis of spatial and temporal conditions revealed significantly greater bilateral IPS activity during the processing of discrete stimuli compared to analogue stimuli.
    • A parietal-occipital transition zone also showed increased activity for discrete stimuli processing.
    • These findings indicate a neural distinction between processing numerosity and analogue quantity.

    Conclusions:

    • The processing of numerosity (discrete quantities) is a distinct cognitive process separate from the processing of analogue quantity, regardless of spatial or temporal extension.
    • An intraparietal network likely plays a crucial role in connecting object segmentation with the estimation of their numerosity.