Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

A Comparative Approach for Quantitative Cell Counting Studies in Widely Different Mammalian Brains
Published on: January 16, 2026
The counting function and its representation in the parietal cortex in humans and animals
M E Varga1, O G Pavlova, S V Nosova
1Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
Abstract:
Current data provide evidence that the ability to assess numbers is present not only in adult humans, but also in animals and children of preverbal age. Studies of behavior in infants and animals have demonstrated that the perception of number, the discrimination of quantities, and elementary addition and subtraction appear during onto- and phylogenesis before the appearance of speech. Number perception in humans and animals has common features: the greater the difference between numbers, the easier they are to discriminate; for a given difference between numbers, increases in size lead to increased difficulty in discrimination. Clinical data on counting impairments in patients and functional tomography studies of number operations in healthy subjects have shown that the key structures involved in number perception in humans are located in the parietal cortex. As demonstrated by experiments on monkeys and dogs, recognition of number in these species is also associated with the parietal area of the cortex. The similarity of the morphofunctional bases of "counting behavior" in humans and animals suggests that counting can be regarded as a functional mechanism of adaptive behavior which formed during evolution.
Related Concept Videos
Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Parallel Processing
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Lobes of the Cerebrum
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobes, located behind the forehead, are the command center of our brain, controlling personality, intelligence, and voluntary muscle movements.
Somatosensation
