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Beyond natural numbers: negative number representation in parietal cortex.

Kristen P Blair¹, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Jessica M Tsang

¹Stanford University School of Education, Stanford University Stanford, CA, USA.

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

|February 25, 2012

Summary

The brain processes negative numbers differently than positive numbers, showing distinct neural activity patterns. Negative number representation in the brain is less distinct, impacting comparison speed.

Keywords:

distance effect integers negative numbers, intraparietal sulcus number cognition prefrontal cortex representational similarity symbolic number comparisons

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Mathematical Cognition
Neuroimaging

Background:

Negative numbers lack direct physical referents, posing a challenge for understanding their brain representation.
Two models exist: rule-based (transforming negatives to positives) and expanded magnitude (distinct negative representation).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the representation of negative number magnitudes.
To differentiate between the rule-based and expanded magnitude models of negative number processing.

Main Methods:

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain activity in 22 adults.
Participants performed magnitude comparisons of near and far negative and positive number pairs.
Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) examined neural patterns in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS).

Main Results:

Negative number comparisons were slower than positive number comparisons, with a distance effect present for both.
Negative number processing engaged the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), middle frontal gyrus, and inferior lateral occipital cortex more than positive numbers.
Neural representations in the IPS were less differentiated for negative numbers compared to positive numbers.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that while negative numbers recruit specific brain regions like the IPS, their neural representations are less distinct than those of positive numbers.
This supports an expanded magnitude model, indicating a unique, albeit less differentiated, neural system for negative numbers.
Multivariate neuroimaging approaches offer valuable insights into abstract mathematical concept representation.