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Infants possess an innate ability to process approximate number. This study reveals the right parietal cortex is specialized for numerical processing in pre-verbal infants, distinct from visual attention.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Human Infant Studies

Background:

  • Humans exhibit an innate capacity for representing approximate quantities.
  • The early-life neural basis for numerical cognition and its relation to later mathematical abilities remain largely unknown.
  • Investigating numerical processing before symbolic language acquisition is crucial for understanding foundational number sense.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the brain's processing of numerical magnitudes in pre-verbal infants.
  • To identify the neural correlates of numerosity perception prior to symbolic number system acquisition.
  • To determine if the right parietal cortex is specialized for numerical processing in infancy.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain responses in infants.
  • Presented infants with visual stimuli varying in numerosity (number of dots) and controlled for non-numerical properties.
  • Included attention-grabbing animations to differentiate numerical processing from general visual and attentional responses.

Main Results:

  • Number change blocks elicited increased oxygenated hemoglobin in a specific right parietal region compared to control blocks.
  • This right parietal activation pattern aligns with findings in older children and adults for numerical tasks.
  • A separate network of bilateral occipital and parietal channels responded to attention stimuli, dissociating numerical from general visual/attentional processing.

Conclusions:

  • The findings provide strong evidence for the specialization of the right parietal cortex in infant numerical processing.
  • This numerical processing is distinct from visual change detection and general attentional mechanisms.
  • The right parietal cortex plays a foundational role in number sense from infancy.