Hemispheric specialization of abacus experts in mental calculation: evidence from the results of time-sharing tasks

Hemispheric specialization for mental calculation and verbal tasks in abacus (Soroban in Japanese) experts and control subjects was tested using time-sharing tasks. In Experiment 1, the effects of auditorily presented mental calculation and news-listening tasks on sequential finger tappings were examined. The results revealed that in the mental calculation condition, abacus experts showed greater interference effects on left hand tapping, whereas control subjects showed greater interference effects on right hand tapping (as compared to left hand). In the news-listening condition, abacus experts showed no hand difference while the controls showed greater interference effects on the right hand. In Experiment 2, the effects of visually presented mental calculation and word-reading tasks on sequential finger tapping were examined. The results revealed that in the mental calculation condition, abacus experts showed a non-significant tendency towards greater interference in the left hand whereas the controls showed no hand difference. In the word-reading condition, both abacus experts and controls showed greater interference in the right hand than in the left hand. In Experiment 3, intermediate and upper-rank abacus experts performed a similar task to Experiment 1 under two instruction conditions. The results of this control experiment confirmed that a greater left hand reduction in calculation of abacus experts is not due to subject's cognitive mode but due to the amount of abacus learning experience. These data suggest that (1) learning experiences can affect the pattern of cerebral specialization through the change of approaches to perform cognitive tasks, and (2) the right hemisphere engages in mental calculation for the abacus experts whereas the left hemisphere contributes to mental calculation in ordinary people having no experience of abacus learning.