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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on July 15, 2009
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp137
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Overlapping and Distinct Neural Representations of Numbers and Verbal Transitive Series

Jérôme Prado1,2, Ira A. Noveck2 and Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst2

1 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043, USA, 2 Laboratoire sur le Langage, le Cerveau et la Cognition (L2C2), UMR 5230, CNRS-Université de Lyon, 69675 Bron, France

Address correspondence to Jérôme Prado, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. Email: jprado{at}umich.edu.

It is a familiar and intuitive notion that human numerical and logical reasoning skills are tightly related. However, very little is known about the interaction between numerical knowledge and logical reasoning in the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy subjects, we investigated ordered relations as they are expressed in number (4 is greater than 2) and in transitive reasoning (A is to the left of C after receiving; A is to the left of B; B is to the left of C) in order to determine the extent to which the same neural substrates support both. We found that representing an ordered series verbally learned by transitive reasoning draws on the representations of numbers in the anterior intraparietal sulcus. We further observed that, unlike numbers, transitive series are additionally encoded in the basal ganglia–dopamine system. Intraparietal and basal ganglia mechanisms are not active to the same extent at the same time. Although the intraparietal representations of number preferentially supports a verbal transitive series soon after learning, the basal ganglia are engaged when the series is well practiced. This finding suggests that the transient activation of number representations supports the representation of verbal transitive series until their late encoding in the basal ganglia–dopamine system by associative reinforcement mechanisms.

Key Words: basal ganglia • fMRI • intraparietal sulcus • numerical cognition • transitive reasoning


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