Absence of visual experience modifies the neural basis of numerical thinking
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Significance: Human numerical reasoning relies on a cortical network that includes frontal and parietal regions. We asked how the neural basis of numerical reasoning is shaped by experience by comparing congenitally blind and sighted individuals. Participants performed auditory math and language tasks while undergoing fMRI. Both groups activated frontoparietal number regions during the math task, suggesting that some aspects of the neural basis of numerical cognition develop independently of visual experience. However, blind participants additionally recruited early visual cortices that, in sighted populations, perform visual processing. In blindness, these “visual” areas showed sensitivity to mathematical difficulty. These results suggest that experience can radically change the neural basis of numerical thinking. Hence, human cortex has a broad computational capacity early in development.
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Previous studies have shown that sentences with content words lead to larger responses in the perisylvian fronto-temporal language network than spoken equations or logical statements with variables.
“Although all of the tasks in the language/math/logic localizer contain language stimuli, previous studies have shown that sentences with content words lead to larger responses in the perisylvian fronto-temporal language network than spoken equations or logical statements with variables (Kanjlia et al., 2016; Monti et al., 2009; Monti et al., 2012).”
From Computer code comprehension shares neural resources with formal logical inference in the fronto-parietal network (2020) · cites this paper as Kanjlia et al., 2016
Previous studies have found that responses to language, logic and math when compared to each other were similar to what was observed for each domain relative to independent control conditions.
“Furthermore, previous studies have found that responses to language, logic and math when compared to each other were similar to what was observed for each domain relative to independent control conditions (e.g. sentences relative to lists of non-words for language, and easy vs. hard logic problems; Kanjlia et al., 2016; Monti et al., 2009, Monti et al., 2012).”
From Computer code comprehension shares neural resources with formal logical inference in the fronto-parietal network (2020) · cites this paper as Kanjlia et al., 2016
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- Authors
- Kanjlia, S., Lane, C., Feigenson, L., & Bedny, M.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kanjlia, Shipra
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2016-09-16
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- 11172-11177
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC5056030
- OpenAlex
- W2519594211
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4
- FWCI
- 10.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DGE-1232825)
- Science of Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University (80034917)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- numerical cognition, congenital blindness, visual experience, intraparietal sulcus, cross-modal plasticity, deafferentation, visual cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, functional connectivity, neuroplasticity
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Behavior, Blindness, Brain, Brain Mapping, Demography, Female, Humans, Language, Male, Mathematics, Middle Aged, Occipital Lobe, Rest, Task Performance and Analysis, Thinking, Vision, Ocular, Visual Cortex, Young Adult
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