Origins of the brain networks for advanced mathematics in expert mathematicians
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Significance: Our work addresses the long-standing issue of the relationship between mathematics and language. By scanning professional mathematicians, we show that high-level mathematical reasoning rests on a set of brain areas that do not overlap with the classical left-hemisphere regions involved in language processing or verbal semantics. Instead, all domains of mathematics we tested (algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology) recruit a bilateral network, of prefrontal, parietal, and inferior temporal regions, which is also activated when mathematicians or nonmathematicians recognize and manipulate numbers mentally. Our results suggest that high-level mathematical thinking makes minimal use of language areas and instead recruits circuits initially involved in space and number. This result may explain why knowledge of number and space, during early childhood, predicts mathematical achievement.
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fMRI reveals that the language network responds reliably when people listen to, read, or generate sentences, but not when they perform arithmetic tasks, engage in logical reasoning, understand computer programs, listen to music, categorize objects or events, reason about people's mental states, or process non-verbal communicative information like facial expressions or gestures.
“it responds reliably when people listen to, read, or generate sentences, but not when they perform arithmetic tasks, engage in logical reasoning, understand computer programs, listen to music, categorize objects or events, reason about people’s mental states, or process non-verbal communicative information like facial expressions or gestures [37, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48].”
From Dissociating language and thought in large language models (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
The multiple demand network supports reasoning even when the task is presented linguistically.
“Importantly, the multiple demand network supports reasoning even when the task is presented linguistically [41, 47, 140]”
From Dissociating language and thought in large language models (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
The multiple demand network is engaged in logic, mathematical reasoning, physical reasoning, and computer code comprehension.
“these regions are engaged in many cognitively demanding tasks: logic [47], mathematical reasoning [41], physical reasoning [139], and computer code comprehension [46, 140].”
From Dissociating language and thought in large language models (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
Logic and math recruit a fronto-parietal network including dorsolateral PFC and IPS as well as putative symbol representations in inferior temporal cortex.
“Rather than recruiting perisylvian fronto-temporal areas, logic and math recruit a fronto-parietal network, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) as well as putative symbol representations (i.e. numberform area) in inferior temporal cortex (Amalric and Dehaene, 2016; Coetzee and Monti, 2018; Goel et al., 2007; Monti et al., 2009).”
From Computer code comprehension shares neural resources with formal logical inference in the fronto-parietal network (2020) · cites this paper as Amalric and Dehaene, 2016
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- Authors
- Amalric, M., & Dehaene, S.
- Affiliations
- Université Paris-Sud (FR)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2016-04-11
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 4909-4917
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4983814
- OpenAlex
- W2341658315
- Cited by
- 413
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 70 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 40.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- mathematical expertise, higher mathematics, brain networks, number sense, mathematical judgment, intraparietal cortex, frontal cortex, face processing, language and mathematics
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mathematics, Semantics
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