Tuning curves for approximate numerosity in the human intraparietal sulcus. Piazza, M., Izard, V., Pinel, P., Bihan, D. L., & Dehaene, S. Neuron, 44(3):547-55, 2004.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Number, like color or movement, is a basic property of the environment. Recently, single neurons tuned to number have been observed in animals. We used both psychophysics and neuroimaging to examine whether a similar neural coding scheme is present in humans. When participants viewed sets of items with a variable number, the bilateral intraparietal sulci responded selectively to number change. Functionally, the shape of this response indicates that humans, like other animal species, encode approximate number on a compressed internal scale. Anatomically, the intraparietal site coding for number in humans is compatible with that observed in macaque monkeys. Our results therefore suggest an evolutionary basis for human elementary arithmetic.
@Article{Piazza2004,
  author   = {Manuela Piazza and V\'eronique Izard and Philippe Pinel and Denis Le Bihan and Stanislas Dehaene},
  journal  = {Neuron},
  title    = {Tuning curves for approximate numerosity in the human intraparietal sulcus.},
  year     = {2004},
  number   = {3},
  pages    = {547-55},
  volume   = {44},
  abstract = {Number, like color or movement, is a basic property of the environment.
	Recently, single neurons tuned to number have been observed in animals.
	We used both psychophysics and neuroimaging to examine whether a
	similar neural coding scheme is present in humans. When participants
	viewed sets of items with a variable number, the bilateral intraparietal
	sulci responded selectively to number change. Functionally, the shape
	of this response indicates that humans, like other animal species,
	encode approximate number on a compressed internal scale. Anatomically,
	the intraparietal site coding for number in humans is compatible
	with that observed in macaque monkeys. Our results therefore suggest
	an evolutionary basis for human elementary arithmetic.},
  doi      = {10.1016/j.neuron.2004.10.014},
  keywords = {Adult, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Choice Behavior, Comparative Study, Humans, Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Non-U.S. Gov't, Oxygen, Parietal Lobe, Photic Stimulation, Psychophysics, Research Support, Semantics, Size Perception, Visual Perception, 15504333},
}

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