Functional Neuroanatomy Involved in Automatic Order Mental Arithmetic and Recitation of the Multiplication Table: A Concurrent Quantity Processing Mechanism in Actual Computation

摘要

We used 1.5-T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore which brain areas contribute uniquely to numeric computation. The BOLD effect activation pattern of a mental arithmetic task (successive subtraction: an actual calculation task) was compared with a multiplication table repetition task (rote verbal arithmetic memory task) response. The activation found in the right parietal lobule during mental arithmetic task suggested that quantitative cognition or numeric computation may need the assistance of sensory convert, such as spatial imagination and spatial sensory convert. In addition, this mechanism may be an "analog algorithm" in the simple mental arithmetic processing.