Numerical Understanding in Mind, Brain, and Education Relations (N.U.M.B.E.R.)

Abstract

Past studies have demonstrated that non-human animals, infants and adult humans can process numerical information across multiple sensory modalities, and that number decisions are more accurate when number presented in multiple senses (Jordan and Baker, 2011). However, the neural mechanisms that support this ability are relatively unexplored. In a series of behavioral experiments, we investigated the cognitive mechanisms that 1) allow estimation and comparison of number between and within sense modalities 2) support integration of congruent number information from multiple senses. These studies, in tum, lay the ground work to investigate how networks in frontal and parietal brain areas processes numbers when presented in auditory and visual modalities. This research could provide insight into the brain's ability to integrate information about number from multiple senses, and, in tum, lead to improvements in the educational system and enhance teaching techniques.