Neural Adaptation to Non-symbolic Number and Visual Shape: an Electrophysiological Study

Overview

Journal Biol Psychol

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2014 Sep 27

PMID 25258032

Citations 12

Authors

Fruzsina Soltesz

Denes Szucs

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Several studies assumed that the analysis of numerical information happens in a fast and automatic manner in the human brain. Utilizing the high temporal resolution of electroencephalography (EEG) in a passive oddball adaptation paradigm, we compared event-related brain potentials (ERPs) evoked by unattended shape changes and unattended numerosity changes. We controlled visual stimulus properties in a stringent manner. Unattended changes in shape elicited significant, gradual adaptation effects in the range of early visual components, indicating the fast and automatic processing of shapes. Changes in numerosity did not elicit significant changes in these early ERP components. The lack of early number-specific effects was qualified by a significant interaction between Shape and Number conditions. Number change elicited gradual ERP effects only on late ERP components. We conclude that numerosity is a higher-level property assembled from naturally correlating perceptual cues and hence, it is identified later in the cognitive processing stream.

Citing Articles

Electroencephalographic Responses to the Number of Objects in Partially Occluded and Uncovered Scenes.

Baykan C, Schutz A J Cogn Neurosci. 2024; 37(1):227-238.

PMID: 39436218 PMC: 7617299. DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02264.

Identifying conceptual neural responses to symbolic numerals.

Retter T, Erassmy L, Schiltz C Proc Biol Sci. 2024; 291(2025):20240589.

PMID: 38919064 PMC: 11285737. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0589.

The complexity of simple counting: ERP findings reveal early perceptual and late numerical processes in different arrangements.

Akbari S, Soltanlou M, Sabourimoghaddam H, Nuerk H, Leuthold H Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):6763.

PMID: 35474225 PMC: 9042952. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10206-y.

Electrophysiological Signatures of Numerosity Encoding in a Delayed Match-to-Sample Task.

Fu W, Dolfi S, Decarli G, Spironelli C, Zorzi M Front Hum Neurosci. 2022; 15:750582.

PMID: 35058763 PMC: 8764258. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.750582.

Numerosity adaptation partly depends on the allocation of implicit numerosity-contingent visuo-spatial attention.

Grasso P, Anobile G, Arrighi R J Vis. 2021; 21(1):12.

PMID: 33492330 PMC: 7838550. DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.1.12.

References

Szucs D, Csepe V . Access to numerical information is dependent on the modality of stimulus presentation in mental addition: a combined ERP and behavioral study. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2004; 19(1):10-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2003.11.002. View

Hsu Y, Szucs D . The time course of symbolic number adaptation: oscillatory EEG activity and event-related potential analysis. Neuroimage. 2011; 59(4):3103-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.017. View

Pinel P, Dehaene S, Riviere D, Lebihan D . Modulation of parietal activation by semantic distance in a number comparison task. Neuroimage. 2001; 14(5):1013-26. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2001.0913. View

Hyde D, Spelke E . Spatiotemporal dynamics of processing nonsymbolic number: an event-related potential source localization study. Hum Brain Mapp. 2011; 33(9):2189-203. PMC: 3888832. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21352. View

Grill-Spector K, Henson R, Martin A . Repetition and the brain: neural models of stimulus-specific effects. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005; 10(1):14-23. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.11.006. View

Soltesz F, Szucs D, Szucs L . Relationships between magnitude representation, counting and memory in 4- to 7-year-old children: a developmental study. Behav Brain Funct. 2010; 6:13. PMC: 2833140. DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081-6-13. View

Trick L, Pylyshyn Z . Why are small and large numbers enumerated differently? A limited-capacity preattentive stage in vision. Psychol Rev. 1994; 101(1):80-102. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.101.1.80. View

Soltesz F, Szucs D, Dekany J, Markus A, Csepe V . A combined event-related potential and neuropsychological investigation of developmental dyscalculia. Neurosci Lett. 2007; 417(2):181-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2007.02.067. View

Fuhs M, McNeil N . ANS acuity and mathematics ability in preschoolers from low-income homes: contributions of inhibitory control. Dev Sci. 2013; 16(1):136-48. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12013. View

10.

Kawashima R, Taira M, Okita K, Inoue K, Tajima N, Yoshida H . A functional MRI study of simple arithmetic--a comparison between children and adults. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2004; 18(3):227-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2003.10.009. View

11.

Tian S, Wang Y, Wang H, Cui L . Interstimulus interval effect on event-related potential N270 in a color matching task. Clin Electroencephalogr. 2001; 32(2):82-6. DOI: 10.1177/155005940103200207. View

12.

Piazza M, Pinel P, Le Bihan D, Dehaene S . A magnitude code common to numerosities and number symbols in human intraparietal cortex. Neuron. 2007; 53(2):293-305. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.11.022. View

13.

Gebuis T, Reynvoet B . The interplay between nonsymbolic number and its continuous visual properties. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2011; 141(4):642-8. DOI: 10.1037/a0026218. View

14.

Henson R, Mouchlianitis E, Matthews W, Kouider S . Electrophysiological correlates of masked face priming. Neuroimage. 2008; 40(2):884-895. PMC: 2516482. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.12.003. View

15.

Genovese C, Lazar N, Nichols T . Thresholding of statistical maps in functional neuroimaging using the false discovery rate. Neuroimage. 2002; 15(4):870-8. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2001.1037. View

16.

Mix K, Huttenlocher J, Levine S . Multiple cues for quantification in infancy: is number one of them?. Psychol Bull. 2002; 128(2):278-94. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.128.2.278. View

17.

Soltesz F, White S, Szucs D . Event-related brain potentials dissociate the developmental time-course of automatic numerical magnitude analysis and cognitive control functions during the first three years of primary school. Dev Neuropsychol. 2011; 36(6):682-701. DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2010.549982. View

18.

Fonteneau E, Davidoff J . Neural correlates of colour categories. Neuroreport. 2007; 18(13):1323-7. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282c48c33. View

19.

Ansari D, Dhital B, Siong S . Parametric effects of numerical distance on the intraparietal sulcus during passive viewing of rapid numerosity changes. Brain Res. 2005; 1067(1):181-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.10.083. View

20.

Gebuis T, van der Smagt M . False approximations of the approximate number system?. PLoS One. 2011; 6(10):e25405. PMC: 3192045. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025405. View