Numbers processed in deep part of brain, ability possibly acquired early in evolution: Study

A new study shows that processing numbers could be happening in a region deep within the brain indicating that humans might have acquired the ability early during evolution.

Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University, US, recruited 13 people with epilepsy and asked questions that made them think about numbers as symbols (such as '3'), as words ('three') and as concepts (a series of three dots). The patients were undergoing a surgical procedure to locate the originating point of seizures.

As the patients responded, the team observed activity happening in the putamen -- a part of the cerebrum and located deep within the brain.

The putamen is usually related to functions such as movement and cognition, but rarely to higher-level aspects of human intelligence like solving calculus, the researchers explained.

Consciousness and abstract thought are typically attributed to the cerebral cortex (part of the cerebrum), which evolved later in human evolution and forms the brain's outer layer, they added.

Abstract thought involves reasoning about concepts not linked to the physical world, including solving a mathematical problem.

“That likely means the human ability to process numbers is something that we acquired early during evolution,” Ahmed Raslan, a professor and chair of neurological surgery at Oregon Health and Science University, said.

“There is something deeper in the brain that gives us this capacity to leap to where we are today,” Raslan said.

The findings suggest possibilities for brain regions that could be tapped into for improving learning among people who struggle to understand and interpret mathematics, the authors said.

In the epilepsy patients, the team also detected activity in regions of the brain that process what is seen and heard, along with the parietal lobe, located at the top-rear and known to be involved while performing mathematical operations.