序数表征及其脑机制

The Brain Mechanism of Ordinal Number

人类天生就具有一些初级的数概念。研究表明，顶内沟是基数表征的脑基础，这一区域受损或发展受阻将导致计算失能等与数有关的认知障碍。尽管序数与基数存在相似的行为效应，但与序数相联系的皮层通路不同于基数，序数表征主要激活前额皮层与颞叶皮层区域。序数是否也存在符号效应以及跨文化差异等问题有待进一步研究。

Human being preserves some elementary concept of number innately. The brain basis of cardinal number was founded at the places around intraparietal sulcus. If these brain areas were damaged or impaired in development， it would result in dyscalculia or some other inabilities on numerical cognition. However， the ordinal number was mainly represented in frontal and temporal lobes. Does the notation effect exist in the processing of ordinal number? What is the cultural difference of ordinal number and its neural correlates? These questions need further exploration.