Number Sense Mapped on Brain

The ability of some savants to count large numbers of quantities may have now been mapped. Using the functional magnetic resonant imaging, scientists have used pictures of dots to be able to test subjects on their ability to quickly know the number of dots without counting each ones. Scientists attribute this ability to a greater surface area of the cortex to the middle of the eye. The middle of the eye has the responsibility of focus and has a large area of functional neurons firing when the pictures were shown. This same property may also be seen in some primates. The skill, termed number sense, is important in mathematics even though it originates in an area most often associated with touch and sense. Scientists Put a Sixth Sense for Numbers on Brain Map