2023-10-14 05:00:10
Have you ever been unable to count the number of coins you have in your wallet at a glance? And, to achieve this, to end up counting them one by one? If so, don’t panic: your brain is functioning normally. In any case, this is what a new study published on October 2, 2023 in the journal Nature Human Behaviourwhich reveals new insights into how the brain matters.
For years, scientists have sought to understand why the brain’s performance is not always the same when counting, and particularly when the numbers increase. Previous studies have revealed that certain neurons are associated with certain numbers. For example, some become activated when presented with a unique object. Others when they are presented with two, others with three… and so on.
To better understand this phenomenon, the researchers behind this new study broadcast a series of dots for half a second to 17 participants before asking them whether the number of dots was even or odd. And according to the results, the brain uses a different method to process small and large numbers. In other words, neurons have preferred numbers. But “the higher the preferred number, the less selective the neurons are”explains to Nature study co-author Andreas Nieder, specialist in animal physiology at the University of Tübingen (Germany).
Concretely, the participants’ answers were quite precise when the number was less than or equal to four. On the other hand, as soon as this threshold was exceeded, the number of mistakes increased because the neurons were no longer able to recognize their preferred number. “For example, neurons specific to three would only be activated to react to this number, while neurons that prefer eight would react to eight but also to seven and nine, deciphers the journal Nature. As a result, participants made more errors when they tried to quantify a large number of objects.” According to the researchers, this study therefore shows that there are two distinct systems of mental calculations in the brain. “A sensational discovery” according to them.
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