Descripción del proyecto
Cómo procesa los números el encéfalo de los bebés
Los neurocientíficos ya han determinado que el encéfalo de los bebés en fase preverbal puede dominar información numérica mucho antes de adquirir conocimientos simbólicos sobre la realidad física. Los bebés incluso pueden representar cantidades y resolver problemas con sumas o restas. De hecho, puede que los humanos nazcan con estas capacidades basadas en sistemas básicos y que nos permiten seguir objetos y determinar las cantidades a través de distintos medios sensoriales. Sin embargo, los neurocientíficos saben muy poco sobre las capacidades cognitivas basadas en la activación del núcleo prefrontal que apoyan el procesamiento de los números, como el dominio de la memoria o la atención (necesarias para el cálculo mental). El proyecto NumBraInf, financiado con fondos europeos, tiene como objetivo estudiar la organización y el papel de las capacidades cognitivas prefrontales en el procesamiento de los números durante la primera infancia. La investigación profundizará en los conocimientos existentes sobre los procesos fundamentales del aprendizaje humano.
Objetivo
One of the most critical quests of neuroscientists is the discovery of the origin of human cognition, such as number processing. Previous studies have shown that the ability to process numerical information in adulthood can be traced back to the first months of life. Although the natural number concept is not expressed until childhood it is built upon a nonsymbolic competency (e.g. child A has more toys than child B) that has an evolutionary origin and is available early in life.
The human infant brain is the only known system, which is able to master a natural language and symbolic knowledge that represents the external world. Fascinatingly, infants are able to represent and discriminate quantities, solve addition and subtraction problems, calculate probabilities, and understand ordinality. These abilities rely on two core systems: (1) track a small number of individuals and (2) estimate the numerosity of large sets across different sensory modalities.
However, the role of supportive cognitive abilities in number processing has been overlooked in both behavioral and neuroimaging studies in infants. Studies in adults, and even more in children, frequently reveal that in addition to the above-mentioned magnitude processing ability – understanding the quantities – different cognitive abilities – e.g. working memory, inhibition, sustained attention – are needed for number processing and arithmetic. These cognitive abilities mainly rely on prefrontal activation.
Furthermore, as an index of maturation, myelination in the prefrontal cortex takes place before that in several other brain regions, such as the temporal lobe. Infant studies in other domains have already revealed the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in response to the mother’s voice, and when working memory is elicited. So, in this project, I investigate the role of prefrontal cognitive abilities in number processing in infancy, which might be crucial to explaining human learning.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
72074 Tuebingen
Alemania