Description du projet
Comment le cerveau des bébés traite les chiffres
Les neuroscientifiques ont déjà déterminé que le cerveau d’un enfant d’âge préverbal peut maîtriser des informations numériques bien avant d’obtenir des connaissances symboliques sur la réalité physique. Les enfants en bas âge peuvent même représenter des quantités et résoudre des problèmes d’addition ou de soustraction. En effet, il est possible que l’homme soit né avec ces capacités fondées sur des systèmes fondamentaux qui nous permettent de repérer quelques objets et d’évaluer les quantités grâce à différentes méthodes sensorielles. Toutefois, les neuroscientifiques en savent peu sur les capacités cognitives fondées sur l’activation du cortex préfrontal qui permettent le traitement numérique, telles que la maîtrise de la mémoire ou de l’attention, nécessaires pour le calcul mental. Le projet NumBraInf, financé par l’UE, vise à étudier l’organisation et le rôle des capacités cognitives préfrontales dans le traitement numérique pendant l’enfance. Les recherches renforceront les connaissances actuelles sur les processus fondamentaux de l’apprentissage humain.
Objectif
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.
Champ scientifique
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Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
72074 Tuebingen
Allemagne