Descrizione del progetto
Come il cervello del bambino elabora i numeri
I neuroscienziati hanno già appurato che il cervello infantile preverbale umano è in grado di padroneggiare informazioni numeriche molto prima di raggiungere la conoscenza simbolica della realtà fisica. I bambini possono persino rappresentare quantità e risolvere problemi di addizione o sottrazione. In effetti, gli esseri umani potrebbero essere nati con queste capacità basate su sistemi centrali che ci consentono di tracciare pochi oggetti e valutare quantità attraverso diversi mezzi sensoriali. Tuttavia, i neuroscienziati sanno ben poco sulle capacità cognitive basate sull’attivazione del nucleo prefrontale che supportano l’elaborazione dei numeri, quali la padronanza della memoria o dell’attenzione, necessarie nel calcolo mentale. Il progetto NumBraInf, finanziato dall’UE, mira a studiare l’organizzazione e il ruolo delle capacità cognitive prefrontali nella processione numerica durante l’infanzia. La ricerca approfondirà le conoscenze esistenti sui processi cruciali dell’apprendimento umano.
Obiettivo
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)Coordinatore
72074 Tuebingen
Germania