Topographic Representation of Numerosity in the Human Parietal Cortex

Abstract

Number Sense Numerosity perception resembles primary sensory perception and, indeed, it has been called the number sense. As all primary senses are organized topographically in the cortex, Harvey et al. (p. 1123 ) tested the hypothesis that numerosity is also organized topographically. Applying ultrahighfield functional brain scanning and using custom-designed analysis, they confirmed that a topographical numerosity map occurs in the human parietal cortex, which displays conventional characteristics, such as a systematic relationship between the cortical location's preferred numerosity and cortical magnification and tuning width.