The Calculating Brain

In this episode, Dr. Jan Born (University of Tübingen) interviews his colleague and author Dr. Andreas Nieder (University of Tübingen) about his recent Review in Physiological Reviews on mathematical reasoning that incorporates neurobiology, comparative physiology, and neurophysiology. Mathematical skills can be described as falling into symbolic (arithmetic, number theory) and non-symbolic (set size) representations of numerical quantities. Infants as young as 2 days old can discriminate set size, for example, distinguishing between four dots and eight dots. And then, of course, there is the fascinating concept of zero, which is “rather like the eccentric uncle in the series of numbers,” as Dr. Nieder says. Understanding the concept of zero as the absence of something, represented as a number, is critical to understanding all other numbers. How does all of this work in the brain? Listen and find out.

Andreas Nieder The calculating brain Physiological Reviews, published October 25, 2024. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00014.2024