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Contribution of hand motor circuits to counting

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Andres, Michael [UCL] Seron, Xavier [UCL] Olivier, Etienne [UCL]

The finding that number processing activates a cortical network partly overlapping that recruited for hand movements has renewed interest in the relationship between number and finger representations. Further evidence about a possible link between fingers and numbers comes from developmental studies showing that finger movements play a crucial role in learning counting. However, increased activity in hand motor circuits during counting may unveil unspecific processes, such as shifting attention, reciting number names, or matching items with a number name. To address this issue, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure changes in corticospinal (CS) excitability during a counting task performed silently and using either numbers or letters of the alphabet to enumerate items. We found an increased CS excitability of hand muscles during the counting task, irrespective of the use of numbers or letters, whereas it was unchanged in arm and foot muscles. Control tasks allowed us to rule out a possible influence of attention allocation or covert speech on CS excitability increase of hand muscles during counting. The present results support a specific involvement of hand motor circuits in counting because no CS changes were found in arm and foot muscles during the same task. However, the contribution of hand motor areas is not exclusively related to number processing because an increase in CS excitability was also found when letters were used to enumerate items. This finding suggests that hand motor circuits are involved whenever items have to be put in correspondence with the elements of any ordered series.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche – Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2007
Language Anglais
Journal information "Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience" - Vol. 19, no. 4, p. 563-576 (2007)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher M I T Press ((United States) Cambridge)
issn 0898-929X
e-issn 1530-8898
Publication status Publié
Affiliations UCL - MD/FSIO - Département de physiologie et pharmacologie
UCL - (SLuc) Service de neurologie
MESH Subject Adult ; Arousal - physiology ; Brain Mapping ; Female ; Hand - physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mathematics ; Motor Cortex - physiology ; Movement - physiology ; Psychomotor Performance - physiology ; Reference Values ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
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Bibliographic reference Andres, Michael ; Seron, Xavier ; Olivier, Etienne. Contribution of hand motor circuits to counting. In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 19, no. 4, p. 563-576 (2007)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/10907