Event Abstract Back to Event The neural and educational basis of integer representations: Symmetry Jessica M. Tsang1*, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee1, Kristen P. Blair1, Laura Bofferding1, Vinod Menon1 and Daniel L. Schwartz1 1 Stanford University School of Medicine, ISB, United States Among the many possible synergies, education can identify novel topics for cognitive-neuroscience, and neuroscience can address debates in education. One debate involves the relative merits of embodied versus rule-based approaches to mathematics education. Embodied approaches connect mathematics to perceptual-motor abilities through physical manipulation and spatial mapping. Rule-based approaches emphasize symbolic transformations. The investigation of integers may clarify this debate, because negative quantities are abstract (one does not see negative objects). At the same time, negatives are symmetric to natural numbers around zero (e.g., -3 and 3). A pair of reaction time (RT) studies supported a perceptual symmetry hypothesis, which asserts that the underlying representation of integer symmetry has a perceptual grounding. Adults viewed two digits and reported their numerical midpoint. Response times exhibited a perceptual tuning curve; RTs were a curvilinear function of the degree of symmetry about zero. We then used fMRI to identify neural correlates of the symmetry effect. The degree of symmetry about zero correlated with activity levels in the inferior parietal lobes, right posterior middle temporal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, and posterior and anterior midline regions. This suggests that the brain recruits new regions to capitalize on symmetric structure, besides those implicated in magnitude judgments (e.g., intraparietal sulcus) and rule-based processing (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). To gather causal evidence on the perceptual basis of symbolic symmetry judgments, our current classroom work compares integer curricula that emphasize symmetry across zero to varying degrees. This will be followed by an intervention-fMRI study identifying neural signatures of differing curricular treatments. A practical question is whether curricula that emphasize symmetry better prepare students for algebra, which depends on the related notions of balancing and canceling. Our approach conjoins educational and neuroscience questions and methods to generate new types of explanations that can clarify standing questions of theoretical and practical import. Conference: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education, Zurich, Switzerland, 3 Jun - 5 Jun, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Number processing Citation: Tsang JM, Rosenberg-Lee M, Blair KP, Bofferding L, Menon V and Schwartz DL (2010). The neural and educational basis of integer representations: Symmetry. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.11.00072 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 01 Jun 2010; Published Online: 01 Jun 2010. * Correspondence: Jessica M Tsang, Stanford University School of Medicine, ISB, Palo Alto, United States, jmtsang@stanford.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jessica M Tsang Miriam Rosenberg-Lee Kristen P Blair Laura Bofferding Vinod Menon Daniel L Schwartz Google Jessica M Tsang Miriam Rosenberg-Lee Kristen P Blair Laura Bofferding Vinod Menon Daniel L Schwartz Google Scholar Jessica M Tsang Miriam Rosenberg-Lee Kristen P Blair Laura Bofferding Vinod Menon Daniel L Schwartz PubMed Jessica M Tsang Miriam Rosenberg-Lee Kristen P Blair Laura Bofferding Vinod Menon Daniel L Schwartz Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.