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Does the math bump really exist?

The term “math bump” originates in the 19th century, in a pseudo-science called “phrenology”. Founded by German neurologist Franz Joseph Gall, it argues that brain capacities are distributed in well-defined areas of the brain, and that the shape of the skull then reflects these capacities. According to him, the brain takes up all the space in the cranial box, allowing to see according to its relief which areas are more or less developed. Thus, people gifted in mathematics would have a visible “bump”, or growth located behind the eye sockets, which would therefore give prominent eyes, because that is where the corresponding area would be.

Show me your skull, I’ll tell you who you are

The German doctor, convinced of the validity of phrenology, conducted a study to prove itA: He makes skull casts of hundreds of people, which he then uses to establish statistical averages and correlate skull shape with abilities. As a result, a map of the human brain, divided into 27 areas which determine various faculties: sense of language, combativeness, perception of numbers, etc. Each function has its own zone. The movement is growing, and it becomes possible at the beginning of the 19th century to have the skull studied to find out what are its best cerebral assets. But this period was short-lived, because in the 1840s, these theories were contested, and studies disqualified, until phrenology was no longer considered a science, but a pseudo-science. This does not prevent it from being practiced freely until the end of the 19th century, without being recognized as a science in its own right.

Illustration of the distribution of cerebral areas, according to phrenology. © MARY EVANS / SIPA

We all have the “math boss”

While the myth of the math bump collapsed during the second half of the 19th century, that hasn’t stopped the idea that a math zone exists in the brain from continuing. The expression “math bump” comes from this persistent idea that an area of ​​the brain would be more activated during mathematical and perceptual calculations.

Brain imaging research has shown that there is not just one zone activated during mathematical calculations, but several, which vary according to the type of calculation requested. Thus, the regions activated during simple arithmetic tasks such as subtractions or additions are the intra-parietal furrows and the bilateral lower temporal regions, regions quite distinct from those corresponding to the functions of language. Stanislas Dehaene, neuroscientist and professor at the Collège de France, explains in his book The math boss that the logic of numbers, or the intuition of numbers, dates back to long before the beginning of our species. Several zones activated in humans when faced with numbers are also activated for macaque monkeys when they are faced with a large number of different objects.

In 2016, thanks to a study that he carried out with Marie Almaric, researcher in cognitive neuroimaging at CEA, he showed that the zones activated during mathematical calculations were the same for high level mathematicians as for people not expert in mathematics, with however a greater activation of the zone. In addition, these areas are quite distinct from the regions activated by language.

Comparison of the activation of zones according to the type of activity requested, for mathematicians on the left, and non-mathematicians on the right. Mathematical activity activates regions of the brain shown in blue while language activity activates regions shown in green. These regions do not overlap. © M.Amalric / CEA

Thus, everyone has the area or areas of math from birth, but it is training that will then define the ability to perform more and more learned calculations.

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