Comments on: Math ability requires hemisphere crosstalk in the brain

By: Editor

Editor — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 15:03:10 +0000

I want to thank you for this comment, which led me to some interesting explorations. You are describing transcranial magnetic stimulation. TMS actually only blocks connectivity to the left (conceptual) hemisphere, which temporarily induces disinhibition of the right (perceptual) hemisphere, according to TMS research Allan Snyder*. The result is to heighten perception, leading to savant-like abilities, including amazing abilities to remember huge numbers.

Note that the study at UT Dallas/Duke/Michigan found that the number-matching task activated the right parietal cortex (as in TMS), while the addition and subtraction tasks produced additional activity in the left parietal cortex — more so with subtraction, which requires greater conceptual skill.

That seems consistent with Snyder’s findings. I’m going to ask Snyder to comment on this.

Maybe there’s a way to use TMS to improve the right-brain aspects of math? It seems Einstein called on direct perceptual understanding.

* See Conversations on Creativity with Allan Snyder,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201001/conversations-creativity-allan-snyder.

By: trakk

trakk — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 14:58:26 +0000

So if right and left parietal are interconnected its math, then right and left temporal..science or other non numerical skills?? and right and left frontal…leadership?? I hope somebody test this out too.

By: trakk

trakk — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 14:51:21 +0000

I imagine a chart with numbers 1 to 100 with each column having ten numbers obviously, and then substract.

By: snake0

snake0 — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 08:11:16 +0000

There is a version of the ‘God Helmet’ which uses electromagnetic pulses to shut off connectivity in the brain and imposes a temporary autistic state in the user, which is then reported to have enhanced capabilities in number matching and mathematics, which would seem to contradict this article because it is effectively limiting the communication between right and left hemisphere (however this may be forcing communication between hemispheres to occur through some other ‘higher bandwidth’ route).

By: longnow

longnow — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 23:06:08 +0000

Gee golly Jimminy Crickets, are you conservatively
“brilliant at breakfast” also?

By: Brian Jauw

Brian Jauw — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:32:53 +0000

I wonder if this is explanation for the [debatable] correlation between instrumental musicians and better scores on mathematics assessments. It has been noted several times that people who train on musical instruments from a young age develop thicker corpus callosums.

By: Pete Fowler

Pete Fowler — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:23:34 +0000

There’s much more to it than that. I’ve been good at mental arithmetic since before my first primary school maths lesson. I’ve also been a very slow learner of more advanced maths, even though I’ve sweated blood at it. I had to, in order to continue studying physics, which is my best subject. I’m 64 now.

By: Guillermo

Guillermo — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:28:31 +0000

Interesting to see the many ways there are for doing the same thing (reminds me of a Feynman video..). The way I actually do it most of the time is to start adding numbers to 38, i.e.:
38+10=48
48+5=53
so 53-38=15.
I guess my brain likes the concept of adding more, so it translates the substracting problem into an adding one :)

By: bill yarberry

bill yarberry — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:27:27 +0000

I agree that just doing math works, given the mind’s plasticity. I wonder though if cross disciplinary studies in general help. Maybe just crossing the hemisphere boundaries is the trick? But then again, when Gauss as a three year old corrected his father’s accounting figures … I don’t think any kind of exercise gets you to that exalted state of mathematical power

By: Foye Lowe

Foye Lowe — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:02:58 +0000

Groovy. (Or, more accurately, grooving . . . )

By: Foye Lowe

Foye Lowe — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:01:36 +0000

Interesting. I might use some of the rote methods taught in school (8 from 13, borrowing “one” from the 5, etc.); or, I more often would note that the difference between 38 and 48 is 10, and the difference between 48 and 50 is 2, and between 50 and 53 is 3; ergo, 10 + 2 + 3 = a difference of 15 between 53 and 38. There’s more than one way around the mulberry bush . . .

By: Karl Haglin

Karl Haglin — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:41:56 +0000

For me at least, subtraction requires more steps. Let’s say I wanna calculate 53-38.

1) First I store 38 in my memory.
2) Then I reduce 53 by 8, so I get 45
3) Then I store 45
4) Then I go back to 38, strip away 8 so I get 30
5) Then I go back to 45 and reduce with 30 = 15

I can feel how things really turn in my head when I’m at step 2-4. When I add on the other hand add I don’t feel I need to store as much and I can go for directly for it without thinking. Let’s say I wanna calculate 53+38:

1) First I store 38 in my memory
2) Then I take 8 and add it to 53 so I get 61.
3) Then I have 30 left and I added to 61 to get 91.

By: Dr.Pratt

Dr.Pratt — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:57:39 +0000

Hold three dice in the left hand and roll them. Feel the tops of the die while blindfolded and write down the quantity with the right hand. Switch hands and do the same task. Add complexity.

By: Dr.Pratt

Dr.Pratt — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:52:33 +0000

Since the hemipheres are also connected to handedness, there is a key there on how to design hemispheric connectedness for math tasks. Recognition would be simple by having the subject detect quataties in each hand while blindfolded.

By: Khannea Suntzu

Khannea Suntzu — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:05:05 +0000

No, I aquired discalculia in my early puberty and it got a lot worse over the years. It is a distinctive disorder. You can’t just blame people who have it, as much as you can’t blame cripples for “not having the proper discipline to walk”. It just isn’t there.

By: SpottedMarley

SpottedMarley — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:10:27 +0000

maybe just practice mathematics? .. is that too obvious?