TY  - JOUR
A1  - Koten, Jan-Willem
A1  - Lonnemann, Jan
A1  - Willmes, Klaus
A1  - Knops, André
T1  - Micro and macro pattern analyses of fMRI data support both early and late interaction of numerical and spatial information
T2  - Frontiers in human neuroscience
N2  - Numbers and space are two semantic primitives that interact with each other. Both recruit brain regions along the dorsal pathway, notably parietal cortex. This makes parietal cortex a candidate for the origin of numerical–spatial interaction. The underlying cognitive architecture of the interaction is still under scrutiny. Two classes of explanations can be distinguished. The early interaction approach assumes that numerical and spatial information are integrated into a single representation at a semantic level. A second approach postulates independent semantic representations. Only at the stage of response selection and preparation these two streams interact. In this study we used a numerical landmark task to identify the locus of the interaction between numbers and space. While lying in an MR scanner participants decided on the smaller of two numerical intervals in a visually presented number triplet. The spatial position of the middle number was varied; hence spatial intervals were congruent or incongruent with the numerical intervals. Responses in incongruent trials were slower and less accurate than in congruent trials. By combining across-vertex correlations (micro pattern) with a cluster analysis (macro pattern) we identified large-scale networks that were devoted to number processing, eye movements, and sensory–motor functions. Using support vector classification in different regions of interest along the intraparietal sulcus, the frontal eye fields, and supplementary motor area we were able to distinguish between congruent and incongruent trials in each of the networks. We suggest that the identified networks participate in the integration of numerical and spatial information and that the exclusive assumption of either an early or a late interaction between numerical and spatial information does not do justice to the complex interaction between both dimensions.
KW  - cluster analysis
KW  - early interaction
KW  - interaction between number and space
KW  - late interaction
KW  - multi-voxel pattern analysis
KW  - numerical landmark task
Y1  - 2011
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51677
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-516772
SN  - 1662-5161
N1  - Copyright: © 2011 Koten Jr., Lonnemann, Willmes and Knops. This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.
VL  - 5
IS  - Art. 115
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -