AUTHOR=Penner-Wilger Marcie , Anderson Michael L.

TITLE=The relation between finger gnosis and mathematical ability: why redeployment of neural circuits best explains the finding

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00877

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00877

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>This paper elaborates a novel hypothesis regarding the observed predictive relation between finger gnosis and mathematical ability. In brief, we suggest that these two cognitive phenomena have overlapping neural substrates, as the result of the re-use (“redeployment”) of part of the finger gnosis circuit for the purpose of representing numbers. We offer some background on the relation and current explanations for it; an outline of our alternate hypothesis; some evidence supporting redeployment over current views; and a plan for further research.</p>