The Relation between Finger Gnosis and Mathematical Ability: Why Redeployment of Neural Circuits Best Explains the Finding

Authors

Marcie Penner-Wilger, Department of Psychology, King’s University College at Western University, London, ON, Canada
Michael L. Anderson, Department of Psychology, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA & Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-5-2013

Journal

Frontiers in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

Volume

4

Issue

877

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00877

Abstract

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.

Notes

© 2013 Penner-Wilger and Anderson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

This article was published originally as:

Penner-Wilger M and Anderson ML (2013) The relation between finger gnosis and mathematical ability: why redeployment of neural circuits best explains the finding. Front. Psychol. 4:877. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00877

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.