Press cutting: Maths-phobia in right parietal lobe
27 March 2007
Whenever some people see a series of mathematical sums, they experience the stifling condition of ‘number blindness.’
Scientists at UCL have now discovered that the problem could be all in the brain – the right parietal lobe, to be exact. …
The researchers believe that the condition is much like dyslexia and affects up to one in 20 people.
However, this ‘number blindness’ named dyscalculia is not often recognised. …
Study leader Dr Roy Cohen Kadosh [UCL Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience] said: “We found that stimulation to this brain region during a maths test radically impacted on the subjects’ reaction time.
“This provides strong evidence that dyscalculia [number blindness] is caused by malformations in the right parietal lobe.
“It’s an important step to the ultimate goal of early diagnosis, which in turn will lead to earlier treatments and more effective remedial teaching.”
The results are published in the journal Current Biology.