Neuroimaging studies revealed that number perception is mainly located in parietal cortex. Although controversial, it was suggested that number is processed in the frontal lobe in childhood and in the parietal cortex in adulthood. The purpose of this study is to investigate developmental differences in the neural correlates of number representation with fMRI. Sixteen healthy young adults (age:21.69 ± 0.79) and 15 healthy children (age:11.87 ± 0.52) performed a numerosity comparison paradigm which consists of two numerical conditions with two difficulty levels. Adults showed broad parietal cortex activation, as well as activation in the inferior parietal lobes, dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, and peristriate cortex (PC) during number processing. Children showed activations in the intraparietal sulcus and PC. Group differences were observed in the posterior insula, fusiform gyrus, and PC whose coordinates correspond to the number form area (NFA). Region of interest analysis was performed for these clusters to get the time series of hemodynamic responses which were estimated with a finite impulse response function. In contrast to the prominent frontoparietal shift theory, no age-related differences were observed in the frontoparietal regions. Overall, the presented study suggests developmental changes in the brain's number processing revolving around the NFA.

中文翻译：

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大脑中数字处理网络的发展变化。

神经影像学研究表明，数字感知主要位于顶叶皮层。尽管存在争议，但有人认为该数目在儿童时期在额叶中处理，而在成年期在顶叶皮层中处理。这项研究的目的是调查功能表示与功能磁共振成像的神经相关性的发育差异。16名健康的年轻人（年龄：21.69±0.79）和15名健康的孩子（年龄：11.87±0.52）执行了一个数字比较范例，该范例由两个具有两个难度级别的数值条件组成。成虫在数字处理过程中显示出广泛的顶叶皮层激活，以及下顶叶，背外侧和内侧前额叶皮层，前扣带和后扣带皮层以及周膜皮层（PC）的激活。儿童表现出顶内沟和PC激活。在后岛岛，梭状回和PC中观察到组差异，其坐标对应于数字形式区域（NFA）。对这些簇进行感兴趣区域分析，以得到血流动力学响应的时间序列，该时间序列是用有限冲激响应函数估算的。与著名的额顶移位理论相反，在额顶区域未观察到与年龄相关的差异。总体而言，本研究表明，围绕NFA的大脑数字处理的发育变化。对这些聚类进行了感兴趣区域分析，以得到血流动力学响应的时间序列，并使用有限的脉冲响应函数对其进行了估计。与突出的额顶移位理论相反，在额顶区域未观察到与年龄相关的差异。总体而言，本研究表明，围绕NFA的大脑数字处理的发育变化。对这些簇进行感兴趣区域分析，以得到血流动力学响应的时间序列，该时间序列是用有限冲激响应函数估算的。与著名的额顶移位理论相反，在额顶区域未观察到与年龄相关的差异。总体而言，本研究表明，围绕NFA的大脑数字处理的发育变化。