When It Comes to Numbers, Words Count
Despite using the same numerals in
computing, English and Chinese speakers displayed different brain activities in
processing them, according to a new study conducted by a China-US research
team.
This supports the idea that culture
plays an important role in processing numbers, say scientists.
Researchers compared 12 native
English speakers living in
They were first shown three symbols
and told to judge the spatial orientation of the third in relation to the first
two.
For example, the participants might
have been shown symbols of an erect scythe and a cleaver and asked to figure
out the visual orientation of a tilted knife in relation to the first two.
"No difference of brain
activity was found between the two language groups," said Tang Yiyuan, the
lead author of the report, which was published this week in Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, a US science journal.
When scientists replaced symbols
with Arabic numbers, however, significant differences emerged.
Brain scans showed that while
Chinese still relied on a region of their brains involved in visual information
processing, English speakers largely employed their language-related brain
areas.
To confirm the finding, Tang, a
neuroscientist at Dalian University of Technology, and his team performed two
more tests. The differences were even more appreciable when participants were
asked to perform simple addition and compare numerical values.
"These results raised an
interesting question," said Tang, who also works for the State Key-Lab for
Brain and Cognitive Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"Is it a basic cultural
difference or perhaps a difference in language processing, since Chinese
characters are a more visual form than alphabetic words, that led to such
differences?"
Cognitive scientist Michael Posner,
who evaluated the report, said in a written reply to China Daily that
the difference in language could have encouraged different styles of
computation.
"But cultural factors such as
math learning strategies taught and trained in school as well as educational
system may also contribute to the differences," added Posner, who teaches
at University of Oregon.
Another co-author, Eric Reiman of
the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, suggested that
the use of the abacus in many Asian schools may encourage the brains of
students in the region to think spatially and visually about numbers, according
to New Scientist.
Nonetheless, all the scientists
insisted that the research results do not conclusively prove which is more
effective in doing maths.
And they emphasize that the
difference in brain activity does not lead to an answer to the question
"which brain is smarter in maths, English or Chinese?"
Liu Yijun, an associate professor
of University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute who was also in the research
team, said US educators have long noticed that Asian students perform better in
maths than their Western counterparts.
"But this may be a result of a
combination of factors including genetic difference, family education and
personal effort. Our findings may provide a direction for primary
education," he said.
The neuroscientist suggests his
team members conduct similar research among Chinese children adopted by US
families. "They are native Chinese speakers but are educated in the Western
way. There might be more interesting discoveries," he said.
Posner added that the discovery may help scientists adopt different
strategies of working with numbers.
"It could well turn out that
certain strategies may be optimal even when used with a different type of
language," he said.
This way, educators in different
language groups may work out the best method to help young students improve
their ability to solve maths problems.
(China Daily June 30, 2006)