数字认知和数学能力及其内在神经机制的关系

The Relationship among Number Cognition, Mathematical Ability and Their Intrinsic Neural Mechanisms

认知神经科学视野下的一般逻辑推理内在机制已经有了丰富且深入的研究,并提出以“双机制理论”进行解释。两种不同机制理论的关键不同在于是否需要语言及规则的介入。对于有着更大概念外延的数学逻辑,同样也存在这个问题,而这个问题在人们的数量获得过程中就已经产生。相对来说,简单的代数推理是简单数字的加工过程,是一种数学的低阶信息加工,不需要语言介入;而语言推理相对抽象复杂,需要相应的支持语言信息加工的神经机制激活。因此,区分出数字认知和数学逻辑非常有必要。

The mechanisms underlying general logical reasoning from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience have been richly and thoroughly investigated, and a “two-mechanism theory” has been proposed to explain them. The key difference between the two theories lies in the need for language and rules. The same problem exists for mathematical logic, which has a larger conceptual extension, and which arises in the process of acquiring quantities. Comparatively speaking, simple algebraic reasoning is the processing of simple numbers, a form of mathematical low-order information processing that does not require linguistic intervention, whereas linguistic reasoning is relatively abstract and complex and requires the activation of corresponding neural mechanisms that support linguistic information processing. Therefore, it is very necessary to distinguish between number cognition and mathematical logic.