Considering structural connectivity in the triple code model of numerical cognition: differential connectivity for magnitude processing and arithmetic facts

Abstract

The current study provides a generalizable account of the anatomo-functional associations as well as the connectivity of representational codes underlying numerical processing as suggested by the triple code model (TCM) of numerical cognition. By evaluating the neural networks subserving numerical cognition in two specific and substantially different numerical tasks with regard to both grey matter localizations as well as white matter tracts we (1) considered the possibility of additional memory-related cortex areas crucial for arithmetic fact retrieval (e.g., the hippocampus); (2) specified the functional involvement of prefrontal areas in number magnitude processing, and, finally; (3) identified the connections between these anatomo-functional instantiations of the representations involved in number magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval employing probabilistic fiber tracking. The resulting amendments to the TCM are summarized in a schematic update, and ideas concerning the possible functional interplay between number magnitude processing and arithmetic fact retrieval are discussed.

Keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; Numerical cognition; Probabilistic fiber tracking; Triple code model; fMRI.