Brain scans reveal a 'number line' for comparing values

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorBrain scans of twenty adults looked at exactly that kind of question, and Live Science reports on the results.

2. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorTwenty adults. I'd call that a very exclusive focus group.

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThey judged whether each number was bigger or smaller than the one before.

4. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWhole numbers and fractions are processed differently, but comparing their values lit up one shared map, like a number line.

5. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSo my brain files a quarter and a four together. That's integrated thinking.

6. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIt files them by value.

7. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAn outside neuroscientist pointed out that one quarter has a four in it, but its value sits much closer to zero.

8. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorCloser to zero. And yet it still has the four.

9. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe limits: the participants were all native French speakers, and they were slower and made more errors on fractions. The study doesn't say why.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorRuling: myth.

11. 

    Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorFine, new belief. The bigger the font on the receipt, the less you owe.