April 15, 2004 -- We rely on math heads. They tally up the bar
April 15, 2004 -- We rely on math heads. They tally up the bar bill, figure out our taxes, compute percentages in their head, just for fun.
These wizards draw on left brain and right brain both to perform these feats -- something that eludes the rest of us.
In fact, the past decade's research has revealed that the brain hemispheres do not work in isolation, writes researcher Harnam Singh, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Iowa State University in Ames. The study appears in this month's issue of Neuropsychology.
Information processing is a "dynamic interactive partnership between the two," he writes. Researchers now speak of a "whole-brain processing system," one that produces unified thoughts, memories, and actions.
However, "there is growing evidence that the mathematically gifted brain may be functionally organized in a different manner" than other brains, writes Singh.
Specifically, the math-head brain has enhancements in the right brain's processing abilities, explains Singh. The math-head brain also has a fine-tuned ability for rapid and coordinated exchange of information between the hemispheres.
In The Lab
Singh conducted a series of experiments involving 60 teens and college-age men: 18, 14-year-olds were math-gifted (with an average SAT math score of 620); 18 had average math ability; and 24 were college students. All were male, since math ability is more common among males.
Since the left eye communicates with the right side of the brain -- and the right eye with the left brain -- the researchers were able to text the different sides of the brain by presenting a task to just one eye at a time.
There were two types of tasks -- "local," which meant that two letters were matched or mismatched on small letters that went into making big letters. An example: A large "T" was composed of smaller T's.
There also were "global" tasks, which meant that two big letters were either matched or mismatched.
The average teens' and college students' brains showed evidence that their left brain worked faster for local matches; the right brain was faster for global matches. Previous research has shown that the left brain processes visual "parts" or details. The right brain analyzes visual "wholes," like the global shapes of the big letters.
For the math-gifted boys, however, there were no differences. They were equally good at processing global and local elements with either side of the brain --suggesting a more interactive brain, explains Singh. The college students showed more cooperation between both sides of the brain -- "presumably because they are more developmentally advanced ... than the average teen," he writes.
The math heads were simply better at processing the information because they used the entire brain.
The math-gifted brain can selectively use various brain regions for different tasks -- possibly eliminating disruptive "cross-talk" between left brain and right brain.
SOURCE: Singh, H. Neuropsychology, April 2004; vol 18.
