Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Dissociation between physical and mental number line bisection in right hemisphere brain damage

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 1663–1665 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

To compare numeric quantities, humans make use of a 'mental number line' with smaller quantities located to the left of larger ones; it is unclear, however, whether orienting along the number line is like orienting along a physical line. We found that in brain-damaged subjects with defective leftward orienting, rightward deviation in the bisection of numeric and physical intervals is doubly dissociated. Deviation in numeric interval bisection was associated with prefrontal damage and spatial working memory deficit.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Bisection of horizontal physical lines and mental number lines.
Figure 2: Anatomical correlates of line number bisection.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dehaene, S. et al. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 14, 218–224 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Walsh, V. Trends Cogn. Sci. 7, 483–488 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dehaene, S., Bossini, S. & Giraux, P. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 122, 371–396 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zorzi, M., Priftis, K. & Umiltà, C. Nature 417, 138–139 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Doricchi, F. et al. Brain 128, 1386–1406 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Rossetti, Y. et al. Psychol. Sci. 15, 426–430 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dehaene, S. et al. Cogn. Neuropsychol. 20, 487–506 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Doricchi, F. & Angelelli, P. Neurology 52, 1845–1852 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fink, G.R. et al. Neurology 54, 1324–1331 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Doricchi, F. & Tomaiuolo, F. Neuroreport 14, 2239–2243 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mort, D.J. et al. Brain 126, 1986–1997 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Leibovitch, F.S. et al. Neurology 50, 901–908 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Malhotra, P. et al. Brain 128, 424–435 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Della Sala, S. et al. Neuropsychologia 42, 1358–1364 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Rizzuto, D.S. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 415–417 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

F.D. wishes to thank D. Bueti and A. Doricchi for discussing the paper and H. Bowles for text revision. This study was supported by grants from the Fondazione Santa Lucia and from the Ministero della Università e della Ricerca Scientifica.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS - LENA (Laboratoire Europeen Neuroscience de l'Action), Rome, Italy

    Fabrizio Doricchi & Paola Guariglia

  2. Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy

    Fabrizio Doricchi & Paola Guariglia

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche–Va Cattedra, Università degli Studi di Roma 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy

    Marina Gasparini

  4. Auxilium Vitae Volterra, Volterra, Pisa, Italy

    Francesco Tomaiuolo

Authors
  1. Fabrizio Doricchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paola Guariglia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marina Gasparini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Francesco Tomaiuolo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabrizio Doricchi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Doricchi, F., Guariglia, P., Gasparini, M. et al. Dissociation between physical and mental number line bisection in right hemisphere brain damage. Nat Neurosci 8, 1663–1665 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1563

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1563

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing