Sources of mathematical thinking: Behavioral and brain-imaging evidence

Does the human capacity for mathematical intuition depend on linguistic competence or on visuo-spatial representations? A series of behavioral and brain-imaging experiments provides evidence for both sources, Exact arithmetic is acquired in a Language-specific format, transfers poorly to a different Language or to novel facts, and recruits networks involved in word-association processes. In contrast, approximate arithmetic shows language independence, relies on a sense of numerical magnitudes, and recruits bilateral areas of the parietal Lobes involved in visuo-spatial processing. Mathematical intuition may emerge from the interplay of these brain systems.