Neural basis of mathematical cognition.

The human brain has remarkable capabilities for encoding and manipulating information about quantities. Understanding how the brain carries out such number and quantity processing is a problem not just for those interested in numerical cognition: it raises important questions that are relevant to understanding development, action, vision, language, executive function and cortical organisation. It is also a clear case of research into a core human psychological function having indisputable everyday relevance; hence the emphasis in early education on numeracy and later on mathematics.