ArticlePLoS biology2026
A cortical semantic map integrates fractions and integers in the human brain.
Article in PLoS biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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6 authors.
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Abstract
How does the human brain represent the meaning of abstract symbols? Some theories postulate the existence of semantic spaces where concepts occupy positions that reflect their conceptual relationships. In the number domain, psychological evidence suggests that integers are represented along a mental number line which, with education, integrates higher-level number concepts such as fractions. To test this hypothesis, we recorded whole-brain 7T fMRI responses to integer and fraction symbols during an active magnitude comparison task designed to engage magnitude processing. Consistent with predictions, we found both behavioral and neural numerical distance effects. Activation vectors in intraparietal, inferior temporal, prefrontal, hippocampal, and parahippocampal cortices formed a two-dimensional semantic space organized by numerical magnitude and domain (fractions versus integers). Gaussian fits revealed a topographic map of numerical preferences in the anterior inferior parietal cortex, common to both domains. Our results suggest that, when educated adults engage in an explicit magnitude comparison task, their brain can construct an ordered representation that integrates fractions and integers, with a topographic organization in the anterior IPS/IPL.
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