A cortical semantic map integrates fractions and integers in the human brain.

Authors

Daniela Valério, Samuel Debray, Alireza Karami, Maxime Cauté, Nicolás Gravel, Stanislas Dehaene

Published in

PLoS biology. Volume 24. Issue 10. Pages e3003820. Epub Oct 22, 2026.

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.

PMID:
42911907
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Oct 2026.

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