Topic - Number Recognition. Recently, I met a very intelligent and accomplished woman who casually remarked that she can’t read the number 9.
She found it fascinating that she has “brain farts” when confronted with 9. She also surmised that she pursued a field where numbers weren’t involved.
I didn’t want to be Poindexter, but I shared that scientists recently found a teeny tiny part of the brain only 1/5 of an inch wide “turns on” when people see numbers, but it doesn’t light up when people see the number name spelled out as in n-i-n-e.
This is curious because our brains don’t automatically read numbers. It has to be taught.
This group of neurons is side-by-side to the spot we use to read words and is thought to be responsible for dyslexia.
Is this cluster of “number” neurons responsible for dyscalculia or the dyslexia of numbers? Your math problems may be all in your head!
