This seems to me to support *mathematical fictionalism* [ https://www.iep.utm.edu/mathfict/ ] - specifically, how the brain processes mathematics as a type of fiction.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-nerve-cells-human-brain.html *Each quantity therefore creates a specific activity pattern in the human brain. ... When we see a certain digit, certain brain cells fire. However, the digit neurons and the quantity neurons are not identical: The digit "3" excites completely different nerve cells than a quantity of three points.* https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdfExtended/S0896-6273(18)30741-4 *Single Neurons in the Human Brain Encode Numbers* Summary *Our human-specific symbolic number skills that underpin science and technology spring from nonsymbolic set size representations. Despite the significance of numerical competence, its single-neuron mechanisms in the human brain are unknown. We therefore recorded from single neurons in the medial temporal lobe of neurosurgical patients that performed a calculation task. We found that distinct groups of neurons represented either nonsymbolic or symbolic number, but not both number formats simultaneously. Numerical information could be decoded robustly from the population of neurons tuned to nonsymbolic number and with lower accuracy also from the population of neurons selective to number symbols. The tuning characteristics of selective neurons may explain why set size is represented only approximately in behavior, whereas number symbols allow exact assessments of numerical values. Our results suggest number neurons as neuronal basis of human number representations that ultimately give rise to number theory and mathematics.* - pt On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 4:24:25 PM UTC-5, Brent wrote: > > I'm not sure whether this is evidence for Bruno's Platonism or it just > shows why it's a common illusion. > > Brent > > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > > Nerve cells in the human brain can 'count' September 21, 2018, University > of Bonn <http://www1.uni-bonn.de/startseite/jsp/index.jsp?lang=en> > https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-nerve-cells-human-brain.html > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
