Scanning your brain can reveal if you have a head for numbers
A BRAIN scan can show if you have a head for figures, according to a new scientific study.
The research showed that the amount of a chemical messenger in someone’s brain could predict their ability at maths.
The study focused on two different chemical messengers – known as neurotransmitters – called glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
Researchers from University of Surrey, University of Oxford and Swansea University found these two neurotransmitters work in different ways to predict mathematical ability in six-year-olds compared with university students.
The research showed that in the younger participants, high GABA levels and low glutamate levels were associated with high maths skills.
But in the older university participants, the exact opposite was seen.
One of the researchers, Oxford’s Prof Roi Cohen Kadosh, said this shows there is a developmental shift in the brain that occurs at some point when we are teenagers.
Another study from the same research team found neurotransmitter levels could predict whether a student was still studying maths or if they had stopped learning the subject.
Prof Cohen Kadosh said this discovery can be used to develop learning techniques which could help children less interested in maths develop key regions of their brain.
He said: “Not every adolescent enjoys maths so we need to investigate possible alternatives, such as training in logic and reasoning that engage the same brain area as maths.”
The scientists said that although it is known that levels of brain excitement or inhibition can transfer to learning, little is known about how they are related to complex learning that can take place over decades. To address this issue, the researchers measured the levels of GABA and glutamate in 255 people, ranging from six-year-olds to university students.
The participants also took two maths achievement tests, and their performance on the arithmetic problems was correlated with the GABA and glutamate levels.