%0 Journal Article
%T Temporal-spatial deciphering mental subtraction in the human brain.
%A Pan NC
%A Zhao C
%A Du J
%A Zhou Q
%A Xu C
%A Liu C
%A Yu T
%A Zhang D
%A Wang Y
%J Cogn Neurodyn
%V 18
%N 3
%D 2024 Jun
%M 38826664
%F 3.473
%R 10.1007/s11571-023-09937-z
%X Mental subtraction, involving numerical processing and operation, requires a complex interplay among several brain regions. Diverse studies have utilized scalp electroencephalograph, electrocorticogram, or functional magnetic resonance imaging to resolve the structure pattern and functional activity during subtraction operation. However, a high resolution of the spatial-temporal understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in mental subtraction is unavailable. Thus, this study obtained intracranial stereoelectroencephalography recordings from 20 patients with pharmacologically resistant epilepsy. Specifically, two sample-delayed mismatch paradigms of numeric comparison and subtracting results comparison were used to help reveal the time frame of mental subtraction. The brain sub-regions were chronologically screened using the stereoelectroencephalography recording for mental subtraction. The results indicated that the anterior cortex, containing the frontal, insular, and parahippocampous, worked for preparing for mental subtraction; moreover, the posterior cortex, such as parietal, occipital, limbic, and temporal regions, cooperated during subtraction. Especially, the gamma band activities in core regions within the parietal-cingulate-temporal cortices mediated the critical mental subtraction. Overall, this research is the first to describe the spatiotemporal activities underlying mental subtraction in the human brain. It provides a comprehensive insight into the cognitive control activity underlying mental arithmetic.<BR><B>UNASSIGNED: </B>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-023-09937-z.