ABSTRACT
The basic processes of brain development in an individual are: the birth of neurons, the proliferation of neurons and the glial cells that support them, cell migration from starting positions to different parts of the brain, cell death, cell differentiation into different types, the formation of synapses, and the pruning of synapses. Beginning within the first month after conception, the embryo's cells differentiate into a three-layered wormlike structure, and the nervous system develops from a strip of just a few cells on the outermost layer. Neuroscience studies show that there are brain sites that are particularly active in the complex processes of understanding numbers and doing arithmetic. Comparing experimental tasks, the left parietal lobe seems to be a critical area in arithmetical calculation, the right parietal lobe in rapid enumeration, and word problems and arithmetical reasoning involve the prefrontal cortex.
