The number zero holds a special status among numbers, indispensable for developing a comprehensive number theory. Despite its importance in mathematics, the neuronal foundation of zero in the human brain is poorly known. In new research, neuroscientists from the University Hospital Bonn, the University of Bonn and the University of Tübingen conducted single-neuron recordings in neurosurgical patients, while they made judgments involving non-symbolic number representations (dot numerosity), including the empty set, and symbolic numbers (Arabic numerals), including numeral zero. Neurons showed responsiveness to either the empty set or numeral zero, but not both.
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