To provide referential normative data on simple tasks dealing
with number processing and calculation which could be used in
clinical investigations, 551 normal volunteers aged between
18 and 69 years from France and Belgium (n = 180),
Italy (n = 212) and Germany (n = 159), performed
the 31 tasks which constitute the EC301 calculation and number
processing battery. Differences between countries were significant
for 16 tasks and a Gender × Education interaction was
observed for some tasks, with men performing better than women
among subjects with low education only. To present an overview
of preserved and impaired calculation and number processing
abilities in left-brain damaged (LBD) aphasic patients and
right-brain damaged (RBD) nonaphasic patients, the 31 subtests
of the EC301 battery were proposed to 80 patients with
cerebrovascular accident, 56 left and 24 right, for most cases
in the territory of the middle cerebral artery. LBD aphasic
patients showed low performance on oral and alphabetical spoken
verbal and written verbal counting, transcoding when a written
code was involved, and mental or written calculation; but
relatively good performance at finding the number of elements
in small sets, comparing numbers written in the Arabic digital
code and placing correctly numbers on an analogue number line.
The lowest performances of RBD patients were observed for
estimation tasks and for placing a number on a scale. Results
and their implications for further research are discussed according
to the present information processing and anatomofunctional
models of calculation and number processing. (JINS,
2001, 7, 840–859.)