Is soroban "right-brain training"? What brain research actually shows

Heard that soroban "trains the right brain"? Here is what the studies say.

Not only the right brain. In a brain-imaging study (Hanakawa et al., NeuroImage, 2003), expert mental-abacus users calculated with parietal and frontal areas on both sides, the regions that handle visual space, and used the left-hemisphere language areas that most people rely on for arithmetic far less. "Right-brain training" is a popular shorthand for "calculating with an image instead of words"; the right half is not what grows.

Where the label came from

Children who keep up soroban come to calculate on an imagined abacus (mental abacus, or anzan). The brain then treats numbers as shapes (bead patterns) rather than words ("three plus four"). Shape and space were long described as right-hemisphere strengths, so "soroban = right brain" spread.

What imaging studies found

1. Bilateral parietal and frontal activity. Comparing six experts with untrained adults in fMRI, experts showed strong bilateral superior parietal and frontal activation during mental calculation and little activity in language-related areas (Hanakawa et al., 2003).
2. Children's frontal-parietal use changes too. Chinese pupils with about two years of abacus-based mental calculation used frontal and parietal regions more efficiently in executive-function tasks (Wang et al., Human Brain Mapping, 2017).
3. White-matter changes. Children with long training showed better-organised white-matter tracts linking frontal and parietal regions (Hu et al., Human Brain Mapping, 2011).
4. Review. A 2020 review (Wang, Frontiers in Neuroscience) summarises abacus training as improving arithmetic, working memory and executive function, with changes in frontal-parietal networks.

What can and cannot be claimed

Many products sold as "right-brain education" (flash cards, speed reading) have nothing to do with the soroban. The effects confirmed for soroban are those in the left column only.

How long until the child calculates with an image?

The bead image forms after enough practice on a real soroban: about six months to a year at ten minutes a day, one to two years with a weekly class alone (how anzan works). Stop early and the image fades, so a form of practice that lasts matters more than any "right-brain" goal. Soroban Kingdom splits the levels finely, shows the likely wrong bead move as a diagram and builds the next day's practice from mistakes, which helps children keep going until the image forms.

Frequently asked questions

Right-brain class or soroban class?

Decide by goal. For arithmetic and number memory, soroban; its effects are the ones confirmed in research, while evidence for "right-brain education" in general is weak.

Does it work for left-handed children?

Yes. The imaging studies measured both hemispheres; no study splits by handedness, and there is no reason the effect would differ.

Can adults learn to calculate with an image?

Yes, more slowly. Adults have a strong written-arithmetic habit and digits come to mind before beads. See soroban for adults and seniors.