Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty
Math learning difficulty (i.e., MLD) is common in children and can have far-reaching consequences in personal and professional life. Converging evidence suggests that MLD is associated with impairments in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). However, the role that these impairments play in MLD remains un...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2018-01-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158218303309 |
| _version_ | 1819129415331741696 |
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| author | Flora Schwartz Justine Epinat-Duclos Jessica Léone Alice Poisson Jérôme Prado |
| author_facet | Flora Schwartz Justine Epinat-Duclos Jessica Léone Alice Poisson Jérôme Prado |
| author_sort | Flora Schwartz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Math learning difficulty (i.e., MLD) is common in children and can have far-reaching consequences in personal and professional life. Converging evidence suggests that MLD is associated with impairments in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). However, the role that these impairments play in MLD remains unclear. Although it is often assumed that IPS deficits affect core numerical abilities, the IPS is also involved in several non-numerical processes that may contribute to math skills. For instance, the IPS supports transitive reasoning (i.e., the ability to integrate relations such as A > B and B > C to infer that A > C), a skill that is central to many aspects of math learning in children. Here we measured fMRI activity of 8- to 12-year-olds with MLD and typically developing (TD) peers while they listened to stories that included transitive relations. Children also answered questions evaluating whether transitive inferences were made during story comprehension. Compared to non-transitive relations (e.g., A > B and C > D), listening to transitive relations (e.g., A > B and B > C) was associated with enhanced activity in the IPS in TD children. In children with MLD, the difference in activity between transitive and non-transitive relations in the IPS was (i) non-reliable and (ii) smaller than in TD children. Finally, children with MLD were less accurate than TD peers when making transitive inferences based on transitive relations. Thus, a deficit in the online processing of transitive relations in the IPS might contribute to math difficulties in children with MLD. Keywords: Transitive reasoning, Dyscalculia, Math learning disability, IPS, fMRI |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:43:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98ec5bd88394424d95724b0816c85abd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2213-1582 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:43:21Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| spelling | doaj.art-98ec5bd88394424d95724b0816c85abd2022-12-21T18:32:10ZengElsevierNeuroImage: Clinical2213-15822018-01-012012551265Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficultyFlora Schwartz0Justine Epinat-Duclos1Jessica Léone2Alice Poisson3Jérôme Prado4Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5304, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Lyon, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France; Corresponding authors.Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5304, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Lyon, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, FranceInstitut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5304, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Lyon, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, FranceGénoPsy, Reference center for rare diseases with psychiatric symptoms, Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier, 69678 Bron cedex, FranceInstitut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5304, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Lyon, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron cedex, France; Corresponding authors.Math learning difficulty (i.e., MLD) is common in children and can have far-reaching consequences in personal and professional life. Converging evidence suggests that MLD is associated with impairments in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). However, the role that these impairments play in MLD remains unclear. Although it is often assumed that IPS deficits affect core numerical abilities, the IPS is also involved in several non-numerical processes that may contribute to math skills. For instance, the IPS supports transitive reasoning (i.e., the ability to integrate relations such as A > B and B > C to infer that A > C), a skill that is central to many aspects of math learning in children. Here we measured fMRI activity of 8- to 12-year-olds with MLD and typically developing (TD) peers while they listened to stories that included transitive relations. Children also answered questions evaluating whether transitive inferences were made during story comprehension. Compared to non-transitive relations (e.g., A > B and C > D), listening to transitive relations (e.g., A > B and B > C) was associated with enhanced activity in the IPS in TD children. In children with MLD, the difference in activity between transitive and non-transitive relations in the IPS was (i) non-reliable and (ii) smaller than in TD children. Finally, children with MLD were less accurate than TD peers when making transitive inferences based on transitive relations. Thus, a deficit in the online processing of transitive relations in the IPS might contribute to math difficulties in children with MLD. Keywords: Transitive reasoning, Dyscalculia, Math learning disability, IPS, fMRIhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158218303309 |
| spellingShingle | Flora Schwartz Justine Epinat-Duclos Jessica Léone Alice Poisson Jérôme Prado Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty NeuroImage: Clinical |
| title | Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| title_full | Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| title_fullStr | Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| title_short | Impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| title_sort | impaired neural processing of transitive relations in children with math learning difficulty |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158218303309 |
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