Van Beek Leen, Ghesquière Pol, Lagae Lieven, De Smedt Bert
Parenting and Special Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Development and Regeneration, Biomedical Sciences Group, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Neuroimage. 2014 Apr 15;90:117-27. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.030. Epub 2013 Dec 22.
Functional neuroimaging data have pointed to the activation of a fronto-parietal network during calculation tasks, the activity of which is modulated by arithmetic operation and arithmetical competence. As the cortical brain regions of this network are distant, it is crucial to investigate the white matter connections between them and to examine how these connections are related to different arithmetic operations and individual differences in arithmetical competence. By using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography in eighteen 12-year-olds, we tested whether white matter pathways connecting these distant regions were related to children's arithmetical competence and how this association was modulated by operation. For each child, we delineated the three subcomponents of the arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of pathways linking frontal and temporo-parietal regions that are commonly active during calculation tasks. Fractional anisotropy in the left anterior portion of the arcuate fasciculus was positively correlated with addition and multiplication, but not with subtraction and division, suggesting a specific role of this left anterior segment in the solution of those problems that are expected to be solved with fact retrieval. The observed correlation was not explained by age, intelligence and working memory. Follow-up control analyses using different types of reading measures revealed that the observed correlation only disappeared when measures that draw heavily on phonological processing, such as non-word reading, were controlled for, suggesting that the association between the left arcuate fasciculus-anterior and addition/multiplication reflects the involvement of phonological processing. These results are the first to demonstrate that individual differences in fronto-parietal white matter are associated with arithmetical competence in typically developing children of a very narrow age range and indicate that this association is modulated by arithmetic operation.
功能神经影像学数据表明，在计算任务期间额顶叶网络会被激活，其活动受到算术运算和算术能力的调节。由于该网络的皮质脑区距离较远，研究它们之间的白质连接以及这些连接如何与不同的算术运算和算术能力的个体差异相关至关重要。通过对18名12岁儿童进行扩散张量成像（DTI）纤维束成像，我们测试了连接这些远距离区域的白质通路是否与儿童的算术能力相关，以及这种关联如何受到运算的调节。对于每个儿童，我们描绘了弓状束的三个子成分，这是一束连接额叶和颞顶叶区域的通路，在计算任务期间通常会被激活。弓状束左前部的分数各向异性与加法和乘法呈正相关，但与减法和除法无关，这表明该左前节段在解决那些预期通过事实检索解决的问题中具有特定作用。观察到的相关性不能用年龄、智力和工作记忆来解释。使用不同类型阅读测量的后续对照分析表明，只有在控制了严重依赖语音处理的测量（如非单词阅读）时，观察到的相关性才会消失，这表明左弓状束前部与加法/乘法之间的关联反映了语音处理的参与。这些结果首次表明，在年龄范围非常窄的典型发育儿童中，额顶叶白质的个体差异与算术能力相关，并表明这种关联受到算术运算的调节。
