Matejko Anna A, Ansari Daniel
Numerical Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Brain & Mind Institute, Westminster Hall, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Aug;38(8):3941-3956. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23640. Epub 2017 May 10.
Previous research has demonstrated that children recruit the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) during arithmetic, which has largely been attributed to domain-specific processes such as quantity manipulations. However, the IPS has also been found to be important for domain-general abilities, such as visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM). Based on the current literature it is unclear whether individual differences in domain-specific skills, domain-general skills, or a combination of the two, are related to the recruitment of the IPS during arithmetic. This study examines how individual differences in both domain general and domain specific competencies relate to brain activity in the IPS during arithmetic, and whether the relationships are related to how brain activity is measured. In a sample of 44 school-aged children, we found that VSWM was only weakly related to a neural index of arithmetic complexity (neural problem size effect), whereas symbolic number processing skills (symbolic comparison and ordering) were related to overall arithmetic activity (both small and large problems). By simultaneously examining multiple domain-general and domain specific measures, we were also able to determine that symbolic skills were a stronger predictor of brain activity within the IPS than domain general skills such as VSWM and domain specific skills such as non-symbolic number processing. Together, these findings highlight that neural problem size effect may reflect different cognitive processes than brain activity across both small and large arithmetic problems, and that symbolic number processing skills are a critical predictor of variability in IPS activity during arithmetic. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3941-3956, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
先前的研究表明，儿童在进行算术运算时会激活顶内沟（IPS），这在很大程度上归因于诸如数量操作等特定领域的过程。然而，人们还发现IPS对于诸如视觉空间工作记忆（VSWM）等一般领域的能力也很重要。基于当前的文献，尚不清楚特定领域技能、一般领域技能或两者的结合中的个体差异是否与算术运算期间IPS的激活有关。本研究考察了一般领域和特定领域能力的个体差异如何与算术运算期间IPS的大脑活动相关，以及这些关系是否与大脑活动的测量方式有关。在一个包含44名学龄儿童的样本中，我们发现VSWM与算术复杂度的神经指标（神经问题大小效应）仅有微弱的相关性，而符号数字处理技能（符号比较和排序）与整体算术活动（无论问题大小）相关。通过同时考察多种一般领域和特定领域的测量指标，我们还能够确定，与VSWM等一般领域技能以及非符号数字处理等特定领域技能相比，符号技能是IPS内大脑活动的更强预测指标。总之，这些发现表明，神经问题大小效应可能反映的认知过程与大小算术问题的大脑活动不同，并且符号数字处理技能是算术运算期间IPS活动变异性的关键预测指标。《人类大脑图谱》38:3941 - 3956, 2017年。© 2017威利期刊公司。
