Instituto de Neurociencias, CUCBA, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Dec 13;13(12):e0209267. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209267. eCollection 2018.
Are mathematical learning difficulties caused by impairment of the abilities that underlie mathematical talent? Or are mathematical difficulties and talent qualitatively different? The main goal of this study was to determine whether mathematical learning difficulties are explained by the same executive functions as mathematical talent. We screened a pool of 2,682 first-year high school students and selected 48 for evaluation, dividing them into three groups: those with mathematical learning difficulties (n = 16), those with typical performance (n = 16), and those with mathematical talent (n = 16). Adolescents from the learning difficulties and talented groups had age, reading skills, and verbal and non-verbal intelligence that were similar to those of the typical performance group. Participants were administered a suite of tasks to evaluate verbal and visual short-term memory and executive functions of inhibition, shifting, and updating. Different executive functions showed different contributions at the two ends of the math ability continuum: lower levels of performance in updating visual information were related to mathematical learning difficulties, while greater shifting abilities were related to mathematical talent. Effect sizes for the differences in performance between groups were large (Hedges' g > 0.8). These results suggest that different executive functions are associated with mathematical learning difficulties and mathematical talent. We discuss how these differences in executive functions could be related to the different types of mathematical abilities that distinguish the three groups.
数学学习困难是由数学天赋所依赖的能力受损引起的吗？还是数学困难和天赋在质上是不同的？本研究的主要目的是确定数学学习困难是否可以用与数学天赋相同的执行功能来解释。我们对 2682 名一年级高中生进行了筛选，并从中挑选了 48 名学生进行评估，将他们分为三组：数学学习困难组（n = 16）、典型表现组（n = 16）和数学天赋组（n = 16）。学习困难组和有天赋组的青少年在年龄、阅读技能以及言语和非言语智力方面与典型表现组相似。参与者接受了一系列任务的评估，以评估言语和视觉短期记忆以及抑制、转换和更新的执行功能。不同的执行功能在数学能力连续体的两个极端表现出不同的贡献：更新视觉信息的能力较低与数学学习困难有关，而较强的转换能力与数学天赋有关。组间表现差异的效应量较大（Hedges' g > 0.8）。这些结果表明，不同的执行功能与数学学习困难和数学天赋有关。我们讨论了这些执行功能的差异如何与区分这三组的不同类型的数学能力相关。
