Baker Joseph M, Gillam Ronald B, Jordan Kerry E
Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Division of Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, United States.
Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, United States.
Brain Cogn. 2020 Oct;144:105601. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105601. Epub 2020 Jul 30.
Number line estimation (NLE) is an educational task in which children estimate the location of a value (e.g., 25) on a blank line that represents a numerical range (e.g., 0-100). NLE performance is a strong predictor of success in mathematics, and error patterns on this task help provide a glimpse into how children may represent number internally. However, a missing and fundamental element of this puzzle is the identification of neural correlates of NLE in children. That is, understanding possible neural signatures related to NLE performance will provide valuable insight into the cognitive processes that underlie children's development of NLE ability. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we provide the first investigation of concurrent behavioral and cortical signatures of NLE performance in children. Specifically, our results highlight significant fronto-parietal changes in cortical activation in response to increases in NLE scale (e.g., 0-100 vs. 0-100,000). Furthermore, our results demonstrate that NLE performance feedback (auditory, visual, or audiovisual), as well as children's grade (2nd vs. 3rd) influence cortical responding during an NLE task.
数轴估计（NLE）是一项教育任务，在该任务中，儿童要在一条代表数值范围（例如0 - 100）的空白数轴上估计某个值（例如25）的位置。数轴估计表现是数学学习成功的一个有力预测指标，并且该任务中的错误模式有助于初步了解儿童在内心可能如何表征数字。然而，这个难题中一个缺失且至关重要的要素是确定儿童数轴估计的神经关联。也就是说，了解与数轴估计表现相关的可能神经特征将为儿童数轴估计能力发展背后的认知过程提供有价值的见解。我们使用功能近红外光谱技术（fNIRS），首次对儿童数轴估计表现的同时性行为和皮层特征进行了研究。具体而言，我们的结果突出显示，随着数轴估计范围增大（例如0 - 100与0 - 100,000），额叶 - 顶叶皮层激活发生了显著变化。此外，我们的结果表明，数轴估计表现反馈（听觉、视觉或视听）以及儿童的年级（二年级与三年级）在数轴估计任务中会影响皮层反应。
