Cerda Vanessa R, Suárez-Pellicioni Macarena, Booth James R, Wicha Nicole Y
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States.
Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States.
Imaging Neurosci (Camb). 2024;2. doi: 10.1162/imag_a_00199. Epub 2024 Jun 24.
Verbally memorized multiplication tables are thought to create language-specific memories. Supporting this idea, bilinguals are typically faster and more accurate in the language in which they learned math (LA+) than in their other language (LA- ) . No study has yet revealed the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms explaining this effect, or the role of problem size in explaining the recruitment of different brain regions in LA+ and LA- . To fill this gap in the literature, 29 Spanish-English early bilingual adults, proficient in both languages, verified simple multiplication problems in each language while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired. More specifically, this study aimed to answer two questions: 1) Does LA+ recruit left superior and middle temporal gyri (STG/MTG) to a greater extent than LA- , reflecting more robust verbal representations of multiplication facts in LA+? In contrast, does LA- recruit the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), reflecting more effortful retrieval, or the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), reflecting reliance on quantity processes? 2) Is there an interaction between language and problem size, where language differences are more pronounced for less practiced, large multiplication problems (e.g., 8 × 9) in comparison to more familiar, small problems (e.g., 2 × 3). Functional localizer tasks were used to identify hypothesis-driven regions of interest in verbal areas associated with verbal representations of arithmetic facts (left STG/MTG) and with the effortful retrieval of these facts (left IFG) and quantity areas engaged when calculation-based strategies are used (bilateral IPS). In planned analyses, no cluster reached significance for the direct comparison of languages (question 1) or for the interaction between language and problem size (question 2). An exploratory analysis found a main effect of problem size, where small problems recruited left STG/MTG and left IFG to a greater extent than large problems, suggesting greater verbal involvement for these problems in both languages. Additionally, large problems recruited right IPS to a greater extent than small problems, suggesting reliance on quantity processes. Our results suggest that proficient early bilingual adults engage similar brain regions in both languages, even for more difficult, large problems.
通过口头记忆的乘法表被认为会形成特定语言的记忆。支持这一观点的是，双语者在学习数学的语言（LA+）中通常比在另一种语言（LA-）中更快、更准确。尚无研究揭示解释这种效应的潜在神经认知机制，也未揭示问题大小在解释LA+和LA-中不同脑区激活方面的作用。为填补这一文献空白，29名精通西班牙语和英语的早期双语成年人在进行功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描时，用两种语言验证简单的乘法问题。更具体地说，本研究旨在回答两个问题：1）与LA-相比，LA+是否在更大程度上激活左颞上回和颞中回（STG/MTG），这表明LA+中乘法事实的语言表征更强健？相反，LA-是否激活额下回（IFG），这反映了更费力的检索，或者激活顶内沟（IPS），这反映了对数量处理的依赖？2）语言和问题大小之间是否存在相互作用，即与更熟悉的小问题（如2×3）相比，对于练习较少的大乘法问题（如8×9），语言差异是否更明显。功能定位任务用于识别与算术事实的语言表征（左STG/MTG）、这些事实的费力检索（左IFG）以及使用基于计算的策略时涉及的数量区域（双侧IPS）相关的假设驱动的感兴趣区域。在计划分析中，对于语言的直接比较（问题1）或语言与问题大小之间的相互作用（问题2），没有聚类达到显著水平。一项探索性分析发现了问题大小的主效应，即小问题比大问题在更大程度上激活左STG/MTG和左IFG，这表明两种语言中这些问题都有更多的语言参与。此外，大问题比小问题在更大程度上激活右IPS，这表明对数量处理的依赖。我们的结果表明，熟练的早期双语成年人在两种语言中都使用相似的脑区，即使是对于更难的大问题。
