Electrophysiological dynamic brain connectivity during symbolic magnitude comparison in children with different mathematics achievement levels

Abstract

Children with mathematical difficulties usually have an impaired ability to process symbolic representations. Functional MRI methods have suggested that early frontoparietal connectivity can predict mathematic achievements; however, the study of brain connectivity during numerical processing remains unexplored. With the aim of evaluating this in children with different math proficiencies, we selected a sample of 40 children divided into two groups [high achievement (HA) and low achievement (LA)] according to their arithmetic scores in the Wide Range Achievement Test, 4th ed.. Participants performed a symbolic magnitude comparison task (i.e. determining which of two numbers is numerically larger), with simultaneous electrophysiological recording. Partial directed coherence and graph theory methods were used to estimate and depict frontoparietal connectivity in both groups. The behavioral measures showed that children with LA performed significantly slower and less accurately than their peers in the HA group. Significantly higher frontocentral connectivity was found in LA compared with HA; however, when the connectivity analysis was restricted to parietal locations, no relevant group differences were observed. These findings seem to support the notion that LA children require greater memory and attentional efforts to meet task demands, probably affecting early stages of symbolic comparison.

Hand preference and Mathematical Learning Difficulties: New data from Greece, the United Kingdom, and Germany and two meta-analyses of the literature

“…either encouraged or discouraged right-or left-handers participate or it was not clear from description of the methods whether participants were right-handed on purpose or by chance were excluded (e.g., Gómez-Velázquez et al, 2017;González-Garrido et al, 2018;Grabner et al, 2009;Stanescu-Cosson et al, 2000;Strang & Rourke, 1983).…”

Hand preference and Mathematical Learning Difficulties: New data from Greece, the United Kingdom, and Germany and two meta-analyses of the literature

“…Handedness: Studies that either encouraged or discouraged right-or lefthanders participate or it was not clear from description of the methods whether participants were right-handed on purpose or by chance were excluded (e.g., Gómez-Velázquez et al, 2017;González-Garrido et al, 2018;Grabner et al, 2009;Stanescu-Cosson et al, 2000;Strang & Rourke, 1983). Those studies were excluded following a conservative approach.…”

Research on numerical cognition in Mexico (Investigación sobre cognición numérica en México)

“…There have also been efforts at the Instituto de Neurociencias to characterize MLD and electrophysiological level. Recently, the Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology reported ERP components (Gómez-Velázquez, Berumen, & González-Garrido, 2015), EEG coherence (González-Garrido et al, 2018) and brain connectivity (Gómez-Velázquez et al, 2017) of 40 elementary school children with different maths performance levels comparing symbolic and non-symbolic numerical quantities. Their results showed that children with low performance show lower P2P and P3 amplitudes, but more extended coherence topographic patterns that involve mainly frontoparietal areas, and higher connectivity in these areas.…”

“…En el Instituto de Neurociencias también se han hecho esfuerzos para caracterizar las DAM y el nivel electrofisiológico. Recientemente, el Laboratorio de Neurofisiología Clínica reportó los componentes de los PREs (Gómez-Velázquez, Berumen, & González-Garrido, 2015), la coherencia del EEG (González-Garrido et al, 2018), y la conectividad cerebral (Gómez-Velázquez et al, 2017) de 40 niños de la escuela primaria con diferentes niveles de rendimiento en matemáticas, mientras comparaban cantidades numéricas simbólicas y no simbólicas. Sus resultados mostraron que los niños con bajo rendimiento revelan amplitudes P2P y P3 inferiores, pero patrones topográficos de coherencia más extensos que incluyen principalmente las áreas frontoparietales, y una mayor conectividad en esas áreas.…”