Neural signatures of co‐occurring reading and mathematical difficulties

Abstract

Impaired abilities in multiple domains is common in children with learning difficulties. Co-occurrence of low reading and mathematical abilities (LRLM) appears in almost every second child with learning difficulties. However, little is known regarding the neural bases of this combination. Leveraging a unique and tightly controlled sample including children with LRLM, isolated low reading ability (LR), and isolated low mathematical ability (LM), we uncover a distinct neural signature in children with co-occurring low reading and mathematical abilities differentiable from LR and LM. Specifically, we show that LRLM is neuroanatomically distinct from both LR and LM based on reduced cortical folding of the right parahippocampal gyrus, a medial temporal lobe region implicated in visual associative learning. LRLM children were further distinguished from LR and LM by patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity between parahippocampal gyrus and brain circuitry underlying reading and numerical quantity processing. Our results critically inform cognitive and neural models of LRLM by implicating aberrations in both domain-specific and domain-general brain regions involved in reading and mathematics. More generally, our results provide the first evidence for distinct multimodal neural signatures associated with LRLM, and suggest that this population displays an independent phenotype of learning difficulty that cannot be explained simply as a combination of isolated low reading and mathematical abilities.

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

“…datasets adding up to n = 2,628 individuals (n = 735 individuals with MLD, n = 1,893 TD individuals). The studies of Price et al (2007), Skeide et al (2018), and…”

“…The analysis was repeated after removing the largest study representing 72.03% of participants (Study 2, n = 1899) and no evidence of a difference was similarly found (OR = 1.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) = .95, 2.69, Z = 1.77, p = .08). We refrain from interpreting the last p-value as weak evidence for a difference, as three studies showing no differences but reporting zero left-handers for both groups were not included in the analysis, as mentioned above (McCaskey, 2018b;Price et al, 2007;Skeide et al, 2018). Egger's t provided evidence for small study bias, t(11), = 3.13, p = .010.…”

“…Overall effect estimate (non-right-handedness): This comparison included k = 14 studies adding up to n = 2,638 individuals (n = 738 individuals with MLD, n = 1900 TD individuals). Price et al (2007) and Skeide et al (2018) reported zero nonright-handers for both MLD and TA individuals and were not included. There was no evidence of heterogeneity among the datasets, Q (13) = 9.94, p = .70, Tau 2 = .00, with no inconsistency between studies, I 2 = .00%, indicating that no variables moderate the MLD-to-TA non-right-handedness odds ratio.…”

“…These include the terms dyscalculia (e.g., Hsieh, Lai, Lin, & Huang, 2017), developmental dyscalculia (DD) (e.g., Träff, Olsson, Östergren, & Skagerlund, 2016), mathematical learning difficulty (MLD) (e.g., Karagiannakis, Baccaglini-Frank, & Papadatos, 2014), mathematics learning disability (e.g., Dennis, Sorrells, & Falcomata, 2016), mathematical disability (e.g., Evans & Ullman, 2016), mathematics disorder (e.g., American Psychological Association [APA], 1994), mathematical learning disorder (e.g., Capano et al, 2008), specific learning disorder with impairment in mathematics (e.g., APA, 2013), mathematics difficulties (e.g., Wong, Ho, & Tang, 2017), mathematical impairment (e.g., Jastrzebski, Crewther, & Crewther, 2015), low mathematical ability (e.g., Skeide, Evans, Mei, Abrams, & Menon, 2018), arithmetic learning disability (e.g., Koontz, 1996), specific arithmetic difficulties (e.g., McLean & Hitch, 1999), specific disorder of arithmetical skills (e.g., Hein, Bzufka, & Neumärker, 2000), arithmetic deficiency (e.g., Greiffenstein & Baker, 2002), calculation difficulties (e.g., Isaacs, Edmonds, Lucas, & Gadian, 2001), and low numeracy (e.g., Galesic, Garcia-Retamero, & Gigerenzer, 2009). Although the literature is riddled with different terminology we will use the term MLD to refer to learning difficulties in mathematics inclusively, following Karagiannakis et al (2014).…”

“…African American, 6.4% Asian, 8.5% other, and 6.4% elected not to report (Skeide et al, 2018). In the second one, all participants were French-speaking and selected from French schools in Quebec City, Canada (Lafay et al, 2017).…”