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Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations

The ability to extract numerical information from different representation formats (e.g., equations, tables, or diagrams) is a key component of mathematical competence but little is known about its neural correlate. Previous studies comparing mathematically less and more competent adults have focuse...

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Autores principales: Grabner, Roland H., Reishofer, Gernot, Koschutnig, Karl, Ebner, Franz
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Research Foundation 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22069387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00130
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author Grabner, Roland H.
Reishofer, Gernot
Koschutnig, Karl
Ebner, Franz
author_facet Grabner, Roland H.
Reishofer, Gernot
Koschutnig, Karl
Ebner, Franz
author_sort Grabner, Roland H.
collection PubMed
description The ability to extract numerical information from different representation formats (e.g., equations, tables, or diagrams) is a key component of mathematical competence but little is known about its neural correlate. Previous studies comparing mathematically less and more competent adults have focused on mental arithmetic and reported differences in left angular gyrus (AG) activity which were interpreted to reflect differential reliance on arithmetic fact retrieval during problem solving. The aim of the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate the brain correlates of mathematical competence in a task requiring the processing of typical mathematical representations. Twenty-eight adults of lower and higher mathematical competence worked on a representation matching task in which they had to evaluate whether the numerical information of a symbolic equation matches that of a bar chart. Two task conditions without and one condition with arithmetic demands were administered. Both competence groups performed equally well in the non-arithmetic conditions and only differed in accuracy in the condition requiring calculation. Activation contrasts between the groups revealed consistently stronger left AG activation in the more competent individuals across all three task conditions. The finding of competence-related activation differences independently of arithmetic demands suggests that more and less competent individuals differ in a cognitive process other than arithmetic fact retrieval. Specifically, it is argued that the stronger left AG activity in the more competent adults may reflect their higher proficiency in processing mathematical symbols. Moreover, the study demonstrates competence-related parietal activation differences that were not accompanied by differential experimental performance.
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spelling pubmed-32082092011-11-08 Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations Grabner, Roland H. Reishofer, Gernot Koschutnig, Karl Ebner, Franz Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience The ability to extract numerical information from different representation formats (e.g., equations, tables, or diagrams) is a key component of mathematical competence but little is known about its neural correlate. Previous studies comparing mathematically less and more competent adults have focused on mental arithmetic and reported differences in left angular gyrus (AG) activity which were interpreted to reflect differential reliance on arithmetic fact retrieval during problem solving. The aim of the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate the brain correlates of mathematical competence in a task requiring the processing of typical mathematical representations. Twenty-eight adults of lower and higher mathematical competence worked on a representation matching task in which they had to evaluate whether the numerical information of a symbolic equation matches that of a bar chart. Two task conditions without and one condition with arithmetic demands were administered. Both competence groups performed equally well in the non-arithmetic conditions and only differed in accuracy in the condition requiring calculation. Activation contrasts between the groups revealed consistently stronger left AG activation in the more competent individuals across all three task conditions. The finding of competence-related activation differences independently of arithmetic demands suggests that more and less competent individuals differ in a cognitive process other than arithmetic fact retrieval. Specifically, it is argued that the stronger left AG activity in the more competent adults may reflect their higher proficiency in processing mathematical symbols. Moreover, the study demonstrates competence-related parietal activation differences that were not accompanied by differential experimental performance. Frontiers Research Foundation 2011-11-04 /pmc/articles/PMC3208209/ /pubmed/22069387 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00130 Text en Copyright © 2011 Grabner, Reishofer, Koschutnig and Ebner. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Grabner, Roland H.
Reishofer, Gernot
Koschutnig, Karl
Ebner, Franz
Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title_full Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title_fullStr Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title_full_unstemmed Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title_short Brain Correlates of Mathematical Competence in Processing Mathematical Representations
title_sort brain correlates of mathematical competence in processing mathematical representations
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22069387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00130
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