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Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving

The practice of mathematical word problem is ubiquitous and thought to impact academic achievement. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigate how lexical consistency of word problem description is modulated in adults' brain responses du...

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Autores principales: Ng, Chan-Tat, Lung, Tzu-Chen, Chang, Ting-Ting
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987662/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33776671
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.631438
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author Ng, Chan-Tat
Lung, Tzu-Chen
Chang, Ting-Ting
author_facet Ng, Chan-Tat
Lung, Tzu-Chen
Chang, Ting-Ting
author_sort Ng, Chan-Tat
collection PubMed
description The practice of mathematical word problem is ubiquitous and thought to impact academic achievement. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigate how lexical consistency of word problem description is modulated in adults' brain responses during word problem solution. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging methods, we examined compare word problems that included relational statements, such as “A dumpling costs 9 dollars. A wonton is 2 dollars less than a dumpling. How much does a wonton cost?” and manipulated lexical consistency (consistent: the relational term consistent with the operation to be performed, e.g., more—addition/inconsistent: e.g., less—addition) and problem operation (addition/subtraction). We found a consistency by operation interaction in the widespread fronto-insular-parietal activations, including the anterior insula, dorsoanterior cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and intraparietal sulcus, such that inconsistent problems engaged stronger activations than consistent problems for addition, whereas the consistency effect was inverse for subtraction. Critically, these results were more salient in the less successful problem solvers than their more successful peers. Our study is the first to demonstrate that lexical consistency effects on arithmetic neural networks are modulated during reading word problem that required distinct arithmetic operations. More broadly, our study has strong potentials to add linkage between neuroscience and education by remediating deficits and enhance instruction design in the school curriculum.
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spelling pubmed-79876622021-03-25 Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving Ng, Chan-Tat Lung, Tzu-Chen Chang, Ting-Ting Front Hum Neurosci Human Neuroscience The practice of mathematical word problem is ubiquitous and thought to impact academic achievement. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigate how lexical consistency of word problem description is modulated in adults' brain responses during word problem solution. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging methods, we examined compare word problems that included relational statements, such as “A dumpling costs 9 dollars. A wonton is 2 dollars less than a dumpling. How much does a wonton cost?” and manipulated lexical consistency (consistent: the relational term consistent with the operation to be performed, e.g., more—addition/inconsistent: e.g., less—addition) and problem operation (addition/subtraction). We found a consistency by operation interaction in the widespread fronto-insular-parietal activations, including the anterior insula, dorsoanterior cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and intraparietal sulcus, such that inconsistent problems engaged stronger activations than consistent problems for addition, whereas the consistency effect was inverse for subtraction. Critically, these results were more salient in the less successful problem solvers than their more successful peers. Our study is the first to demonstrate that lexical consistency effects on arithmetic neural networks are modulated during reading word problem that required distinct arithmetic operations. More broadly, our study has strong potentials to add linkage between neuroscience and education by remediating deficits and enhance instruction design in the school curriculum. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-03-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7987662/ /pubmed/33776671 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.631438 Text en Copyright © 2021 Ng, Lung and Chang. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Human Neuroscience
Ng, Chan-Tat
Lung, Tzu-Chen
Chang, Ting-Ting
Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title_full Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title_fullStr Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title_full_unstemmed Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title_short Operation-Specific Lexical Consistency Effect in Fronto-Insular-Parietal Network During Word Problem Solving
title_sort operation-specific lexical consistency effect in fronto-insular-parietal network during word problem solving
topic Human Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987662/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33776671
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.631438
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