Functional MRI and Training

Training intervention in children with development dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disability that affects the acquisition of mathematical skills in children with normal intelligence and age-appropriate school education (prevalence 3-6%). One essential step in the development of mathematical understanding is the formation and automated access to a spatial representation of numbers. Many children with DD show a deficient development of such a mental number line. The present study aimed to develop a computer-based training program to improve the construction and access to the mental number line.

Children with and without DD played the game 15 minutes a day on 5 days a week for 5 weeks. The efficiency of the training was evaluated by means of neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a number line task before and after training.

In general, children with and without DD could benefit from the training indicated by (a) improved spatial representation of numbers and (b) the number of correctly solved arithmetical problems.

Regarding group differences of brain activation, children with DD showed less activation in bilateral parietal regions. The principle effects of training were less brain activation in the frontal and parietal lobes in both groups.

The training improves the spatial representation of numbers and arithmetical performance. Reduced brain activation in children with DD may reflect neurophysiological deficits in core regions for number processing. After the training, children rely less on frontal areas which can be attributed to reduced working memory and attentional needs. Our study shows that the training leads to an improved spatial representation which facilitates processing of numerical tasks and hence need less neuronal capacity.

Due to the promising results, we are anxious for opening the training to public. As soon as this is the case, it will be announced on this homepage.

Funding Source

Swiss National Foundation (Project Nr. SNF 3200 B0-16834) 

Contacts

Dr. Karin Kucian
karin.kuciankispi.uzh.ch

Prof. Dr. med. Dipl. Päd. Michael von Aster
m.aster drk-kliniken-westend.de

Prof. Dr. Ernst Martin
ernst.martin kispi.uzh.ch

Former associates

Dr. Stephanie Rotzer

Collaborations

Markus Gälli, Methods in Action GmbH, Wollerau, Switzerland

Prof. Dr. Lutz Jäncke, Division Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Project duration

April 2007 – March 2010

Publications

Kucian K, Kaufmann L (2009). A developmental model of number representation. Behavioral Brain Sciences, 32(3/4), 340-341.

Rotzer S, Loenneker T, Kucian K, Martin E, Klaver P*, Von Aster M* (2009). Dysfunctional neural network of spatial working memory contributes to developmental dyscalculia. Neuropsychologia, 47(13), 2859-2865.

Rotzer S, Kucian K*, Martin E, Von Aster M, Klaver P, Loenneker T (2008). Optimized voxel-based morphometry in children with developmental dyscalculia. Neuroimage, 39(1): 417-422.