title: Brain hyper-connectivity and operation-specific deficits during arithmetic problem solving in children with developmental dyscalculia.
abstract: Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is marked by specific deficits in processing numerical and mathematical information despite normal intelligence (IQ) and reading ability. We examined how brain circuits used by young children with DD to solve simple addition and subtraction problems differ from those used by typically developing (TD) children who were matched on age, IQ, reading ability, and working memory. Children with DD were slower and less accurate during problem solving than TD children, and were especially impaired on their ability to solve subtraction problems. Children with DD showed significantly greater activity in multiple parietal, occipito-temporal and prefrontal cortex regions while solving addition and subtraction problems. Despite poorer performance during subtraction, children with DD showed greater activity in multiple intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) and superior parietal lobule subdivisions in the dorsal posterior parietal cortex as well as fusiform gyrus in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex. Critically, effective connectivity analyses revealed hyper-connectivity, rather than reduced connectivity, between the IPS and multiple brain systems including the lateral fronto-parietal and default mode networks in children with DD during both addition and subtraction. These findings suggest the IPS and its functional circuits are a major locus of dysfunction during both addition and subtraction problem solving in DD, and that inappropriate task modulation and hyper-connectivity, rather than under-engagement and under-connectivity, are the neural mechanisms underlying problem solving difficulties in children with DD. We discuss our findings in the broader context of multiple levels of analysis and performance issues inherent in neuroimaging studies of typical and atypical development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenberg-Lee
authors.forename: Sarit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
authors.forename: Tianwen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Christina B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Geary
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Menon
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D060705:Dyscalculia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2004 Feb;18(3):227-33
references.pmid: 14741309
references.citation: Hum Brain Mapp. 2002 Jun;16(2):119-30
references.pmid: 11954061
references.citation: Cognition. 2007 Mar;102(3):361-95
references.pmid: 16488405
references.citation: Learn Individ Differ. 2010 Apr;20(2):101-109
references.pmid: 21660238
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jul 5;102(27):9673-8
references.pmid: 15976020
references.citation: Comput Biomed Res. 1996 Jun;29(3):162-73
references.pmid: 8812068
references.citation: Behav Brain Funct. 2006 Sep 05;2:31
references.pmid: 16953876
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Aug 14;104(33):13507-12
references.pmid: 17679691
references.citation: J Learn Disabil. 2007 Sep-Oct;40(5):458-78
references.pmid: 17915500
references.citation: Magn Reson Med. 2002 Oct;48(4):715-22
references.pmid: 12353290
references.citation: Dev Neuropsychol. 2011;36(6):763-87
references.pmid: 21761997
references.citation: J Exp Child Psychol. 2003 Jun;85(2):103-19
references.pmid: 12799164
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2011 Jul;49(9):2592-608
references.pmid: 21616086
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 2006 Mar 1;495(1):53-69
references.pmid: 16432904
references.citation: Hum Brain Mapp. 2010 Jun;31(6):852-62
references.pmid: 20496376
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 May;22(5):860-74
references.pmid: 19366284
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Oct;47(12):2470-9
references.pmid: 19410589
references.citation: Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Feb 15;2 Suppl 1:S139-51
references.pmid: 22682903
references.citation: PLoS Biol. 2009 Jul;7(7):e1000157
references.pmid: 19621066
references.citation: Child Dev. 2007 Jul-Aug;78(4):1343-59
references.pmid: 17650142
references.citation: Neuron. 2003 Nov 13;40(4):847-58
references.pmid: 14622587
references.citation: Science. 2011 May 27;332(6033):1049-53
references.pmid: 21617068
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2001 Jun;130(2):299-315
references.pmid: 11409105
references.citation: Dev Psychopathol. 2002 Summer;14(3):521-36
references.pmid: 12349872
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 1993 Sep;114(2):345-62
references.pmid: 8416036
references.citation: J Exp Child Psychol. 2004 Jun;88(2):121-51
references.pmid: 15157755
references.citation: Cogn Dev. 2009 Jan 1;24(4):
references.pmid: 20046817
references.citation: J Learn Disabil. 2012 Jul-Aug;45(4):291-307
references.pmid: 21252374
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2008 Apr;18(4):846-67
references.pmid: 17644831
references.citation: Hum Brain Mapp. 2011 Jan;32(1):51-9
references.pmid: 20336690
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2006 Nov;18(11):1820-8
references.pmid: 17069473
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2012 Jul 16;61(4):1277-86
references.pmid: 22484411
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2003 Jul;19(3):473-81
references.pmid: 12880781
references.citation: Neuroreport. 2005 Nov 7;16(16):1769-73
references.pmid: 16237324
references.citation: J Learn Disabil. 1997 Nov-Dec;30(6):624-34, 684
references.pmid: 9364900
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2009 Mar;19(3):640-57
references.pmid: 18653667
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2007 Nov;43(6):1428-1446
references.pmid: 18020822
references.citation: Neuroimage. 1997 Oct;6(3):218-29
references.pmid: 9344826
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Feb 1;54(3):2382-93
references.pmid: 20946958
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Nov 26;93(24):13468-72
references.pmid: 8942958
references.citation: J Exp Child Psychol. 2000 Nov;77(3):236-63
references.pmid: 11023658
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2011 Dec 14;31(50):18578-89
references.pmid: 22171056
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2003 Jul;7(7):293-299
references.pmid: 12860187
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jan 16;98(2):676-82
references.pmid: 11209064
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2010 Aug 1;52(1):290-301
references.pmid: 20385244
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Aug 1;57(3):771-81
references.pmid: 21182966
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2000 Oct;12(4):357-65
references.pmid: 10988030
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004;23 Suppl 1:S208-19
references.pmid: 15501092
references.citation: Front Syst Neurosci. 2010 May 21;4:21
references.pmid: 20577585
references.citation: J Educ Psychol. 2012 Feb;104(1):206-223
references.pmid: 27158154
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2001 Nov;14(5):1013-26
references.pmid: 11697933
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2004 Jan;21(1):401-13
references.pmid: 14741677
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2012 Mar;22(3):537-49
references.pmid: 21690259
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54651
references.pmid: 23382934
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2007 Dec 18;17(24):R1042-3
references.pmid: 18088583
references.citation: Neuroimage. 1999 Nov;10(5):607-19
references.pmid: 10547338
references.citation: Child Dev. 2011 Jul-Aug;82(4):1224-37
references.pmid: 21679173
references.citation: Cogn Neuropsychol. 2003 May 1;20(3):487-506
references.pmid: 20957581
references.citation: Magn Reson Med. 1998 Mar;39(3):361-8
references.pmid: 9498591
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jan 7;100(1):253-8
references.pmid: 12506194
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2005 May 1;25(4):1325-35
references.pmid: 15850749
references.citation: Behav Brain Funct. 2006 May 30;2:19
references.pmid: 16734905
references.citation: Dev Neuropsychol. 2011;36(6):741-62
references.pmid: 21761996
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2014 Jan 1;84:1042-52
references.pmid: 24055504
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Aug 1;57(3):796-808
references.pmid: 21620984
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Aug 1;57(3):782-95
references.pmid: 21295145
references.citation: PLoS Comput Biol. 2012 Feb;8(2):e1002374
references.pmid: 22319436
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2004 Feb;14(2):174-80
references.pmid: 14704214
references.citation: Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Feb 15;2 Suppl 1:S152-66
references.pmid: 22682904