An electrophysiological investigation of non-symbolic magnitude processing: Numerical distance effects in children with and without mathematical learning disabilities

Abstract

IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to probe electrophysiological effects of nonsymbolic numerical processing in 20 children with mathematical learning disabilities (mean age = 99.2 months) compared to a group of 20 typically developing matched controls (mean age = 98.4 months). MethodsEEG data were obtained while children were tested with a standard non-symbolic numerical comparison paradigm that allowed us to investigate the effects of numerical distance manipulations for different set sizes, i.e. the classical subitizing, counting and estimation ranges. Effects of numerical distance manipulations on ERP amplitudes as well as activation patterns of underlying current sources were analyzed. ResultsIn typically developing children, the amplitudes of a late parietal positive-going ERP component showed systematic numerical distance effects that did not depend on set size. For the group of children with mathematical learning disabilities, ERP distance effects were found only for stimuli within the subitizing range. Current source density analysis of distancerelated group effects suggested that areas in right inferior parietal regions are involved in the generation of the parietal ERP amplitude differences. ConclusionOur results suggest that right inferior parietal regions are recruited differentially by controls compared to children with mathematical learning disabilities in response to non-symbolic numerical magnitude processing tasks, but only for stimuli with set sizes that exceed the subitizing range.

Developmental dyscalculia is related to visuo-spatial memory and inhibition impairment

“…In addition, an ERP investigation of DD found that short latency (200 msec) ERPs, probably related to automatic magnitude discrimination, were similar in DD and controls but later (600 msec latency) processes indexed by the P3b wave, usually related to categorization decision, differed (Soltész et al., 2007). These findings have been confirmed by a recent study (Heine et al., 2012). Further, Soltesz et al (2007) found that the DD and control groups differed in neuropsychological tests measuring executive functioning.…”

The influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on strategic, behavioral, and electrophysiological indices of arithmetic cognition in preadolescent children

“…; Niedeggen et al, 1999; Jost et al, 2004; Domahs et al, 2007; Jasinski and Coch, 2012); linking this component to the P600 (Núñez-Peña and Honrubia-Serrano, 2004; Núñez-Peña et al, 2004). In addition, earlier ERP components such as the N1/N170 have been systematically modulated during numerical paradigms (Dehaene, 1996; Szũcs and Goswami, 2007; Hyde and Spelke, 2009, 2012; Palomares et al, 2011); however, the functional interpretation of these components remains controversial (Feigenson et al, 2004; Muluh, 2011; Heine et al, 2012) and seldom explored during arithmetic verification tasks (He et al, 2011; Muluh et al, 2011). …”

The relationship between non‐verbal systems of number and counting development: a neural signatures approach

“…Conversely, proficient counters showed an increase in P2p amplitude as the numerical ratio between arrays increased, a pattern observed in other studies involving explicit numerical comparison (e.g. Temple & Posner, ; Heine, Tamm, Wissmann & Jacobs, ; Heine, Wissmann, Tamm, De Smedt, Schneider et al ., ; Paulsen & Neville, ), and also in non‐numerical ordinal processing (e.g. Zhao, Chen, Zhang, Zhou, Mei et al ., ) .…”