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

Abstract

Developmental dyscalculia is thought to be a specific impairment of mathematics ability. Currently dominant cognitive neuroscience theories of developmental dyscalculia suggest that it originates from the impairment of the magnitude representation of the human brain, residing in the intraparietal sulcus, or from impaired connections between number symbols and the magnitude representation. However, behavioral research offers several alternative theories for developmental dyscalculia and neuro-imaging also suggests that impairments in developmental dyscalculia may be linked to disruptions of other functions of the intraparietal sulcus than the magnitude representation. Strikingly, the magnitude representation theory has never been explicitly contrasted with a range of alternatives in a systematic fashion. Here we have filled this gap by directly contrasting five alternative theories (magnitude representation, working memory, inhibition, attention and spatial processing) of developmental dyscalculia in 9–10-year-old primary school children. Participants were selected from a pool of 1004 children and took part in 16 tests and nine experiments. The dominant features of developmental dyscalculia are visuo-spatial working memory, visuo-spatial short-term memory and inhibitory function (interference suppression) impairment. We hypothesize that inhibition impairment is related to the disruption of central executive memory function. Potential problems of visuo-spatial processing and attentional function in developmental dyscalculia probably depend on short-term memory/working memory and inhibition impairments. The magnitude representation theory of developmental dyscalculia was not supported.

Separating math from anxiety: The role of inhibitory mechanisms

“…As mentioned above, most of the previous research conducted on children with DD has dealt primarily with prepotent response inhibition (e.g., Censabella & Noel, 2005;Szűcs, et al 2013), albeit with discordant results. The main aim of the present study was therefore to confirm WM impairments in children with MA and/or DD profiles and to examine the different inhibitory deficits, particularly focusing on proactive interference and prepotent response inhibition.…”

“…For example, Bull andScerif (2001), andNavarro et al (2011) found that performance in the number-quantity version of the Stroop task, but not in the color-word version, correlated with math achievement. Similarly, in children with DD, both Szűcs et al (2013) and Wang et al (2012) found that group differences were only significant for numerical Stroop tasks, not for the non-numerical versions. Szűcs et al (2013) found a domain-specific effect in a task involving Arabic digit stimuli, i.e., a number-size Stroop task in which participants were asked to choose the numerically highest digit while ignoring the physical size of the digits on the screen.…”

“…Additionally, van der Sluis et al (2004) could find none on an object version of the Stroop either. Using a numerical Stroop and the Stop signal task, Szűcs, Devine, Soltesz, Nobes, & Gabriel (2013) found cases of DD more susceptible than controls on the effect of task-irrelevant information.…”

Differences in brain morphology and working memory capacity across childhood

“…It is closely linked with the acquisition of complex cognitive skills (Cowan, 2013) such as reading (Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004), mathematics (Dumontheil & Klingberg, 2011), and other academic subjects (Clair‐Thompson & Gathercole, 2006; Gathercole, Pickering, Knight, & Stegmann, 2003). Deficits in working memory have been identified across a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Holmes et al., 2014; Martinussen, Hayden, Hogg‐Johnson, & Tannock, 2005), dyslexia (Smith‐Spark & Fisk, 2007), dyscalculia (Rotzer et al., 2009; Szucs, Devine, Soltesz, Nobes, & Gabriel, 2013), and language disorders (Archibald & Gathercole, 2006; Gathercole & Baddeley, 1989; Montgomery, 2000; Weismer, Evans, & Hesketh, 1999). …”

Contribución de los Componentes de la Memoria de Trabajo a la Eficiencia en Aritmética Básica Durante la Edad Escola

“…Además, una menor operatividad de la MT también podría interferir en la calidad de los procesos de codificación y recuperación de los hechos numéricos, procesos descritos como muy vinculados con la MT verbal (Dehaene & Cohen, 1995;Fuchs et al, 2006). En general, los resultados de este grupo de niños CDA sustentan el análisis de Szucs et al (2013), quienes proponen, después de un análisis de varias investigaciones conductuales y de imágenes cerebrales, que las dificultades que aparecen durante el aprendizaje de las matemáticas (y particularmente en la discalculia del desarrollo) se deben fundamentalmente a una disfunción en la MT visuo-espacial vinculada al funcionamiento del ejecutivo central en la MT, más que a una disfunción en el procesamiento de las magnitudes. Lo anterior lleva a considerar que, aunque las habilidades numéricas básicas también explican un porcentaje de la varianza de la eficiencia en aritmética, el origen las dificultades en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas no parece radicar solo en un déficit en el desarrollo de habilidades numéricas básicas o en el mapeo entre los símbolos numéricos y las cantidades que estos representan, como señalan las teorías actuales sobre el origen de los trastornos en el desarrollo numérico (Dehaene, 1997;Rousselle & Noël, 2007), sino que el funcionamiento de los componentes de la MT también puede estar muy involucrado en la aparición de las dificultades en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas.…”