Linear and nonlinear profiles of weak behavioral and neural differentiation between numerical operations in children with math learning difficulties

Dysfunctions associated with the intraparietal sulcus and a distributed network in individuals with math learning difficulties: An ALE meta‐analysis

“…Accordingly, individuals with MLD were shown to have significantly lower working memory abilities (Mabbott & Bisanz, 2008 ) and visuospatial skills (Lambert & Spinath, 2018 ) compared to TD. Ample findings also reported that individuals with MLD had atypical brain activations or aberrant multivoxel representations in distributed regions (Bulthé et al, 2019 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Iuculano et al, 2015 ; Kucian et al, 2011 ; Rosenberg‐Lee et al, 2015 ; Rotzer et al, 2008 ), such as the anterior insula, the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices (dlPFC and vlPFC), fusiform gyrus along with inferior temporal gyrus (FG/ITG). Therefore, the updated theory, known as the multifaceted cognitive impairment hypothesis , proposes that MLD is associated with dysfunctions not only in the IPS for quantity processing but also a distributed brain networks for various domain‐general functions (Ashkenazi et al, 2012 ; Iuculano, 2016 ; Menon et al, 2020 ; Peters & De Smedt, 2018 ; Rapin, 2016 ; Vogel & De Smedt, 2021 ).…”

“…We should also mention that our meta-analysis failed to reveal consistent findings for two important regions, namely, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and medial temporal lobe (MTL; see Figure 5). Previous literature has shown that dlPFC is important for math processing, especially for its important role in working memory and attention during mental arithmetic (Arsalidou et al, 2018;Arsalidou & Taylor, 2011;Chang et al, 2015;Hawes et al, 2019;Menon, 2014), and other studies have also revealed critical dysfunctions in this region for MLD (Ashkenazi et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2021;Rosenberg-Lee et al, 2015). One possible explanation could be that our meta-analysis is based on studies with various math tasks and with participants of different ages and grades, but the involvement of dlPFC was mostly observed when laborious strategies were used and for individuals at the early stage of math development (Chang et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2021;Menon et al, 2020;Menon & Chang, 2021).…”

“…Previous literature has shown that dlPFC is important for math processing, especially for its important role in working memory and attention during mental arithmetic (Arsalidou et al, 2018;Arsalidou & Taylor, 2011;Chang et al, 2015;Hawes et al, 2019;Menon, 2014), and other studies have also revealed critical dysfunctions in this region for MLD (Ashkenazi et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2021;Rosenberg-Lee et al, 2015). One possible explanation could be that our meta-analysis is based on studies with various math tasks and with participants of different ages and grades, but the involvement of dlPFC was mostly observed when laborious strategies were used and for individuals at the early stage of math development (Chang et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2021;Menon et al, 2020;Menon & Chang, 2021). A similar reason could also explain why we failed to reveal MTL, especially the hippocampus because the MTL structures are critical for associative memory, so successful retrieval of math facts in children depends on this MTL system (Chang et al, 2022;Chen et al, 2018;Menon et al, 2020;Qin et al, 2014;Supekar et al, 2013).…”

“…However, the increased involvement of these regions could also mark the failure to regulate related but nonessential neural structures during math processing in a form of competition. For example, the right FG was less related to math processing in the healthy population but commonly reported in individuals with MLD (Chen et al, 2021;Iuculano et al, 2015;Menon et al, 2020;Menon & Chang, 2021). A large body of literature has discussed complementary and sometimes even competitive roles between the left and right FG in object processing (Behrmann & Plaut, 2012Chen et al, 2017;Dundas et al, 2013;Haxby et al, 2001).…”

“…Our meta-analysis examined the directional effects of decreased (MLD < TD) and increased (MLD > TD) functions since researchers have proposed different explanations of MLD for both neural deficiency (Von Aster & Shalev, 2007) or compensatory mechanism (Vogel & De Smedt, 2021). The right anterior IPS and left ITG/FG were found to be consistently reported with decreased effects in MLD, suggesting neurocognitive deficiencies for quantity processing (Butterworth et al, 2011;Dehaene & Wilson, 2007;Landerl et al, 2013;Von Aster & Shalev, 2007) and representing visual numeric forms (Chen et al, 2021;Grotheer et al, 2018;Iuculano et al, 2015;Menon et al, 2020;Menon & Chang, 2021).…”