Abstract
Children use numbers every day and typically receive formal mathematical training from an early age, as it is a main subject in school curricula. Despite an increase in children neuroimaging studies, a comprehensive neuropsychological model of mathematical functions in children is lacking. Using quantitative meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, we identify concordant brain areas across articles that adhere to a set of selection criteria (e.g., whole-brain analysis, coordinate reports) and report brain activity to tasks that involve processing symbolic and non-symbolic numbers with and without formal mathematical operations, which we called respectively number tasks and calculation tasks. We present data on children 14 years and younger, who solved these tasks. Results show activity in parietal (e.g., inferior parietal lobule and precuneus) and frontal (e.g., superior and medial frontal gyri) cortices, core areas related to mental-arithmetic, as well as brain regions such as the insula and claustrum, which are not typically discussed as part of mathematical problem solving models. We propose a topographical atlas of mathematical processes in children, discuss findings within a developmental constructivist theoretical model, and suggest practical methodological considerations for future studies.
Highlights
Children use numbers every day and typically receive formal mathematical training from an early age, as it is a main subject in school curricula
In the current meta-analyses we explore brain areas involved in mathematical cognition of children younger than 14 years, and provide normative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) atlases in standard stereotaxic space for number and calculation tasks
Number tasks In children, number tasks are associated with significant Activation Likelihood Estimate (ALE) values in the inferior parietal lobule Brodmann area (BA 40) extending to parts of the inferior parietal sulcus, claustrum and insula (BA 13) in the right hemisphere (Table 2, Fig. 2)
Summary
Children use numbers every day and typically receive formal mathematical training from an early age, as it is a main subject in school curricula. Much progress has been made in understanding brain correlates of mathematical cognition; despite the increase in the studies examining children’s mathematical problem solving (i.e., quantity discrimination and mathematical operations), a neuropsychological model for children is still not available. We have compiled data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies and report concordant findings on brain correlates of typically developing children when solving math tasks with and without formal calculations (i.e., operations). Coordinate-based meta-analyses of 53 adult fMRI studies show areas, such as cingulate gyri, insula and the prefrontal cortex that are concordantly active in tasks of numbers and calculation (Arsalidou and Taylor, 2011)
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