Abstract
Spatial cognitive abilities, including mental rotation (MR) and visuo-spatial working memory (vsWM) are correlated with mathematical performance, and several studies have shown that training of these abilities can enhance mathematical performance. Here, we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of MR and vsWM training combined with number line (NL) training. Fifty-seven children, aged 6–7, performed 25 days of NL training combined with either vsWM or MR and participated in an Electroencephalography (EEG)-session in school to measure resting state activity and steady-state visual evoked potentials during a vsWM task before and after training. Fifty children, aged 6–7, received usual teaching and acted as a control group. Compared to the control group, both training groups improved on a combined measure of mathematics. Cognitive improvement was specific to the training. Significant pre-post changes in resting state-EEG (rs-EEG), common to both training groups, were found for power as well as for coherence, with no significant differences in rs-EEG-changes between the vsWM and MR groups. Two of the common rs-EEG changes were correlated with mathematical improvement: (1) an increase in coherence between the central frontal lobe and the right parietal lobe in frequencies ranging from 16 to 25 Hz, and (2) an increase in coherence between the left frontal lobe and the right parietal lobe ranging from 23 to 25 Hz. These results indicate that changes in fronto-parietal coherence are related to an increase in mathematical performance, which thus might be a useful measure in further investigations of mathematical interventions in children.
Highlights
Mathematical abilities predict later mathematical achievement and general school performance (Duncan et al, 2007; Geary, 2011) and later socioeconomic status (Ritchie and Bates, 2013)
We analyzed improvements in mathematical and spatial abilities in two training groups, compared to a control group. We found that both groups improved on the pre-post tests on a combined measure of mathematical performance, compared to our control group, which is in line with prior studies of this method (Nemmi et al, 2016; Judd and Klingberg, 2021)
In contrast to our expectations, we did not find any significant improvement in an mental rotation (MR) task after visuo-spatial working memory (vsWM) training or improvement on a vsWM task after MR training
Summary
Mathematical abilities predict later mathematical achievement and general school performance (Duncan et al, 2007; Geary, 2011) and later socioeconomic status (Ritchie and Bates, 2013). One of the potential cognitive bases for math performance is spatial abilities, such as mental rotation (MR) (Wai et al, 2009) and visuo-spatial working memory (vsWM) (Peng et al, 2016). These correlations in performance have led to suggestions of enhancing mathematical ability through spatial training (Stieff and Uttal, 2015). Training led to a math improvement of 0.56 SD estimated with online tests, with children training on the vsWM improving slightly more than children practicing rotation, the difference was small (about 0.05 SD)
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