Abstract
To what extent are different levels of expertise reflected in the functional connectivity of the brain? We addressed this question by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in mathematicians versus non-mathematicians. To this end, we investigated how the two groups of participants differ in the correlation of their spontaneous blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations across the whole brain regions during resting state. Moreover, by using the classification algorithm in machine learning, we investigated whether the resting-state fMRI networks between mathematicians and non-mathematicians were distinguished depending on features of functional connectivity. We showed diverging involvement of the frontal–thalamic–temporal connections for mathematicians and the medial–frontal areas to precuneus and the lateral orbital gyrus to thalamus connections for non-mathematicians. Moreover, mathematicians who had higher scores in mathematical knowledge showed a weaker connection strength between the left and right caudate nucleus, demonstrating the connections’ characteristics related to mathematical expertise. Separate functional networks between the two groups were validated with a maximum classification accuracy of 91.19% using the distinct resting-state fMRI-based functional connectivity features. We suggest the advantageous role of preconfigured resting-state functional connectivity, as well as the neural efficiency for experts’ successful performance.
Highlights
The differences between professional mathematicians and non-mathematicians have been investigated with respect to functional specificity and structural connectivity with functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion MRI [1,2]
We investigated how mathematicians and non-mathematicians differ in the correlation of their spontaneous blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fluctuations across brain regions during resting state, with the aim of delineating the functional network structures modulated by varying levels of mathematical expertise
Conforming to this, we found that the resting-state functional connectivity in mathematicians was similar to the task-related functional connectivity when the same group of mathematicians had been involved in the processing of arithmetic calculation [1]
Summary
The differences between professional mathematicians and non-mathematicians have been investigated with respect to functional specificity and structural connectivity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion MRI [1,2]. Mathematicians’ high level of expertise in mathematics yielded a focal activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, whereas non-mathematicians recruited a broadly distributed brain network, including the left inferior frontal gyrus, frontal sulcus, intraparietal sulcus, and right inferior parietal lobule. The structural integrity of the arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus was higher in mathematicians, whereas stronger cortico-thalamic connectivity was observed in non-mathematicians. These previous studies demonstrated expertise-dependent modulation on the functional specificity and anatomical connectivity using task-related fMRI and diffusion MRI, respectively
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