The arithmetic problem size effect in children: an event-related potential study.

Leen Van Beek,Pol Ghesquièr,Lieven Lagae,Bert De Smedt

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00756

Abstract

This study used for the first time event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the well-known arithmetic problem size effect in children. The electrophysiological correlates of this problem size effect have been well documented in adults, but such information in children is lacking. In the present study, 22 typically developing 12-year-olds were asked to solve single-digit addition problems of small (sum ≤ 10) and large problem size (sum > 10) and to speak the solution into a voice key while ERPs were recorded. Children displayed similar early and late components compared to previous adult studies on the problem size effect. There was no effect of problem size on the early components P1, N1, and P2. The peak amplitude of the N2 component showed more negative potentials on left and right anterior electrodes for large additions compared to small additions, which might reflect differences in attentional and working memory resources between large and small problems. The mean amplitude of the late positivity component which follows the N2, was significantly larger for large than for small additions at right parieto-occipital electrodes, in line with previous adult data. The ERPs of the problem size effect during arithmetic might be a useful neural marker for future studies on fact retrieval impairments in children with mathematical difficulties.

Highlights

Arithmetic skills are fundamental in our everyday life and represent an important part of the children’s curriculum at school
This study used for the first time event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the well-known arithmetic problem size effect in children.The electrophysiological correlates of this problem size effect have been well documented in adults, but such information in children is lacking
These neurobiological insights are relevant for understanding the origins of atypical mathematical development or dyscalculia (Butterworth et al, 2011), an approach that has already been successful in the domain of dyslexia (Gabrieli, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

Arithmetic skills are fundamental in our everyday life and represent an important part of the children’s curriculum at school These skills have been extensively investigated with behavioral methods but more recently the use of neural measures, such as functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging or fMRI (see Arsalidou and Taylor, 2011 for a review of adult studies; see Kaufmann et al, 2011 for a review of children studies) and electrophysiology (e.g., adults: Núñez-Peña et al, 2011; children: Zhou et al, 2011), has provided evidence on the neurobiological basis of arithmetic processing. The present study sets out to explore the electrophysiological correlates of the arithmetic problem size effect in children

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