Event Abstract Back to Event Defective number module or access deficit – two different subtypes of dyscalculia? Andy Kramer1* and Karin Landerl1 1 University of Tuebingen, Institute of Psychology, Germany In the defective number module account of dyscalculia it is assumed that a specific deficit of an innate capacity to understand and represent quantities results in difficulties to learn number and arithmetic. In contrast, the access deficit hypothesis states that analogue magnitude representations are intact but cannot be adequately accessed from symbolic representations (Arabic numbers or number words). Empirical support exists for both positions. Another view is that the two accounts describe different subtypes of dyscalculia. For the present study, we directly compared the performance profiles of two specifically selected groups of 8 to 10 year old children with arithmetic deficits. The access deficit group (N = 18) showed intact processing of non-symbolic magnitudes but deficient symbolic magnitude processing and the defective number module group (N = 19) showed deficits in both, symbolic as well as non-symbolic magnitude processing. These two groups were compared with a large (N = 181) group of children with typical development. Children were given various tests of arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), basic numerical processing (subitizing, counting, number line) reading, spelling, attention (alertness, flexibility, sustained attention), and phonological processing (phoneme deletion, rapid automatized naming). No major differences were found between the profiles of the two dyscalculia subgroups. This finding suggests, that dyscalculia is mainly characterised by deficits in accessing numerical magnitudes from symbolic representations (access deficit). Although many dyscalculic children have problems with non-symbolic magnitude processing too, these deficits do not seem to have a major impact on the manifestation of dyscalculia. Conference: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education, Zurich, Switzerland, 3 Jun - 5 Jun, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Number processing Citation: Kramer A and Landerl K (2010). Defective number module or access deficit – two different subtypes of dyscalculia?. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: EARLI SIG22 - Neuroscience and Education. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.11.00048 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 31 May 2010; Published Online: 31 May 2010. * Correspondence: Andy Kramer, University of Tuebingen, Institute of Psychology, Tubingen, Germany, andy.kramer@uni-tuebingen.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Andy Kramer Karin Landerl Google Andy Kramer Karin Landerl Google Scholar Andy Kramer Karin Landerl PubMed Andy Kramer Karin Landerl Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.
Read full abstract