Math study:
Brain activation profiles of math difficulties in children: A magnetic source imaging study
Principal Investigator: Jack M. Fletcher, Ph.D., Professor, University of Houston
Principal Investigator for Project 4: Andrew C. Papanicolaou, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
The purpose of this project is to address the question of whether different learning disabilities in math are associated with profiles of aberrant brain activation. Also, whether significant changes in these profiles take place following successful instructional intervention. This project is modeled after our previous successful attempts to identify a dyslexia-specific brain activation profile using MSI and evaluate changes in it as a function of a successful instructional intervention (Simos et al., 2002a).
This project is closely linked to the other projects. This MSI study will be conducted in parallel with Project 3 (MRI), which takes place at Vanderbilt University and provides fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of comparable groups of children with math and related disorders. While most of the activation tasks will be similar across modalities, others will share the same conceptual basis but vary in complexity and specificity for particular math skills.
In the present project we will use MSI in an attempt to first, identify aberrant activation patterns underlying different types of math difficulties, and second, to determine whether successful intervention that results in improved performance in arithmetic tasks is reflected in normalization or other changes of the corresponding brain activity patterns. In the context of the first aim, we will attempt to determine whether children with math difficulties present aberrant activation patterns only during explicit arithmetic tasks (subtraction, addition) or also during tasks that engage concepts of numerosity removed from specific numbers. Finally, in the context of the second aim, we will attempt to establish whether there are clear neurophysiological effects (e.g. normalization of activation patterns) contingent on successful remedial math instruction.
