Associations between Reading and Mathematics: Genetic, Brain Imaging, Cognitive and Educational PerspectivesSarit Ashkenazi, Orly Rubinsten, Bert De Smedt Frontiers Media SA, Oct 5, 2017 Converging evidence demonstrates a strong link between reading and mathematics: multiple cognitive processes are shared between reading and mathematics, including the representation and retrieval of symbolic information, attention, working memory, and cognitive control. Additionally, multiple brain networks are involved in both math and reading, and last, common genetic factors might influence both reading and math. Hence, it comes as no surprise that there are meaningful associations between (aspects of) math and reading abilities. Moreover, comorbidity rates between math learning disabilities (MD) and reading disabilities (RD) are high (up to 66%) and prevalence rate of the comorbid condition is reported to be more common than the prevalence rate of isolated math learning disabilities. Accordingly, the goal of the research topic is to explore the underline mechanisms of this overlap between reading and math. The research topic aims to include the following topics: • Genetics - it has been found that both RD and MD are based on genetic factors and run in families. Moreover, math problem solving shares significant genetic overlap with general cognitive ability and reading decoding, whereas math fluency shares significant genetic overlap with reading fluency and general cognitive ability. Hence, this topic will explore the shared and unique genetic risk factors to RD and MD, In addition to shared and unique genetic influence on reading and math. • Neural perspective - converging evidence from both structural and multiple functional imaging studies, involving a wide range of numerical tasks, points to the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) as a core region that involve in quantity manipulation. However, several additional brain areas, such as frontoparietal and temporoparietal areas were found to be involved in numerical tasks. Individuals with MD show deficits in a distributed, set of brain regions that include the IPS, fusiform gyrus in posterior brain regions and pre frontal cortex regions. Similarly, converging evidence indicate that the left hemisphere regions centered in the fusiform gyrus, temporoparietal cortex, and pre frontal cortex regions are strongly involve in typical reading and present lower activity, connectivity or abnormal structure in RD. Thus, there is a meaningful neural overlap between reading and math. Hence, the authors can submit empirical studies on the role of several of brain regions that are involved in math and reading (commonality and diversity) both in the typical and a-typical development. • Cognitive factors that play role in mathematics and reading, and comorbidity between RD and MD - There is a long lasting debate whether MD and RD originate from unique cognitive mechanisms or not. Multiple cognitive processes are shared between reading and mathematics. Therefore, impairments in any one of domain-general skills could conceivably play an important role in both pure and comorbid conditions. Moreover, it has been suggested that phonological processing has a significant role in some aspects of numerical processing such as retrieval of arithmetical facts. • Education - it will be interesting to look at the effect of interventions that aim to improve reading (such as phonological awareness) and there transfer effect on improving mathematical processing. Alternatively, it will be good to test whether math interventions will improve reading. |
Contents
Associations between Reading and Mathematics Genetic Brain Imaging Cognitive and Educational Perspectives | 5 |
Factors That Influence Improvement in Numeracy Reading and Comprehension in the Context of a Numeracy Intervention | 7 |
Definition Cognitive Linguistic and Numerical Aspects | 17 |
Teachers Beliefs and Practices Regarding the Role of Executive Functions in Reading and Arithmetic | 30 |
Predicting Childrens Reading and Mathematics Achievement from Early Quantitative Knowledge and DomainGeneral Cognitive Abilities | 44 |
Toward a Relative Independence of Linguistic and Numerical Processing | 58 |
Spatial Ability Explains the Male Advantage in Approximate Arithmetic | 72 |
Neural Correlates of Math Gains Vary Depending on Parental Socioeconomic Status SES | 81 |
An Extension of the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis from Developmental Language Disorders to Mathematical Disability | 93 |
Shared and Unique Risk Factors Underlying Mathematical Disability and Reading and Spelling Disability | 102 |
Back Cover | 114 |
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abilities adults analysis approximate arithmetic Ashkenazi assessment associated beliefs bilingual brain structures Child Psychol Cogn cognitive comorbidity component correlated Dehaene developmental dyscalculia difficulties discrete quantity discrimination disorders domain-general domains Dowker dyscalculia dyslexia dyslexic early numeracy executive functions Free School Meals functional illiteracy functional illiterates Geary gender differences give-a-number impairments interaction intervention intraparietal sulcus kindergarten language learning disabilities linguistic literacy longitudinal math skill Mathematical Disability mathematics achievement mathematics and reading MD and RSD measures mental rotation monolingual neural Neuropsychol Neurosci non-verbal parental parietal partial eta squared performance phonological awareness phonological processing predicted predictors preliteracy preschool problems procedural memory reading achievement reading and arithmetic reading and mathematics risk factor model role Rüsseler significant Smedt spatial specific specific language impairment standard score subscales subtraction Table tasks teachers teaching underlying variables verbal voxels word reading