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Panel information
Panel 4. Cognitive Processes

Abstract

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The bilateral parietal cortices, including the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), are crucial for numerical processing. Yet, we do not know how inter-hemispheric parietal functional connectivity predicts longitudinal gains in math skill in children or how developmental changes in connectivity in these regions relate to gains. This study aimed to address the role of age in explaining: The concurrent association between inter-hemispheric parietal functional connectivity and math skill at T1 (question 1); The association between connectivity at T1 and math skill gains (question 2); The association between changes in connectivity and math skill gains (question 3). Forty-nine children completed a dot comparison task inside the scanner at time 1 (T1) and once again two years later (time 2; T2). This task included easy (12 vs 36 dots), medium (18 vs 36 dots), and hard (24 vs 36 dots) ratios. We collected standardized measures of subtraction skill and math fluency at both time points and calculated gains over time (T2-T1). We individually defined seeds in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) using the contrast “hard vs. easy” from the dot comparison task. We defined regions of interest in the bilateral inferior and superior parietal lobules (IPL/SPL). We used general psychophysiological interaction analysis (gPPI) to measure functional connectivity between the seed in the right IPS and the IPL/SPL (i.e. right-left) and between the seed in the left IPS and the right IPL/SPL (i.e. left-right). For older children (12 years old), we found that greater right-left connectivity at T1 predicted gains in subtraction skill and that decreasing this connectivity was related to skill gains. In contrast, for younger children (10 years old) increasing right-left connectivity was related to subtraction gains. These results suggest an inverted U-shaped association between inter-hemispheric parietal connectivity and longitudinal math gains depending on children’s age and the demands on quantity processing placed by the task. Overall, this study suggests that a strong association between the non-symbolic (right) and the symbolic (left) representation of quantity is needed for math success when the task requires quantity-based procedures.

Author information

Author	Role
Macarena Suarez Pellicioni, University of Alabama	Presenting author
Gavin Price, University of Exeter	Non-presenting author
James R. Booth, Vanderbilt University	Non-presenting author

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