Hyesang Chang and colleagues, from Stanford University, explored why some children struggle to learn math compared to their peers in a new JNeurosci paper.
Children selected which numbers were bigger than others across different trials, with quantities represented as numerical symbols or as clusters of dots. The researchers created a model based on how much performance varied over time. The model suggested that children with difficulties in learning math struggled to update their thinking approach as they continued to get different types of trials wrong. Brain imaging helped explain why this might be the case, pointing to weaker activity in areas linked to monitoring and adjusting behavior. The researchers further discovered that weaker activity in these brain areas could predict whether a child had typical or atypical math abilities.
This work suggests that kids struggling to learn math may have difficulty not only with processing numbers, but also with updating their thought processes as they work with numbers. Speaking on implications, says Chang, "These impairments may not necessarily be specific to numerical skills, and could apply to broader cognitive abilities that involve monitoring task performance and adapting behavior as children learn." The researchers hope to apply the model they developed on broader groups of children with other types of learning disabilities.
