Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30024084›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2018

Fluency in symbolic arithmetic refines the approximate number system in parietal cortex.

Macarena Suárez-Pellicioni, James R Booth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Algebra dissociates from arithmetic in the brain semantic network.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2022
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Macarena Suárez-PellicioniDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 37203-5721.ORCID 0000-0002-9056-9561
James R BoothDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 37203-5721.

Funding

Research Project: Sensory and Multisensory Contributions to AutismU54HD083211 · NICHD · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI CUTTING, LAURIE E · 2015 to 2019
$7.1M
Neural development and disorders of math processingR01HD059177 · NICHD · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · PI BOOTH, JAMES R · 2009 to 2013
$3.2M
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD059177NICHD NIH HHS U54 HD083211
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate, using a brain measure of approximate number system (ANS) acuity, whether the precision of the ANS is crucial for the development of symbolic numerical abilities (i.e., scaffolding hypothesis) and/or whether the experience with symbolic number processing refines the ANS (i.e., refinement hypothesis). To this aim, 38 children solved a dot comparison task inside the scanner when they were approximately 10-years old (Time 1) and once again approximately 2 years later (Time 2). To study the scaffolding hypothesis, a regression analysis was carried out by entering ANS acuity at T1 as the predictor and symbolic math performance at T2 as the dependent measure. Symbolic math performance, visuospatial WM and full IQ (all at T1) were entered as covariates of no interest. In order to study the refinement hypothesis, the regression analysis included symbolic math performance at T1 as the predictor and ANS acuity at T2 as the dependent measure, while ANS acuity, visuospatial WM and full IQ (all at T1) were entered as covariates of no interest. Our results supported the refinement hypothesis, by finding that the higher the initial level of symbolic math performance, the greater the intraparietal sulcus activation was at T2 (i.e., more precise representation of quantity). To the best of our knowledge, our finding constitutes the first evidence showing that expertise in the manipulation of symbols, which is a cultural invention, has the power to refine the neural representation of quantity in the evolutionarily ancient, approximate system of quantity representation.

Indexed as

Mathematical ConceptsChildChild DevelopmentFemaleHumansJudgmentLongitudinal StudiesMaleParietal LobePattern Recognition, VisualApproximate number systemfMRIlongitudinalrefinementscaffoldingsymbolic math

Identifiers

PMID30024084
PMCPMC6128731

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.