Prospective relations between resting-state connectivity of parietal subdivisions and arithmetic competence. (April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Price, Gavin R.; Yeo, Darren J.; Wilkey, Eric D.; Cutting, Laurie E.
• Is Part Of: Developmental cognitive neuroscience. Volume 30(2018)
• Page Start: 280
• Page End: 290
• Publication Date: 2018-04
• Subjects: Resting-state -- Educational neuroscience -- Intraparietal sulcus -- Angular gyrus -- Arithmetic competence; Cognitive neuroscience -- Periodicals; Developmental neurobiology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychiatry -- Periodicals; 612.8233
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.02.006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1878-9293

Abstract

Highlights: Relations between parietal resting-state connectivity and arithmetic skills were examined. Cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the IPS and AG were explored. 1st graders showed dissociable patterns of rsFC among the IPS and AG subdivisions. Connectivity between IPS subregions correlated positively with arithmetic ability. Connectivity between IPS and MTL, and between AG and frontal pole, correlated negatively with arithmetic ability. Abstract: The present study investigates the relation between resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the parietal cortex at the end of 1st grade and arithmetic performance at the end of 2nd grade. Results revealed a dissociable pattern of relations between rsFC and arithmetic competence among subdivisions of intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and angular gyrus (AG). rsFC between right hemisphere IPS subdivisions and contralateral IPS subdivisions positively correlated with arithmetic competence. In contrast, rsFC between the left hIP1 and the right medial temporal lobe, and rsFC between the left AG and left superior frontal gyrus, were negatively correlated with arithmetic competence. These results suggest that strong inter-hemispheric IPS connectivity is important for math development, reflecting either neurocognitive mechanisms specific to arithmetic processing, domain-general mechanisms that are particularly relevant to arithmetic competence, or structural 'cortical maturity'. Stronger connectivity between IPS, and AG, subdivisions and frontal and temporal cortices, however, appears to be negatively associated with math development, possibly reflecting the ability to disengage suboptimal problem-solving strategies during mathematical processing, or to flexibly reorient task-based networks. Importantly, the reported results pertain even when controlling for reading, spatial attention, and working memory, suggesting that the observed rsFC-behavior relations are specific to arithmetic competence.