[MATHLINK] MCLS Online Sept 18: Neural Development of Symbolic Math Knowledge from Childhood to Young Adulthood

[MCLS Trainee]

Dear MCLS Community,



Please remember to join us today at 11am EST//4pm BST for our next
symposium talk “Neural Development of Symbolic Math Knowledge from
Childhood to Young Adulthood” (abstract below). We will hear from Alyssa J.
Kersey (Department of Psychology, University of Chicago), Stephanie Bugden
(Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania), John V. Binzak
(Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison),
and Yunji Park (Department of Educational Psychology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison). Link to join here: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/91731612312 and
password is MCLS2020.



Also be sure to keep on your calendar our presentations for the next few
weeks

*Thursday, September 24 **Early intervention: Finger counting, patterning,
working memory, and number games *

*Friday, October 2 **Posters & Lightning Talks*

*Thursday, October 8 **The language of numbers: Linguistic aspects of
number processing *



See you soon!

The MCLS Training Board



*Abstract*

The acquisition of symbolic number knowledge is critical for mathematical
development. As such,researchers have focused on understanding
neurocognitive mechanisms of symbolic number knowledge that can be
leveraged to help support young math learners. Throughout development,
these underlying mechanisms interact consistently with different cortical
networks and eventually with educational environments. Understanding the
interactions between functional networks, structural connectivity and
developing competence during symbolic math acquisition may inform design
principles for more effective approaches to math instruction. In this
interdisciplinary symposium, four presenters will discuss functional and
structural brain changes associated with the development of symbolic math
competence in early learners and across childhood. The overarching goal is
to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying changes in expertise
with different aspects of symbolic number knowledge and to explore how
neural function and structure are impacted by educational experience. The
first two talks will discuss how early math knowledge of whole numbers
emerges and how it is expected to change across development. The second two
talks will go beyond whole number concepts, to focus on the concept of
fractions and how functional and structural signatures relate to fraction
knowledge.

Kersey et al. will first present data describing networks involved both in
young children’s counting and the more advanced concept of mathematical
equivalence. This talk will highlight interactions among number and
language networks for acquisition of basic symbolic math concepts. The next
talk by Bugden et al. will discuss how number networks function during the
period of whole number word acquisition. The authors will present results
showing congruity effects observed in the brain when spoken number words
are simultaneously presented with corresponding visual quantities.

Moving beyond whole number concepts, Binzak et al. will present work
proposing cognitive primitives for processing rational numbers in
adolescents along with relevant findings among children and adults. By
looking at neural engagement for nonsymbolic and symbolic fractions, the
talk will discuss the extent to which sensitivity to nonsymbolic ratio
magnitude may serve as a built-in system for supporting symbolic fractions
acquisition.

Whereas the first three talks will focus on functional signatures of
numerical processing, the last talk will focus on structural connectivity
in the brain and its relationships with fractions processing. In the fourth
talk, Park et al. will present data showing changes in structural
connectivity associated with symbolic fractions knowledge during the years
of early fraction instruction. This work will help better understand
changes in functional network for symbolic math knowledge. Taken together,
the talks in the proposed symposium will offer cutting edge data regarding
the emergence of underlying mechanisms for symbolic math knowledge centered
upon functional and structural brain changes associated with educational
experience.