Using Nonsymbolic Ratios to Promote Fraction Knowledge: A Neurocognitive Approach

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This project, to be conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will study knowledge of fractions in college students and eighth-graders. The project will use behavioral and brain imaging measures. The main hypothesis is that some kinds of visual perception ability (such as sensitivity to the ratio formed by the lengths of two lines) are related to fraction understanding. The project will develop a training method aimed at improving knowledge about fractions. This project will advance the work of the REAL (Research on Education and Learning) program in studying the cognitive and neural basis of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning.The project will use fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to study brain activity, focusing on brain regions including the PFC (prefrontal cortex) and IPS (intraparietal sulcus). In particular, the research will use an adaptation method, looking at activation recovery when a novel ratio is presented in a series of ratios. The project addresses a cognitive primitives account of fraction magnitude processing, which posits that perceptual sensitivity to nonsymbolic ratio magnitudes plays a major role in supporting the developing understanding of symbolic fraction magnitudes. This account implies that neurocognitive architectures tuned to the processing of non-symbolic ratio--such as the relative lengths of two lines or the relative areas of two figures--are present even before learners receive fractions instruction.