CAREER: Longitudinal Development of Numerical Processing Brain Networks in Developmental Dyscalculia: A Neuroimaging Study from Kindergarten to Second Grade

职业：发展性计算障碍中数字处理大脑网络的纵向发展：从幼儿园到二年级的神经影像学研究

• 批准号: 1750213
• 负责人: Gavin Price
• 金额: $ 216.21万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-03-15 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1750213&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Longitudinal; Development; Numerical; Processing

Approximately 6% of Americans suffer from the mathematical learning disability developmental dyscalculia (DD), facing academic difficulties, reduced employment, increased mental and physical illness, and higher rates of arrest and incarceration. Despite the potential consequences, no consensus currently exists regarding the brain and behavioral causes of DD. The project team will attempt to characterize the development of and interaction between brain mechanisms responsible for processing symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers in children from kindergarten through 2nd grade with DD, with the hope that understanding the root causes of the disorder will aid the development of effective diagnostic and remedial tools for educational interventions. They will engage in a combination of neuroscientific and behavioral research in order to disambiguate between competing causal theories that are unlikely to be distinguished on the basis of behavioral evidence alone. The project is supported by a CAREER award to Vanderbilt University by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning.Competing theories of the underlying cause of DD suggest that there is a deficit either in the representation of numerical magnitude, or in the connection between those representations and symbolic numbers. The project will attempt to disambiguate between these theories by providing a multimodal characterization of the neural networks involved in basic nonsymbolic and symbolic number processing in DD children using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as well as structural metrics of grey and white matter. The project will examine the development of those networks and will examine the extent to which those networks predict typical and atypical mathematical skill development. Investigators will study children with DD, children with dyslexia (DL), and typically developing (TD) children longitudinally from kindergarten to 2nd grade. By contrasting between these three groups, the investigators will be able to identify atypical brain and behavioral phenotypes that are specific to DD, as well as identify any commonalities between DD and DL. In each year, participants will complete a battery of symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing tasks in the fMRI scanner, in addition to a battery of behavioral tests measuring mathematics skills and general cognitive abilities. Measures of brain structure will also be collected in each year, allowing investigators to assess functional brain activation, functional and structural connectivity, and their relation to behavior and to each other. At the conclusion of the research project, the research team will provide evidence supporting a characterization of the core neurofunctional abnormalities in basic number processing underlying DD, identify the relationships between structural brain integrity and functional neural mechanisms underlying numerical magnitude processing in DD, and explore the causal developmental relationships beween aberrant number processing brain mechanisms and math outcomes in DD from kindergarten through 2nd grade.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

大约6%的美国人患有数学学习障碍发展性计算障碍（DD），他们面临着学习困难、就业减少、精神和身体疾病增加以及更高的被捕和监禁率。尽管存在潜在的后果，但目前关于DD的大脑和行为原因还没有达成共识。项目团队将试图描述从幼儿园到二年级的DD儿童负责处理符号和非符号数字的大脑机制的发展和相互作用。希望了解这种疾病的根本原因将有助于开发有效的诊断和治疗工具，用于教育干预。他们将从事神经科学和行为研究的结合，以消除相互竞争的因果理论之间的歧义，这些理论不太可能仅根据行为证据加以区分。该项目得到了范德比尔特大学EHR核心研究（ECR）项目的CAREER奖的支持，该项目支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作。关于DD潜在原因的相互竞争的理论表明，要么在数字大小的表示中存在缺陷，要么在这些表示与象征性数字之间的联系中存在缺陷。该项目将尝试通过使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）以及灰质和白质的结构度量，提供涉及DD儿童基本非符号和符号数字处理的神经网络的多模态特征，从而消除这些理论之间的歧义。该项目将检查这些网络的发展，并将检查这些网络预测典型和非典型数学技能发展的程度。研究者将从幼儿园到二年级纵向研究DD儿童、阅读障碍儿童（DL）和典型发育儿童（TD）。通过对这三组进行对比，研究人员将能够识别出DD特有的非典型大脑和行为表型，以及DD和DL之间的任何共性。每年，参与者将在功能磁共振成像扫描仪中完成一系列符号和非符号数字处理任务，此外还有一系列测量数学技能和一般认知能力的行为测试。每年还将收集大脑结构的测量数据，使研究人员能够评估功能性大脑激活，功能和结构连接，以及它们与行为和彼此之间的关系。在研究项目结束时，研究小组将提供证据支持DD基本数字处理核心神经功能异常的特征，确定DD中数字大小处理的脑结构完整性和功能神经机制之间的关系。探讨幼稚园至二年级DD儿童异常数字加工脑机制与数学成绩之间的因果发展关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

The long arm of adversity: Children's kindergarten math skills are associated with maternal childhood adversity

逆境的长臂：儿童的幼儿园数学技能与母亲的童年逆境有关

• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105561
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Child Abuse & Neglect
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Lynn, Andrew;Humphreys, Kathryn L.;Price, Gavin R.
• 通讯作者: Price, Gavin R.

Network topology of symbolic and nonsymbolic number comparison.

符号数和非符号数比较的网络拓扑。

• DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00144
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
• 作者: Conrad,BenjaminN;Wilkey,EricD;Yeo,DarrenJ;Price,GavinR
• 通讯作者: Price,GavinR

The “Inferior Temporal Numeral Area” distinguishes numerals from other character categories during passive viewing: A representational similarity analysis

“下颞数字区域”在被动观看过程中将数字与其他字符类别区分开来：代表性相似性分析

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116716
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: NeuroImage
• 影响因子: 5.7
• 作者: Yeo, Darren J.;Pollack, Courtney;Merkley, Rebecca;Ansari, Daniel;Price, Gavin R.
• 通讯作者: Price, Gavin R.

Predicting children’s math skills from task-based and resting-state functional brain connectivity

通过基于任务和静息状态的功能性大脑连接来预测儿童的数学技能

• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab476
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Cerebral Cortex
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Lynn, Andrew;Wilkey, Eric D;Price, Gavin R
• 通讯作者: Price, Gavin R