Mapping the neural development of symbolic number knowledge

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Our daily decisions depend on the ability to quickly and automatically process the meaning of spoken number words (e.g., "three") and numerals (e.g., "3"), such as arriving to work on time, managing family expenses, or taking the correct dosage of medicine. These basic numeracy skills are a strong predictor of academic success, physical and mental health, employment rates, and defaulting on a mortgage. Although processing the meaning of numbers comes easily for many adults, it is a skill that requires direct instruction for children to learn. Children learn the meaning of numbers slowly over the course of development. The present research aims to elucidate the neural mechanisms that support numerical development and examine how those neural processes change as children learn math in school. The Discovery Grant will fund Dr. Stephanie Bugden's Numeracy Development and Learning Lab at the University of Winnipeg. The research in this proposal examines the neural basis of processing spoken number words and numerals in adults and young children, and whether individual differences in neural processes predict math abilities. We will test how neural systems that support number processing change in first grade children as they learn math in school. This work will not only provide insight on how the brain is reorganized as we learn, but also how those brain changes can predict math learning over time. Uncovering the neural basis of the early numeracy skills that are foundational for math success has broader implications for designing targeted interventions to improve numeracy skills in children who struggle to learn math.