Yutaro Hirata, Eiji Ozawa
Characteristics of students who require elementary school counselors' support owing to developmental disorders
Heliyon
early elementary schooling 2nd 3rd grades ages 79 important period acquisition mastery basic mathematical skills yet know little neurodevelopmental changes might occur year schooling examine behavioral neurodevelopmental changes underlying arithmetic problem solving wellmatched group 2nd n 45 3rd n 45 grade children although 2nd 3rd graders differ iq grade agenormed measures math reading working memory 3rd graders higher raw math scores effect sizes 146149 accurate 2nd graders fmri task involving verification simple complex twooperand addition problems effect size 043 2nd 3rd graders arithmetic complexity associated increased responses right inferior frontal sulcus anterior insula regions implicated domaingeneral cognitive control left intraparietal sulcus ips superior parietal lobule spl regions important numerical arithmetic processing compared 2nd graders 3rd graders showed greater activity dorsal stream parietal areas right spl ips angular gyrus ag well ventral visual stream areas bilateral lingual gyrus lg right lateral occipital cortex loc right parahippocampal gyrus phg significant differences also observed prefrontal cortex pfc 3rd graders showing greater activation left dorsal lateral pfc dlpfc greater deactivation ventral medial pfc vmpfc third graders also showed greater functional connectivity left dlpfc multiple posterior brain areas larger differences dorsal stream parietal areas spl ag compared ventral stream visual areas lg loc phg betweengrade differences observed functional connectivity vmpfc posterior brain regions results suggest even narrow oneyear interval spanning grades 2 3 characterized significant arithmetic taskrelated changes brain response connectivity argue pooling data across wide age ranges grades miss important neurodevelopmental changes findings important implications understanding brain mechanisms mediating early maturation mathematical skills generally educational neuroscience