Mathematics and the brain: uncharted territory?

The prevalence of disorders of arithmetic skills in children of circa 6 % calls for intensive consideration of the subject by health care providers and researchers. The necessity of interdisciplinary cooperation is evident. The current classifications by the ICD-10 (Specific disorder of arithmetic skills) and DSM-IV (Mathematics disorder) represent different viewpoints. A developmental dyscalculia is exclusively diagnosed according to clinical presentation. Arithmetic and its disorders are brain functions, determined and influenced by the (cerebral) human development. With modem neuroimaging techniques, a connectionistic model of distinct arithmetic functions has been specified. The results of single case descriptions of arithmetic disorders correspond well in that context with the concept of parallel cortico-subcortical and subcortico-cortical neuronal circuits. In comparison with dyslexia, there is intense need for research in the field of arithmetic disorders. Only through analysis and understanding of the complex cerebral connections in arithmetic can improved diagnostic as well as multidimensionally therapeutic approaches to arithmetic disorders be achieved, possibly opening new ways of academic and social integration of the affected individuals.