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Virtual dyscalculia induced by parietal-lobe TMS impairs automatic magnitude processing
Roi Cohen Kadosh1, Kathrin Cohen Kadosh, Teresa Schuhmann
1Department of Behavioral Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. r.cohenkadosh@ucl.ac.uk
Current Biology : CB
|March 24, 2007
Summary
Developmental dyscalculia involves impaired automatic numerical processing. Disrupting the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in healthy individuals induced dyscalculia-like deficits, implicating the right IPS in this crucial cognitive function.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Disorders
Background:
- Developmental dyscalculia is characterized by difficulties in automatic numerical magnitude processing.
- Previous research has implicated the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in numerical cognition, but its specific role in dyscalculia remains debated.
- Existing studies show mixed results regarding the involvement of the left or right IPS in developmental dyscalculia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional role of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in automatic magnitude processing.
- To determine whether disrupting the left or right IPS can induce dyscalculia-like behavioral deficits in healthy volunteers.
- To compare brain activity patterns in healthy volunteers with and without IPS disruption to those of individuals with developmental dyscalculia.
Main Methods:
- Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) neuronavigation to selectively disrupt activity in left or right IPS clusters.
- Assessed automatic magnitude processing using a size-congruity task in healthy volunteers before and during TMS disruption.
- Administered the same task to participants with developmental dyscalculia to compare behavioral patterns.
Main Results:
- Disruption of the right IPS, but not the left IPS, significantly impaired automatic magnitude processing in healthy volunteers, leading to dyscalculia-like deficits.
- Healthy volunteers undergoing right IPS disruption exhibited behavioral patterns similar to those observed in individuals with developmental dyscalculia.
- These findings provide direct evidence for the critical involvement of the right IPS in automatic numerical magnitude processing.
Conclusions:
- The right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) plays a crucial role in the automatic processing of numerical magnitudes.
- Targeted disruption of the right IPS can experimentally induce deficits characteristic of developmental dyscalculia.
- This study provides strong evidence for the functional significance of the right IPS in numerical cognition and its potential dysfunction in developmental dyscalculia.
