Five- to Eight-Year-Old Children's Home Numeracy Support and Math Skills Are Associated with Their Neural Number...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Foundational math skills develop in early schooling.
• Individual differences in math ability and home math environment (HME) may influence brain activity related to numbers.
• Limited understanding of how children's brains represent numerical information and its relation to HME and math skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural representation of symbolic (digits) and nonsymbolic (dot sets) numbers in children aged 5–8 years.
• To examine how math skills and HME relate to these neurocognitive processes.
• To explore age-related changes in number processing.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural activity while viewing numbers.
• Caregiver-reported Home Math Environment (HME) assessment.
• KeyMath-3 Diagnostic Assessment for math skills.
• Analysis of neural activation patterns related to number format, quantity, age, HME, and math skills.

Main Results:

• Neural activation distinguished between symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats.
• Quantity scaling differed for symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers, influenced by HME in specific brain regions.
• Age-related changes in neural processing were observed across multiple brain areas, modulated by quantity and math skills.
• Number processing is distributed across widespread brain regions.

Conclusions:

• Children's brain activity differentiates between number formats early in schooling.
• Home math environment and math skills appear to shape neurocognitive number processing.
• Evidence suggests experience-dependent neuroplasticity in the developing brain's numerical cognition.