Learn How the Brain Reorganizes Itself to Comprehend New Math Facts

First Posted: Aug 18, 2014 10:24 AM EDT
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A new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience used brain-imaging to show how children learn basic math facts. Scientists found the hippocampus busy at work, processing memories that are critical to the transformation of comprehension.

"We wanted to understand how children acquire new knowledge, and determine why some children learn to retrieve facts from memory better than others," said Vinod Menon, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the senior author of the study at the Stanford University School of Medicine, via Psych Central. "This work provides insight into the dynamic changes that occur over the course of cognitive development in each child."

At the start of the study, researchers had 28 children between the ages of seven and nine solve math problems while receiving two functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans. All of the scans were completed 1.2 years apart. Similarly, researchers also scanned 20 adolescents who were 14 to 17 and 20 adults who were 19 to 22 at a single point in time. All participants had normal IQs.

As the children grew older, findings revealed that they became faster and more accurate at solving math problems. For instance, when solving new math problems, the child participants relied more on past math memories they already had.

That's when researchers noticed a shift occur in the children's brains; the hippocampus became active while the prefrontal and parietal cortex were less involved. However, researchers also noted that adults and adolescents were more likely to use their neocortex after a year for math facts instead of their hippocampus.

The study authors hope to use these findings to learn more about math-learning disabilities. Future studies may help determine if some children's inability to retrieve basic math-solving solutions is a problem in the hippocampus or other parts of the brain that could be influenced during the early stages of learning.

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