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Abstract #3227

Neural Correlates of Mathematics Competence in Children: A Functional MRI Study

John Y.S. Cheng1, 2, Wing P. Chan3, 4, Pei-Shan Ho2, 5, Ho-Ling Liu5, Chun-Yen Chang2

1Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan; 2Graduate Institue of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan; 3Department of Radiology, Wan-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan; 4School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan; 5Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taipei, Taiwan, Taiwan


This study aimed to investigate the correlation between mathematic competence and task-related brain activity and functional connectivity using fMRI in young children. Twenty-nine children performed a mathematic test according to their grades after underwent the fMRI with the task of simple serial addition (SSA) and resting-state (RS) fMRI. We found that task-related functional activation in left anterior insula (AI) and functional connectivity in the salience network were negatively correlated with mathematic scores of the subjects. The results showed evidence on the relationship between the cognitive performances of mathematics and functional neural images.