The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

A combined event-related potential and neuropsychological investigation of developmental dyscalculia

A combined event-related potential and neuropsychological investigation of developmental dyscalculia
A combined event-related potential and neuropsychological investigation of developmental dyscalculia
Adolescents with developmental dyscalculia (DD) but no other impairments were examined with neuropsychological tests and with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). A matched control group and an adult control group were tested as well. Behavioural and ERP markers of the magnitude representation were examined in a task where subjects decided whether visually presented Hindu–Arabic digits were smaller or larger than 5. There was a normal behavioural numerical distance effect (better performance for digits closer to the reference number than for digits further away from it) in DD. This suggests that semantic magnitude relations depend on a phenomenologically (nearly) normal magnitude representation in DD, at least in the range of single-digit numbers. However, minor discrepancies between DD subjects and controls suggest that the perception of the magnitude of single digits may be slightly impaired in DD. Early ERP distance effects were similar in DD and in control subjects. In contrast, between 400 and 440 ms there was a focused right-parietal ERP distance effect in controls, but not in DD. This suggests that early, more automatic processing of digits was similar in both groups, and between-group processing differences arose later, during more complex controlled processing. This view is supported by signs of decelerated executive functioning in developmental dyscalculia. Further, DD subjects did not differ from controls in general mental rotation and in body parts knowledge, but were markedly impaired in mental finger rotation, finger knowledge, and tactile performance.
developmental dyscalculia, magnitude representation, distance effect, executive functions, finger representation, event-related potentials
0304-3940
181-186
Soltész, Fruzsina
cbc12e4b-9d6f-4c24-8203-47ae2bd8f470
Szűcs, Dénes
1020f888-a7ba-48b6-861a-42a7f6ff716c
Dékány, Judit
f27eeeda-a70f-488c-ad30-07be6a58e7dd
Márkus, Attila
8f8e767c-9658-428d-b4fd-9118cf2e65e0
Csépe, Valéria
54867db6-2e3e-4b46-97d0-6dedd03f1248
Soltész, Fruzsina
cbc12e4b-9d6f-4c24-8203-47ae2bd8f470
Szűcs, Dénes
1020f888-a7ba-48b6-861a-42a7f6ff716c
Dékány, Judit
f27eeeda-a70f-488c-ad30-07be6a58e7dd
Márkus, Attila
8f8e767c-9658-428d-b4fd-9118cf2e65e0
Csépe, Valéria
54867db6-2e3e-4b46-97d0-6dedd03f1248

Soltész, Fruzsina, Szűcs, Dénes, Dékány, Judit, Márkus, Attila and Csépe, Valéria (2007) A combined event-related potential and neuropsychological investigation of developmental dyscalculia. Neuroscience Letters, 417 (2), 181-186. (doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2007.02.067). (PMID:17367929)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Adolescents with developmental dyscalculia (DD) but no other impairments were examined with neuropsychological tests and with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). A matched control group and an adult control group were tested as well. Behavioural and ERP markers of the magnitude representation were examined in a task where subjects decided whether visually presented Hindu–Arabic digits were smaller or larger than 5. There was a normal behavioural numerical distance effect (better performance for digits closer to the reference number than for digits further away from it) in DD. This suggests that semantic magnitude relations depend on a phenomenologically (nearly) normal magnitude representation in DD, at least in the range of single-digit numbers. However, minor discrepancies between DD subjects and controls suggest that the perception of the magnitude of single digits may be slightly impaired in DD. Early ERP distance effects were similar in DD and in control subjects. In contrast, between 400 and 440 ms there was a focused right-parietal ERP distance effect in controls, but not in DD. This suggests that early, more automatic processing of digits was similar in both groups, and between-group processing differences arose later, during more complex controlled processing. This view is supported by signs of decelerated executive functioning in developmental dyscalculia. Further, DD subjects did not differ from controls in general mental rotation and in body parts knowledge, but were markedly impaired in mental finger rotation, finger knowledge, and tactile performance.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 14 February 2007
Published date: 1 May 2007
Keywords: developmental dyscalculia, magnitude representation, distance effect, executive functions, finger representation, event-related potentials
Organisations: Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 375353
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/375353
ISSN: 0304-3940
PURE UUID: e368e573-920b-4696-b7ae-afbf019551aa

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Mar 2015 16:15
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 19:24

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Fruzsina Soltész
Author: Dénes Szűcs
Author: Judit Dékány
Author: Attila Márkus
Author: Valéria Csépe

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×