The Simple Neuroscience of Dyscalculia
By: Natalie Wilcox and Brandon Slade - Founder of Untapped Learning
When given two sets of objects, monkeys, birds, and babies can distinguish between groups that have different amounts of objects. However, when this ability extends to larger processes such as arithmetic and calculations, people with dyscalculia start to struggle. Dyscalculia is characterized as a difficulty in conceptualizing and manipulating numbers, and often cannot keep up with the pace of mathematics learning observed in their peers. Calculations are a complex process that integrate sensory information from the surroundings with past experiences. For math to take place, the brian must first receive the visual stimuli to the dorsal occipito-parietal “where” stream of the visual cortex. From there information is gathered about the characteristics of the numbers that they are looking at. The information is passed to language areas such as the Wernicke’s area, the intraparietal sulcus and posterior parietal gyri. There is further interaction with the prefrontal gyrus for comparison of the visual stimuli with learned information. Children with dyscalculia have decreased global brain activation. However, fMRI studies have not shown a consistent pattern of activation. So what we know is that there are brain processing differences in people with dyscalculia, but the exact mechanisms are still being explored.
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