Neurofunctional plasticity in fraction learning: An fMRI training study

Silke M Wortha; Johannes Bloechle; Manuel Ninaus; Kristian Kiili; Antero Lindstedt; Julia Bahnmueller; Korbinian Moeller; Elise Klein

doi:10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141

Neurofunctional plasticity in fraction learning: An fMRI training study

Trends Neurosci Educ. 2020 Dec:21:100141. doi: 10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Authors

Silke M Wortha¹, Johannes Bloechle², Manuel Ninaus³, Kristian Kiili⁴, Antero Lindstedt⁵, Julia Bahnmueller⁶, Korbinian Moeller⁷, Elise Klein⁸

Affiliations

¹ LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany; Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: silkemaria.wortha@med.uni-greifswald.de.
² Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
³ LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany; Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tuebingen, Germany.
⁴ Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
⁵ Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Pori, Finland.
⁶ LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany; Centre for Mathematical Cognition, School of Science, Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
⁷ LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany; Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tuebingen, Germany; Centre for Mathematical Cognition, School of Science, Loughborough University, United Kingdom; Individual Development and Adaptive Education Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
⁸ Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tuebingen, Germany; Université de Paris, LaPsyDÉ, CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.

PMID: 33303106
DOI: 10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141

Abstract

Background: Fractions are known to be difficult for children and adults. Behavioral studies suggest that magnitude processing of fractions can be improved via number line estimation (NLE) trainings, but little is known about the neural correlates of fraction learning.

Method: To examine the neuro-cognitive foundations of fraction learning, behavioral performance and neural correlates were measured before and after a five-day NLE training.

Results: In all evaluation tasks behavioral performance increased after training. We observed a fronto-parietal network associated with number magnitude processing to be recruited in all tasks as indicated by a numerical distance effect. For symbolic fractions, the distance effect on intraparietal activation was only observed after training.

Conclusion: The absence of a distance effect of symbolic fractions before the training could indicate an initially less automatic access to their overall magnitude. NLE training facilitates processing of overall fraction magnitude as indicated by the distance effect in neural activation.

Keywords: Flow experience; Fraction processing; Number line estimation training; Numerical distance effect; fMRI.

MeSH terms

Adult
Child
Humans
Learning*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Task Performance and Analysis