Individual differences in solving arithmetic word problems

Behavioral and Brain Functions

Sabrina Zarnhofer³  Verena Braunstein³  Franz Ebner¹  Karl Koschutnig¹  Christa Neuper²  Manuel Ninaus³  Gernot Reishofer¹  Anja Ischebeck³ 

[1] Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 9, 8036, Graz, Austria

[2] Department of Knowledge Discovery, University of Technology of Graz, Krenngasse 37/ IV, 8010, Graz, Austria

[3] Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 2 / III, 8010, Graz, Austria

关键词: Angular gyrus;    Visual cortex;    Number processing;    Cognitive styles;    fMRI;   

Others  :  793371
DOI  :  10.1186/1744-9081-9-28

 received in 2013-01-17, accepted in 2013-07-19,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

With the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study at 3 T, we investigated the neural correlates of visualization and verbalization during arithmetic word problem solving. In the domain of arithmetic, visualization might mean to visualize numbers and (intermediate) results while calculating, and verbalization might mean that numbers and (intermediate) results are verbally repeated during calculation. If the brain areas involved in number processing are domain-specific as assumed, that is, that the left angular gyrus (AG) shows an affinity to the verbal domain, and that the left and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) shows an affinity to the visual domain, the activation of these areas should show a dependency on an individual’s cognitive style.

Methods

36 healthy young adults participated in the fMRI study. The participants habitual use of visualization and verbalization during solving arithmetic word problems was assessed with a short self-report assessment. During the fMRI measurement, arithmetic word problems that had to be solved by the participants were presented in an event-related design.

Results

We found that visualizers showed greater brain activation in brain areas involved in visual processing, and that verbalizers showed greater brain activation within the left angular gyrus.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that cognitive styles or preferences play an important role in understanding brain activation. Our results confirm, that strong visualizers use mental imagery more strongly than weak visualizers during calculation. Moreover, our results suggest that the left AG shows a specific affinity to the verbal domain and subserves number processing in a modality-specific way.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Zarnhofer et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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