Reconfiguration of parietal circuits with cognitive tutoring in elementary school children

Dietsje Jolles; Kaustubh Supekar; Jennifer Richardson; Caitlin Tenison; Sarit Ashkenazi; Miriam Rosenberg-Lee; Lynn Fuchs; Vinod Menon

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.004

Reconfiguration of parietal circuits with cognitive tutoring in elementary school children

Dietsje Jolles, Kaustubh Supekar, Jennifer Richardson, Caitlin Tenison, Sarit Ashkenazi, Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, Lynn Fuchs, Vinod Menon

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cognitive development is shaped by brain plasticity during childhood, yet little is known about changes in large-scale functional circuits associated with learning in academically relevant cognitive domains such as mathematics. Here, we investigate plasticity of intrinsic brain circuits associated with one-on-one math tutoring and its relation to individual differences in children's learning. We focused on functional circuits associated with the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and angular gyrus (AG), cytoarchitectonically distinct subdivisions of the human parietal cortex with different roles in numerical cognition. Tutoring improved performance and strengthened IPS connectivity with the lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral temporal-occipital cortex, and hippocampus. Crucially, increased IPS connectivity was associated with individual performance gains, highlighting the behavioral significance of plasticity in IPS circuits. Tutoring-related changes in IPS connectivity were distinct from those of the adjacent AG, which did not predict performance gains. Our findings provide new insights into plasticity of functional brain circuits associated with the development of specialized cognitive skills in children.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	231-245
Number of pages	15
Journal	Cortex
Volume	83
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.004
State	Published - 1 Oct 2016
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Arithmetic
Functional connectivity
Learning
Plasticity
Training

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

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10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.004

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title = "Reconfiguration of parietal circuits with cognitive tutoring in elementary school children",

abstract = "Cognitive development is shaped by brain plasticity during childhood, yet little is known about changes in large-scale functional circuits associated with learning in academically relevant cognitive domains such as mathematics. Here, we investigate plasticity of intrinsic brain circuits associated with one-on-one math tutoring and its relation to individual differences in children's learning. We focused on functional circuits associated with the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and angular gyrus (AG), cytoarchitectonically distinct subdivisions of the human parietal cortex with different roles in numerical cognition. Tutoring improved performance and strengthened IPS connectivity with the lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral temporal-occipital cortex, and hippocampus. Crucially, increased IPS connectivity was associated with individual performance gains, highlighting the behavioral significance of plasticity in IPS circuits. Tutoring-related changes in IPS connectivity were distinct from those of the adjacent AG, which did not predict performance gains. Our findings provide new insights into plasticity of functional brain circuits associated with the development of specialized cognitive skills in children.",

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AU - Supekar, Kaustubh

AU - Richardson, Jennifer

AU - Tenison, Caitlin

AU - Ashkenazi, Sarit

AU - Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam

AU - Fuchs, Lynn

AU - Menon, Vinod

PY - 2016/10/1

Y1 - 2016/10/1

N2 - Cognitive development is shaped by brain plasticity during childhood, yet little is known about changes in large-scale functional circuits associated with learning in academically relevant cognitive domains such as mathematics. Here, we investigate plasticity of intrinsic brain circuits associated with one-on-one math tutoring and its relation to individual differences in children's learning. We focused on functional circuits associated with the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and angular gyrus (AG), cytoarchitectonically distinct subdivisions of the human parietal cortex with different roles in numerical cognition. Tutoring improved performance and strengthened IPS connectivity with the lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral temporal-occipital cortex, and hippocampus. Crucially, increased IPS connectivity was associated with individual performance gains, highlighting the behavioral significance of plasticity in IPS circuits. Tutoring-related changes in IPS connectivity were distinct from those of the adjacent AG, which did not predict performance gains. Our findings provide new insights into plasticity of functional brain circuits associated with the development of specialized cognitive skills in children.

AB - Cognitive development is shaped by brain plasticity during childhood, yet little is known about changes in large-scale functional circuits associated with learning in academically relevant cognitive domains such as mathematics. Here, we investigate plasticity of intrinsic brain circuits associated with one-on-one math tutoring and its relation to individual differences in children's learning. We focused on functional circuits associated with the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and angular gyrus (AG), cytoarchitectonically distinct subdivisions of the human parietal cortex with different roles in numerical cognition. Tutoring improved performance and strengthened IPS connectivity with the lateral prefrontal cortex, ventral temporal-occipital cortex, and hippocampus. Crucially, increased IPS connectivity was associated with individual performance gains, highlighting the behavioral significance of plasticity in IPS circuits. Tutoring-related changes in IPS connectivity were distinct from those of the adjacent AG, which did not predict performance gains. Our findings provide new insights into plasticity of functional brain circuits associated with the development of specialized cognitive skills in children.

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KW - Training

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Reconfiguration of parietal circuits with cognitive tutoring in elementary school children

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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