NIRS in motion-unraveling the neurocognitive underpinnings of embodied numerical cognition

Improving middle school students' geometry problem solving ability through hands-on experience: An fNIRS study

Hands-on learning is proposed as a prerequisite for mathematics learning in kindergarten and primary school. However, it remains unclear that whether hands-on experience aids understanding of geometry knowledge for middle school students. We also know little about the neural basis underlying the value of hands-on experience in math education. In this study, 40 right-handed Chinese students (20 boys and 20 girls) with different academic levels were selected from 126 seventh-grade students in the same school, who learnt "Axisymmetric of an Isosceles Triangle" in different learning style (hands-on operation vs. video observation). Half of them operated the concrete manipulatives while the other half watched the instructional videos. The learning-test paradigm and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technique were used to compare the differences in geometry reasoning involved in solving well-structured problems and ill-structured problems. Behavioral results showed that hands-on experience promoted students' performances of geometry problem-solving. Students with lower academic level were more dependent on hands-on experience than those with higher academic level. The fNIRS results showed that meaningful hands-on experience with concrete manipulatives related to learning contents increased reactivation of the somatosensory association cortex during subsequent reasoning, which helped to improve the problem-solving performance. Hands-on experience also reduced students' cognitive load during the well-structured problem-solving process. These findings contribute to better understand the value of hands-on experience in geometry learning and the implications for future mathematics classroom practices.

Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Studying Cognitive Development: The Case of Mathematics and Language

In this review, we aim to highlight the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a useful neuroimaging technique for the investigation of cognitive development. We focus on brain activation changes during the development of mathematics and language skills in schoolchildren. We discuss how technical limitations of common neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have resulted in our limited understanding of neural changes during development, while fNIRS would be a suitable and child-friendly method to examine cognitive development. Moreover, this technique enables us to go to schools to collect large samples of data from children in ecologically valid settings. Furthermore, we report findings of fNIRS studies in the fields of mathematics and language, followed by a discussion of the outlook of fNIRS in these fields. We suggest fNIRS as an additional technique to track brain activation changes in the field of educational neuroscience.

The neural correlates of mental arithmetic in adolescents: a longitudinal fNIRS study

BACKGROUND

Arithmetic processing in adults is known to rely on a frontal-parietal network. However, neurocognitive research focusing on the neural and behavioral correlates of arithmetic development has been scarce, even though the acquisition of arithmetic skills is accompanied by changes within the fronto-parietal network of the developing brain. Furthermore, experimental procedures are typically adjusted to constraints of functional magnetic resonance imaging, which may not reflect natural settings in which children and adolescents actually perform arithmetic. Therefore, we investigated the longitudinal neurocognitive development of processes involved in performing the four basic arithmetic operations in 19 adolescents. By using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we were able to use an ecologically valid task, i.e., a written production paradigm.

RESULTS

A common pattern of activation in the bilateral fronto-parietal network for arithmetic processing was found for all basic arithmetic operations. Moreover, evidence was obtained for decreasing activation during subtraction over the course of 1 year in middle and inferior frontal gyri, and increased activation during addition and multiplication in angular and middle temporal gyri. In the self-paced block design, parietal activation in multiplication and left angular and temporal activation in addition were observed to be higher for simple than for complex blocks, reflecting an inverse effect of arithmetic complexity.

CONCLUSIONS

In general, the findings suggest that the brain network for arithmetic processing is already established in 12-14 year-old adolescents, but still undergoes developmental changes.