Ashburn SM, Matejko AA, Eden GF. Activation and functional connectivity of cerebellum during reading and during arithmetic in children with combined reading and math disabilities.
Front Neurosci 2024;
18:1135166. [PMID:
38741787 PMCID:
PMC11090247 DOI:
10.3389/fnins.2024.1135166]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
Reading and math constitute important academic skills, and as such, reading disability (RD or developmental dyslexia) and math disability (MD or developmental dyscalculia) can have negative consequences for children's educational progress. Although RD and MD are different learning disabilities, they frequently co-occur. Separate theories have implicated the cerebellum and its cortical connections in RD and in MD, suggesting that children with combined reading and math disability (RD + MD) may have altered cerebellar function and disrupted functional connectivity between the cerebellum and cortex during reading and during arithmetic processing.
Methods
Here we compared Control and RD + MD groups during a reading task as well as during an arithmetic task on (i) activation of the cerebellum, (ii) background functional connectivity, and (iii) task-dependent functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cortex.
Results
The two groups (Control, RD + MD) did not differ for either task (reading, arithmetic) on any of the three measures (activation, background functional connectivity, task-dependent functional connectivity).
Conclusion
These results do not support theories that children's deficits in reading and math originate in the cerebellum.
Collapse