Neural and Affective Correlates of Math Problem-Solving Skills in Elementary School Children of Low SES

• In Event: How and Why are Socioeconomic Status and Young Children’s Math Skills Linked?

Abstract

Introduction: Even in developed countries, an alarming proportion of children come from households of low Socio-Economic-Status (SES). Relative to their higher SES peers, they are more likely to have deficits in learning, increased behavioral/emotional problems and, overall, lower levels of educational attainment. This puts them at risk for academic and vocational failures, creating a significant educational, societal, and economic burden. A foundational domain of academically relevant skills wherein children of low SES show marked deficits is mathematics (OECD, 2013). Critically, weak mathematical competences are associated with worsen health outcomes, inappropriate use of health resources, and higher levels of criminality (Parsons & Bynner, 2005). Thus, identifying targets for remediation within this domain of knowledge, particularly in vulnerable cohorts, has taken on great significance.

Hypotheses: Children from low SES households are greatly exposed to, and perceive, high levels of stress and preoccupations on a daily basis. Notably, high levels of stress, particularly during development, have been systematically linked to structural and functional alterations of several brain systems relevant to learning (Farah, 2017). We thus hypothesize that a candidate factor that can significantly – and pervasively – impair math learning in children from low SES is stress-exposure. Specifically, we propose that high levels of stress will negative impact the appropriate functioning of brain systems that are known to be important for the successful acquisition of math skills over development – within the prefrontal and parietal cortices (Iuculano et al., 2018).

Study population: We tested a sample of children in Grades 2 and 3 (7-9 year old). We focused on this age-range as this is the time when the majority of typically developing children learn to successfully master arithmetical operations. Moreover, this is the time when the brain starts to systematically recruit – in unison – dedicated systems for mathematical knowledge, including the prefrontal and parietal cortices.

Methods: Children were assessed on a series of behavioral measures that included tests of mathematical abilities (the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test/the Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities), as well as questionnaires of general-anxiety (the Child Behavior Checklist/the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale) and math-specific anxiety (the Scale for Early Mathematics Anxiety). A smaller sample of children also underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) acquisition during an arithmetic problem-solving task. SES was assessed either via parental questionnaires (i.e. family income, parental occupation, parental education), or through school’s parameters (i.e. private versus public schools).

Results: Our preliminary results reveal that, compared to their higher SES peers, 7-9 year old children of low SES showed lower mathematical abilities. Moreover, they displayed hypo- activation during math problem-solving in regions of the fronto-parietal network, including the Intraparietal Sulcus (IPS) and the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC). Furthermore, our results reveal that children of low SES presented greater levels of general-anxiety compared to their higher SES peers, as well as higher levels of math-specific anxiety. Altogether, these findings suggest that low math performance in children of low SES may be related to greater levels of anxiety in this group, paving the way for the development of future interventions.

Authors

• Teresa Iuculano, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
  Presenting Author

• Margot Roell
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anouchka Petrot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique & Université de Paris, LaPsyDÉ
  Non-Presenting Author