Acalculia: Deficits of operational and quantity number knowledge

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 825-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
SEBASTIAN J. CRUTCH ◽  
ELIZABETH K. WARRINGTON
Keyword(s):  
Number Processing ◽  
Semantic Dementia ◽  
Simple Arithmetic ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Multiplication Facts ◽  
Arithmetic Fact ◽  
Degenerative Disorders ◽  
Level Number ◽  
Processing Abilities

We describe the standardization of three new tests of knowledge of quantity facts, number operations and multiplication facts. We also report a validation study in which a group of 50 patients with cortical degenerative disorders were tested on these three new tests of number processing. Our results show that the quantity facts and number operations tests are sensitive measures of number processing abilities. Performance on the three new tests and the Graded Difficulty Arithmetic (GDA) test were found to be significantly impaired in the Alzheimer's Disease (AD) group. The frontotemporal dementia (FTD) group was subdivided into those with a semantic dementia (SD) and those with prominent frontal features (Non-SD). The semantic dementia subgroup was more impaired than both the AD patient group and the nonsemantic FTD subgroup on the quantity facts test. A more fine grained analysis reveals several interesting patterns of performance, including a dissociation between impaired performance on the quantity facts and number operations tests and preserved performance on the GDA. The findings attest the value of comparing performance on the GDA and our new tests in delineating the nature of an individual's number processing deficits. Implications for the relation between simple arithmetic fact knowledge and higher level number processing are discussed. (JINS, 2001, 7, 825–834.)

Localizing Arithmetic Processes in the Brain: Evidence from a Transient Deficit During Cortical Stimulation

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Whalen ◽  
Michael McCloskey ◽  
Ronald P. Lesser ◽  
Barry Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Cortical Stimulation ◽  
Simple Arithmetic ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Arithmetic Fact ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Fact Retrieval ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Arithmetic Fact Retrieval

Although substantial progress has been made in characterizing the cognitive processes involved in simple arithmetic, the localization of these processes in the brain is not yet well understood. In this article we consider the localization of a specific arithmetic process, the retrieval of arithmetic table facts from memory. We report a single-patient study in which cortical stimulation was used to create transient disruption of brain activity in localized regions of the cortex. We show that stimulation at a left parietal site impaired performance on simple multiplication problems and further that the impairment reflected stimulation-induced disruption of arithmetic fact retrieval. Our findings support the hypothesis (e.g., Warrington, 1982) that the left parietal lobe is implicated in the arithmetic fact retrieval process.

scholarly journals Visual occipito-temporal sensitivity to digits through elementary school

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorka Fraga-Gonzalez ◽  
Sarah V. Di Pietro ◽  
Georgette Pleisch ◽  
Jasmin Neuenschwander ◽  
Susanne Walitza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Processing Abilities

Number processing abilities are important for academic and personal development. The course of initial specialization of ventral occipito-temporal cortex (vOTC) for visual number processing is crucial for the development of numeric and arithmetic skills. We examined the visual N1, the electrophysiological correlate of vOTC activations across five time points in kindergarten (T1), middle and end of first grade (T2, T3), second (T4) and fifth grade (T5). 62 children (35 female) performed a target detection task which included visual presentation of digits, false fonts, and letters. Arithmetic skills were measured at T4 and T5 with standardized math tests. Stronger N1 amplitudes for digits than false fonts were found across all 5 measurements. Arithmetic skills correlated negatively with visual N1 sensitivity to digits at T4 (2nd grade, mean age 8.3 yrs) over the left hemisphere, possibly reflecting allocation of more attentional or cognitive resources with poorer arithmetic skills. Our main result shows persistent visual N1 sensitivity to digits that is already present early on in pre-school and remains stable until fifth grade. This differs from the relatively sharp rise and fall of the visual N1 sensitivity to words or letters between kindergarten and middle of elementary school. The present study thus indicates different trajectories in the development of visual processing for written characters that are relevant to numeracy and literacy.

scholarly journals Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violet Aurora Brown ◽  
Kristin J. Van Engen ◽  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Mask Type

Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues—a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker’s face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker’s mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and the subjective effort involved for young (N=180) and older (N=180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adult listeners. However, with the addition of moderate (-5 dB SNR) and high (-9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Importantly, participants also rated the speech as more effortful in the masked conditions compared to unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.

Assessment of calculation and number processing using the EC301 battery: Cross-cultural normative data and application to left- and right-brain damaged patients

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 840-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGES DELLATOLAS ◽  
GÉRARD DELOCHE ◽  
ANNA BASSO ◽  
DOLORES CLAROS-SALINAS
Keyword(s):  
Normative Data ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Left Brain ◽  
Right Brain ◽  
Clinical Investigations ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Low Performance

To provide referential normative data on simple tasks dealing with number processing and calculation which could be used in clinical investigations, 551 normal volunteers aged between 18 and 69 years from France and Belgium (n = 180), Italy (n = 212) and Germany (n = 159), performed the 31 tasks which constitute the EC301 calculation and number processing battery. Differences between countries were significant for 16 tasks and a Gender × Education interaction was observed for some tasks, with men performing better than women among subjects with low education only. To present an overview of preserved and impaired calculation and number processing abilities in left-brain damaged (LBD) aphasic patients and right-brain damaged (RBD) nonaphasic patients, the 31 subtests of the EC301 battery were proposed to 80 patients with cerebrovascular accident, 56 left and 24 right, for most cases in the territory of the middle cerebral artery. LBD aphasic patients showed low performance on oral and alphabetical spoken verbal and written verbal counting, transcoding when a written code was involved, and mental or written calculation; but relatively good performance at finding the number of elements in small sets, comparing numbers written in the Arabic digital code and placing correctly numbers on an analogue number line. The lowest performances of RBD patients were observed for estimation tasks and for placing a number on a scale. Results and their implications for further research are discussed according to the present information processing and anatomofunctional models of calculation and number processing. (JINS, 2001, 7, 840–859.)

What Makes Multiplication Facts Difficult

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Domahs ◽  
Margarete Delazer ◽  
Hans‐Christoph Nuerk
Keyword(s):  
Size Effect ◽  
Correct Result ◽  
Interference Theory ◽  
Problem Size ◽  
Multiplication Facts ◽  
Arithmetic Fact ◽  
Problem Size Effect ◽  
Fact Retrieval ◽  
Arithmetic Fact Retrieval ◽  
Models Of Arithmetic

Two current models of arithmetic fact retrieval, the network interference theory (NIT; Campbell, 1995 ) and the interacting neighbors (IN) model ( Verguts & Fias, 2005a ), predict that errors in simple multiplication should be more probable, if they include the same digit as the correct result (i.e., if they are “consistent,” compared with “inconsistent” errors). In a reanalysis of error data originally reported by Campbell (1997) , we provide first empirical evidence for this prediction. Furthermore, these results support the notion of different quantity representations for decades and units as proposed by Nuerk, Weger, and Willmes (2001) . However, the NIT and IN‐model differ in their explanations of the problem‐size effect, a hallmark finding robustly observed in arithmetic fact retrieval. Only the IN‐model predicts that a correct answer's neighborhood consistency can fully account for the problem‐size effect, which was confirmed in our analysis.

scholarly journals Demonstrating the Qualitative Differences between Semantic Aphasia and Semantic Dementia: A Novel Exploration of Nonverbal Semantic Processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krist A. Noonan ◽  
Peter Garrard ◽  
Elizabeth Jefferies ◽  
Sheeba Eshan ◽  
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Dementia ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Semantic Impairment

Semantic dementia (SD) implicates the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) as a critical substrate for semantic memory. Multi-modal semantic impairment can also be a feature of post-stroke aphasia (referred to here as “semantic aphasia” or SA) where patients show impaired regulatory control accompanied by lesions to the frontal and/or temporo-parietal cortices, and thus the two patient groups demonstrate qualitatively different patterns of semantic impairment [1]. Previous comparisons of these two patient groups have tended to focus on verbal receptive tasks. Accordingly, this study investigated nonverbal receptive abilities via a comparison of reality decision judgements in SD and SA. Pictures of objects were presented alongside non-real distracters whose features were altered to make them more/less plausible for the semantic category. The results highlighted a number of critical differences between the two groups. Compared to SD patients, SA patients: (1) were relatively unimpaired on the two alternative forced choice (2AFC) decisions despite showing a comparable degree of semantic impairment on other assessments; (2) showed minimal effects of the plausibility manipulation; (3) were strongly influenced by variations in the regulatory requirements of tasks; and (4) exhibited a reversed effect of familiarity–i.e., better performance on less commonly encountered items. These results support a distinction between semantic impairments which arise from impaired regulatory processes (e.g., SA) versus those where degraded semantic knowledge is the causal factor (e.g., SD). SA patients performed relatively well because the task structure reduced the requirement for internally generated control. In contrast, SD patients performed poorly because their degraded knowledge did not allow the fine-grained distinctions required to complete the task.

The Staggered Spondaic Word Test

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia A. Riccio ◽  
George W. Hynd ◽  
Morris J. Cohen ◽  
Lawrence Molt
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Behavioral Ratings ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Language Functioning ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Word Test ◽  
Processing Abilities

Various auditory and language tasks are considered to reflect children's auditory processing abilities. It has been suggested that these measures may be assessing language, rather than auditory, processing. In addition, recent studies have suggested that tasks used in the assessment of auditory processing may, in fact, be assessing attention. Of the auditory paradigms, the most frequently used measure is the Staggered Spondaic Word test (SSW; Katz, 1962). This study investigated the correlation of impaired SSW performance with other auditory measures, cognitive ability, language functioning, and behavioral ratings specific to inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity in a group of 38 children who demonstrated impairment on the SSW. Results indicate that the SSW correlates most with measures of cognitive ability, expressive language, and those relating to auditory memory. As children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been found to demonstrate impaired performance on the SSW, the likelihood that children with ADHD would demonstrate impairment bilaterally as opposed to a single-ear effect was also investigated. Results did not support a consistent pattern of impaired SSW performance for children with ADHD, suggesting that CAPD and ADHD are, in fact, not the same entity.

Number processing after stroke: Anatomoclinical correlations in oral and written codes

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 899-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugène Mayer ◽  
Michael Reicherts ◽  
Gérard Deloche ◽  
Lucia Willadino-Braga ◽  
Irène Taussik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Digital Processing ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Brain Lesions ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Calculation Processing

AbstractCalculation and number-processing abilities were studied in 49 patients with chronic single vascular brain lesions by means of a standardized multitask assessment battery (EC301), as well as through other tasks, testing functions thought to be implicated in calculation such as language, visuo-perceptive abilities, verbal and spatial working memory, planning, and attention. The results show that (1) lesions involving parietal areas—particularly left parietal lesions—are prone to alter calculation processing. A more detailed analysis showed that patients with lesions involving left parietal areas were impaired in both digital (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers written in Arabic code) and oral (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers heard or expressed orally) processing while lesions involving right parietal areas lead to an impairment in digital processing only. However, linguistically related alphanumerical processing (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers written orthographically) was not influenced by parietal lesions. (2) Semantic representations (knowledge of the magnitude related to a given number) as well as rote arithmetical knowledge are also impaired following damage to parietal and particularly left parietal lesions, suggesting that these areas are also implicated in magnitude comparisons and in the retrieval of arithmetical facts. (3) Performance in calculation is highly correlated with language. (4) Moreover, we found a highly significant correlation between performances in oral calculation and verbal working memory, and between written-digit calculation and visuospatial working memory. Performances in regard to visuo-perceptive abilities, planning, and attention were less consistently correlated with calculation. These results stress the close correlation, but relative independence between calculation and language, as well as a dissociated sensitivity of oral and digital processing to brain lesions. (JINS, 2003, 9, 899–912.)

Predictable Generalization in Academic Learning as a Result of Preskills and Strategy Training

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lloyd ◽  
Nancy J. Saltzman ◽  
James M. Kauffman
Keyword(s):  
Strategy Training ◽  
Multiple Baseline ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Baseline Design ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Rapid Acquisition ◽  
Multiplication Facts ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Division Problems ◽  
Instructional Session

The effects of Preskills and Strategy Training were assessed on acquisition of basic multiplication and division skills. In Experiment 1, four boys were first taught preskills for a set of multiplication facts. Preskills alone did not enable children to perform multiplication tasks correctly. When subjects were taught a strategy for using the preskills, they were able to solve problems for which they received the Strategy Training; correct performance generalized to problems for which the preskills but not the strategy had been taught. A multiple-baseline (across subjects) design showed that these effects were reliable. Following Strategy Training each child was given partial Preskill Training for those multiplication facts for which neither Preskills nor Strategy Training had been provided. The children used the preskills to solve the problems correctly. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the findings of Experiment 1 to division and provided a more fine-grained analysis of Strategy Training effects. A novel multiple-baseline design (across subjects) was used in which Strategy Training was introduced successively to three children within a single instructional session lasting 110 minutes, with probes (multiplication and division facts) administered about every nine minutes providing the dependent variables. None of the children completed the division problems correctly during baseline probes. However, they all acquired division skills when taught a strategy. The results of both experiments demonstrate the importance of Preskills Training and the effectiveness of Strategy Training. The results of Experiment 1 showed that generalization across tasks can be predicted when preskills and a strategy are provided; the results of Experiment 2 showed that rapid acquisition of related learning can be obtained by teaching a related strategy.

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