Wednesday, February 5, 2025
2/5/2025
Project Summary Despite the importance of math skills in daily life tasks, relatively little is known about the neural correlates of math or its interaction with language processing in the brain. Prevailing literature posits that number sense, the ability to grasp the concept of numbers, can be understood as two forms of numeracy: precise and approximate. Unlike approximate numeracy, which is considered to be the innate ability to understand magnitude, precise numeracy is thought to be strongly tied to language as it relies on symbolic communication and higher cognitive skills. However, the neural basis of precise numeracy is significantly less studied than approximate numeracy, and its connection to language areas has not yet been explored. This novel work investigating the neural correlates of numeracy through the lens of known language areas and pathways will shed light on math abilities, particularly as they relate to language, and will improve understanding of the consequences of related disorders, such as the frequently co-morbid aphasia and acalculia following stroke. In order to fill in these knowledge gaps, the project uses the lesion method to perform targeted region-of-interest (ROI), voxel-based, and tract-based lesion-symptom analyses involving structural magnetic resonance imaging (T1, T2, FLAIR MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Data will be drawn from a sample of 75-125 individuals with left-hemisphere focal lesions due to stroke. The project draws from an extensive array of numeracy and language behavioral data, coupled with multimodal neuroimaging data that allows for different types of lesion-symptom analyses. The hypothesis states that precise numeracy is supported by both the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) area that has been strongly linked to approximate numeracy, and brain regions associated with language ability. This leads to a further hypothesis that deficits in precise numeracy associated with damage to language-related regions and pathways will co-vary with deficits in language functions. In order to investigate the relationship between language and numeracy processes, Aim 1 will use a targeted ROI approach to investigate ROIs implicated in numeracy and language literature. Aim 2 will perform a data-driven factor analysis across a set of 11 numerical and language neuropsychological measures, and then use the results in a multivariate lesion- symptom mapping analysis to elucidate brain regions that contribute to both language and numeracy skills. Aim 3 will explore white matter connectivity of the numeracy and language networks through the use of univariate and multivariate lesion-symptom analyses based on diffusion-weighted brain volumes. This research will culminate in knowledge of both gray matter structures and white matter connectivity of the numeracy network, particularly as it relates to the language network. Through a broad range of neuroimaging techniques and quantitative methodology that address a novel area of symbolic communication research, the proposal will be invaluable to numeracy and language research and the applicant’s ultimate goal of employing an interdisciplinary approach for her career as an independent investigator studying language, numeracy, and cognition.
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