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Activation and functional connectivity of cerebellum during reading and during arithmetic in children with combined reading and math disabilities

Ashburn, Sikoya M.; Matejko, Anna A.; Eden, Guinevere F.

Activation and functional connectivity of cerebellum during reading and during arithmetic in children with combined reading and math disabilities Thumbnail


Authors

Sikoya M. Ashburn

Guinevere F. Eden



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.

Citation

Ashburn, S. M., Matejko, A. A., & Eden, G. F. (2024). Activation and functional connectivity of cerebellum during reading and during arithmetic in children with combined reading and math disabilities. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 18, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2024.1135166

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 6, 2024
Online Publication Date Apr 29, 2024
Publication Date Apr 29, 2024
Deposit Date Jul 11, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jul 11, 2024
Journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
Print ISSN 1662-4548
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2024.1135166
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2525024

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Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.





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