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Impaired Acuity of the Approximate Number System Underlies Mathematical Learning Disability (Dyscalculia)
Author(s) -
Mazzocco Michèle M. M.,
Feigenson Lisa,
Halberda Justin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01608.x
Subject(s) - dyscalculia , psychology , learning disability , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , audiology , dyslexia , medicine , reading (process) , political science , law
Many children have significant mathematical learning disabilities (MLD, or dyscalculia) despite adequate schooling. The current study hypothesizes that MLD partly results from a deficiency in the Approximate Number System (ANS) that supports nonverbal numerical representations across species and throughout development. In this study of 71 ninth graders, it is shown that students with MLD have significantly poorer ANS precision than students in all other mathematics achievement groups (low, typically, and high achieving), as measured by psychophysical assessments of ANS acuity ( w ) and of the mappings between ANS representations and number words ( cv ). This relation persists even when controlling for domain‐general abilities. Furthermore, this ANS precision does not differentiate low‐achieving from typically achieving students, suggesting an ANS deficit that is specific to MLD.