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Mathematical abilities in dyslexic children: a diffusion tensor imaging study

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Abstract

Dyslexia is characterized by a deficit in language processing which mainly affects word decoding and spelling skills. In addition, children with dyslexia also show problems in mathematics. However, for the latter, the underlying structural correlates have not been investigated. Sixteen children with dyslexia (mean age 9.8 years [0.39]) and 24 typically developing children (mean age 9.9 years [0.29]) group matched for age, gender, IQ, and handedness underwent 3 T MR diffusion tensor imaging as well as cognitive testing. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics were performed to correlate behavioral data with diffusion data. Children with dyslexia performed worse than controls in standardized verbal number tasks, such as arithmetic efficiency tests (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). In contrast, the two groups did not differ in the nonverbal number line task. Arithmetic efficiency, representing the total score of the four arithmetic tasks, multiplication, and division, correlated with diffusion measures in widespread areas of the white matter, including bilateral superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi in children with dyslexia compared to controls. Children with dyslexia demonstrated lower performance in verbal number tasks but performed similarly to controls in a nonverbal number task. Further, an association between verbal arithmetic efficiency and diffusion measures was demonstrated in widespread areas of the white matter suggesting compensatory mechanisms in children with dyslexia compared to controls. Taken together, poor fact retrieval in children with dyslexia is likely a consequence of deficits in the language system, which not only affects literacy skills but also impacts on arithmetic skills.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank all study participants and their parents.

Disclosures

ᅟ

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and the applicable revisions. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants and their parents prior to inclusion in the study.

Funding

This study was partly funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (IK) and the Cusanuswerk (AW). This study was part of the doctoral thesis of Anna Willems.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany

      Inga K. Koerte, Anna Willems, Marc Muehlmann, Kristina Moll & Gerd Schulte-Körne

    2. Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

      Inga K. Koerte, Anna Willems, Marc Muehlmann, Marek Kubicki & Martha E. Shenton

    3. Institute for Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany

      Inga K. Koerte, Denise Steffinger, Daniel Keeser & Birgit Ertl-Wagner

    4. Department of Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany

      Sonia Cornell & Florian Heinen

    5. Institute of Applied Psychology, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tyrol, Austria

      Silvia Pixner

    6. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany

      Daniel Keeser

    7. Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

      Marek Kubicki & Martha E. Shenton

    8. VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

      Martha E. Shenton

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    1. Inga K. Koerte
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    Correspondence to Inga K. Koerte.

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    Inga K. Koerte and Anna Willems contributed equally to this work.

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    Koerte, I.K., Willems, A., Muehlmann, M. et al. Mathematical abilities in dyslexic children: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 10, 781–791 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-015-9436-y

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