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Arithmetic tasks in different formats and their influence on behavior and brain oxygenation as assessed with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS): a study involving primary and secondary school children

  • Biological Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Original Article
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Abstract

This study investigated whether near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be used to measure the processing of arithmetic problems in school children. Another aim was to assess whether distinct formats of such problems would lead to different neural processing. Two large samples of school children from different age groups were examined while calculating or reading arithmetic problems that were either presented in numeric or in word format. As expected, we found that, compared to reading, calculation resulted in greater average oxygenation in parietal and posterior frontal regions. Neither format nor age had a significant effect on brain oxygenation. We were able to demonstrate that NIRS measurements can readily be conducted with children and in school settings, which is an indication for the ecological validity of this measurement technique.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the teachers, staff, and students of the participating schools for their dedicated support, Tim Hahn for programming the experiment, and the Hitachi Medical Corp. for providing the ETG 4000 NIRS equipment. The study was financed by the research Grant 01GJ0617 1518/7 from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to A.J.F., K.R., and R.P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Psychophysiology and Functional Imaging, University Hospital Wuerzburg, Fuechsleinstr. 15, 97080, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Thomas Dresler, Martin Schecklmann, Ann-Christine Ehlis, Michael M. Plichta & Andreas J. Fallgatter

  2. Mathematics Education, Mathematical Institute, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Andreas Obersteiner & Kristina Reiss

  3. Educational Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    A. Carina M. Vogel & Reinhard Pekrun

  4. Institute of Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Melany M. Richter

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  1. Thomas Dresler
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  2. Andreas Obersteiner
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  3. Martin Schecklmann
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  4. A. Carina M. Vogel
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  5. Ann-Christine Ehlis
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  7. Michael M. Plichta
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  10. Andreas J. Fallgatter
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Correspondence to Thomas Dresler.

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Dresler, T., Obersteiner, A., Schecklmann, M. et al. Arithmetic tasks in different formats and their influence on behavior and brain oxygenation as assessed with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS): a study involving primary and secondary school children. J Neural Transm 116, 1689–1700 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-009-0307-9

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