Effect of abacus training on executive function development and underlying neural correlates in Chinese children
Autor: | Chunjie Wang, Jian Weng, Yuqiu Liu, Yuan Yao, Shanshan Dong, Feiyan Chen |
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Rok vydání: | 2017 |
Předmět: |
Male
musculoskeletal diseases China medicine.medical_specialty Brain activity and meditation Psychology Child Neuropsychological Tests Audiology 050105 experimental psychology Developmental psychology Executive Function Random Allocation 03 medical and health sciences Neural activity 0302 clinical medicine Hum medicine Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging Child Set (psychology) Problem Solving Research Articles Analysis of Variance Brain Mapping Neural correlates of consciousness Schools Radiological and Ultrasound Technology 05 social sciences Brain Cognition Mathematical Concepts Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mental calculation Child development Neurology Practice Psychological Regression Analysis Female Neurology (clinical) Anatomy Psychology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
Zdroj: | Hum Brain Mapp |
ISSN: | 1097-0193 1065-9471 |
Popis: | Executive function (EF) refers to a set of cognitive abilities involved in self‐regulated behavior. Given the critical role of EF in cognition, strategies for improving EF have attracted intensive attention in recent years. Previous studies have explored the effects of abacus‐based mental calculation (AMC) training on several cognitive abilities. However, it remains unclear whether AMC training affects EF and its neural correlates. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to AMC or control groups upon starting primary school. The AMC group received 2 h AMC training every week, while the control group did not have any abacus experience. Neural activity during an EF task was examined using functional MRI for both groups in their 4(th) and 6(th) grades. Our results showed that the AMC group performed better and faster than the control group in both grades. They also had lower activation in the frontoparietal reigons than the control group in the 6(th) grade. From the 4(th) to the 6(th) grade, the AMC group showed activation decreases in the frontoparietal regions, while the control group exhibited an opposite pattern. Furthermore, voxel‐wise regression analyses revealed that better performance was associated with lower task‐relevant brain activity in the AMC group but associated with greater task‐relevant brain activity in the control group. These results suggest that long‐term AMC training, with calculation ability as its original target, may improve EF and enhance neural efficiency of the frontoparietal regions during development. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5234–5249, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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