On the neuro-cognitive representations involved in fraction processing and its learning

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Korbinian Möller
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 22134855

• Final Report Year: 2019

Final Report Abstract

Taken together, studies 1 and 2 of our project showed that there are domain-specific and domaingeneral aspects of content-specific fraction processing, which determine the difficulty of fractions. Moreover, results of study 3 indicated that domain-specific magnitude processing of fractions can be improved by training, even if this training uses different notations. In addition to this content-specific fraction processing, there were also affective aspects which can influence and even hinder fraction processing and which are also driven by the difficulty of the fraction task. In this vein, results of study 4 suggested that negative affective responses to difficult math tasks (in this case proportions) seem to occur in all individuals, but the ability to sufficiently regulate these affective reactions seems to reduce the negative effect on actual performance. Therefore, we suggest that a training of domain-general emotion regulation might be beneficial for content-specific fraction learning and processing. Nevertheless, it is up to future studies to evaluate these claims.

Publications

• (2016). Considering structural connectivity in the triple code model of numerical cognition: Differential connectivity for magnitude processing and arithmetic facts. Brain Structure & Function, 221(2), 979-95
  Klein, Elise; Suchan, Julia; Moeller, Korbinian; Karnath, Hans-Otto; Knops, André; Wood, Guilherme; Nuerk, Hans-Christoph & Willmes, Klaus
  
• (2015). Comparing a single case to a control group - Applying linear mixed effects models to repeated measures data. Cortex, 71, 148-159
  Huber, Stefan; Klein, Elise; Moeller, Korbinian & Willmes, Klaus
  
• (2015). The influence of math anxiety on symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:1621
  Dietrich, Julia F.; Huber, Stefan; Moeller, Korbinian & Klein, Elise
  
• (2016). A systematic investigation of accuracy and response time based measures used to index ANS acuity. PLOS ONE, 11(9):e0163076
  Dietrich, Julia Felicitas; Huber, Stefan; Klein, Elise; Willmes, Klaus; Pixner, Silvia & Moeller, Korbinian
  
• (2016). Fact learning in complex arithmetic – The role of the angular gyrus revisited. Human Brain Mapping, 37, 3061-3079
  Bloechle, Johannes; Huber, Stefan; Bahnmueller, Julia; Rennig, Johannes; Willmes, Klaus; Cavdaroglu, Seda; Moeller, Korbinian & Klein, Elise
  
• (2016). Insights into numerical cognition - Considering eyefixations in number processing and arithmetic. Psychological Research, 80, 334-359
  Mock, J.; Huber, S.; Klein, E. & Moeller, K.
  
• (2018). Magnitude processing of symbolic and non-symbolic proportions: an fMRI study. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 14:9
  Mock, Julia; Huber, Stefan; Bloechle, Johannes; Dietrich, Julia F.; Bahnmueller, Julia; Rennig, Johannes; Klein, Elise & Moeller, Korbinian
  
• (2018). Neuro-cognitive mechanisms of global Gestalt perception in visual quantification. Neuroimage, 181, 359-369
  Bloechle, Johannes; Huber, Stefan; Klein, Elise; Bahnmueller, Julia; Moeller, Korbinian & Rennig, Johannes