Scope – Erin Digitale
“…in a longitudinal study published today in The Journal of Neuroscience, a team of Stanford researchers show that scans of third graders’ brains forecast which children will eventually do well in math and which of them will continue to struggle…The brain scans were better than standard IQ, math or other tests at predicting how the children’s math skills would develop. Larger volume and greater connectedness of specific brain regions at age eight was linked to better math skills down the road. From our press release: “A long-term goal of this research is to identify children who might benefit most from targeted math intervention at an early age,” said senior author Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “Mathematical skills are crucial in our increasingly technological society, and our new data show which brain features forecast future growth in math abilities.””(more)