Figure 6. Brain plasticity in distributed functional networks in response to math training.

A. Math training induces functional brain plasticity in children with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD). Before training, compared with post-training, children with MLD exhibit hyper-activation during arithmetic problem solving in the bilateral DLPFC, VLPFC, AI, IPS, and fusiform gyrus (FG) in the VTOC. No brain areas show greater activation post-training, compared to pre-training. B. A linear classifier built using a support vector machine with leave-one-out cross validation reveals that brain activation patterns between MLD and typically developing (TD) groups are highly discriminable before training, but no longer discriminable after training. C. Training in mental number line results in greater reduction in brain activation during numerical task performance in children with developmental dyscalculia (DD), compared to TD children. D. Before training, greater bilateral IPS functional connectivity with parietal, temporal, occipital, and frontal regions is evident in the DD group relative to TD group. After training, IPS hyperconnectivity in the DD group only remains in a small parietal region. *p < .05. L: Left; R: Right. Other abbreviations are the same as in Figure 1. Adapted from Iuculano et al. (2015) [A–B], Kucian et al. (2011) [C], and Michels et al. (2018) [D].