Learning effects on math and high cognitive functions sharing the same neural substrate

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25871252
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Cognitive science Brain biometrics
Research Institution	Osaka University (2014-2015) Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (2013)
Principal Investigator	Maruyama Masaki 大阪大学, 免疫学フロンティア研究センター, 特任助教 (70443033)
Project Period (FY)	2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Keywords	学習 / 文法 / 言語 / 計算式 / 痛覚 / 認知 / 論文発表 / 国際共同研究 / 行動実験 / ＭＲＩ実験 / 機能的ＭＲＩ実験 / モデル解析 / 国際研究者交流 / 論文執筆 / 被験者課題の選定 / 国際情報交換（フランス）
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study probed cognitive functions that share a neural substrate with the human math abilities. Brain functions that are distinguished from each other but have a common neural substrate can show a positive correlation in behavioral performances. In this study, behavioral performances of a number comparison and other cognitive tasks were measured from 20 subjects. Preliminary analyses did not find any significant positive correlation among the tasks across the subjects. Further examinations on the correlation are going to be conducted with high statistical sensitivity, using more accurate analytic methods and more subjects' data. Generalization of math training effect to linguistic skill was also investigated. This study has successfully developed a training task related to syntax of mathematical expressions. Behavioral and fMRI data acquired before and after the training are going to be analyzed to examine a generalization of the effect to linguistic cognition.