Palmer, Lucy and Sumanapala, Jagodage and Mareschal, Denis and Dumontheil, Iroise and The Unlocke Team (2025) Neural associations between inhibitory control and counterintuitive reasoning in science and maths in primary school children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , ISSN 0898-929X. (In Press)
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Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that inhibitory control (IC) plays a pivotal role in science and maths counterintuitive reasoning by suppressing incorrect intuitive concepts, allowing correct counterintuitive concepts to come to mind. Neuroimaging studies have shown greater activation in the ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices when adults and adolescents reason about counterintuitive concepts, which has been interpreted as reflecting IC recruitment. However, the extent to which neural systems underlying IC support science and maths reasoning remains unexplored in children. This developmental stage is of particular importance, as many crucial counterintuitive concepts are learned in formal education in middle childhood. To address this gap, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected while 56 7–10 year-olds completed counterintuitive science and maths problems, plus IC tasks of interference control (Animal Size Stroop) and response inhibition (Go/No-go). Univariate analysis showed large regional overlap in activation between counterintuitive reasoning and interference control, with more limited activation observed in the response inhibition task. Multivariate similarity analysis, which explores fine scale patterns of activation across voxels, revealed neural activation similarities between (i) science and maths counterintuitive reasoning and interference control tasks in frontal, parietal and temporal regions, and (ii) maths reasoning and response inhibition tasks in the precuneus/superior parietal lobule. Extending previous research in adults and adolescents, this evidence is consistent with the proposal that IC, specifically interference control, supports children’s science and maths counterintuitive reasoning, although further research will be needed to demonstrate the similarities observed do not reflect more general multi-demand processes.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2025 16:42 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Jan 2025 06:02 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/54833 |
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