Rotzer

Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Kinderspital Zürich: Medizinische Klinik » MR-Forschung » Prof. Dr. Ernst Martin-Fiori » Rotzer

Completed research project

Title / Titel	Brain functions and anatomical findings in children with developmental dyscalculia compared to normally achieving children – what counts?
PDF	Abstract (PDF, 14 KB)
Summary / Zusammenfassung	Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disability in otherwise typical-achieving children with a frequency from 3 to 6 %. Despite the high prevalence in normal school population, rather little is known about the neural underpinnings of this learning disability. The investigation of children with DD poses a special challenge as the outcome of this disorder is very heterogeneous. In this study, we investigate the functional and anatomical networks for calculation in the brain of dyscalculic and normally achieving school children using quantitative structural MRI (VBM) and functional MRI (fMRI). Anatomical results show decreased gray and white matter volumes in the fronto-parietal network of children with DD, which might be the neurological substrate of impaired arithmetic processing skills. The functional underpinnings of this disorder will be investigated using fMRI. In order to take the heterogeneity of this disability into account we use three different kinds of testing paradigms.
Publications / Publikationen	1. Rotzer S, Kucian K, Martin E, von Aster M, Klaver P, Loenneker T. Optimized Voxel-Based Morphometry in Children with Developmental Dyscalculia. NeuroImage, 39:417-422, 2008
Keywords / Suchbegriffe	functional MRI, VBM, dyscalculia, number processing
Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte	lic. phil.I Stephanie Rotzer, MSc (Project Leader) stephanie.rotzer@kispi.uzh.ch Dr.sc.nat. Karin Kucian, PhD karin.kucian@kispi.uzh.ch Prof. Dr. med. Ernst Martin-Fiori, MD ernst.martin@kispi.uzh.ch Prof. Dr. med. Michael von Aster, MD, lic. phil. vonAster@kjpd.uzh.ch
Other links to external web pages	http://www.kispi.uzh.ch/af/ForschungLehre/zentrum/Forschungsprojekte/Forschungsstudie-1/Infoblatt_Trainingsstudie.pdf
Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch	SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung) Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF Nr. 3200B0-116834)
Duration of Project / Projektdauer	Aug 2005 to Oct 2008