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Cui J, Xiao R, Ma M, Yuan L, Cohen Kodash R, Zhou X. Children skilled in mental abacus show enhanced non-symbolic number sense. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-00717-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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Chinese kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus have advantages in spatial processing and attention. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Wang C. A Review of the Effects of Abacus Training on Cognitive Functions and Neural Systems in Humans. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:913. [PMID: 32982681 PMCID: PMC7492585 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Abacus, which represents numbers via a visuospatial format, is a traditional device to facilitate arithmetic operations. Skilled abacus users, who have acquired the ability of abacus-based mental calculation (AMC), can perform fast and accurate calculations by manipulating an imaginary abacus in mind. Due to this extraordinary calculation ability in AMC users, there is an expanding literature investigating the effects of AMC training on cognition and brain systems. This review study aims to provide an updated overview of important findings in this fast-growing research field. Here, findings from previous behavioral and neuroimaging studies about AMC experts as well as children and adults receiving AMC training are reviewed and discussed. Taken together, our review of the existing literature suggests that AMC training has the potential to enhance various cognitive skills including mathematics, working memory and numerical magnitude processing. Besides, the training can result in functional and anatomical neural changes that are largely located within the frontal-parietal and occipital-temporal brain regions. Some of the neural changes can explain the training-induced cognitive enhancements. Still, caution is needed when extend the conclusions to a more general situation. Implications for future research are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunjie Wang
- Institute of Brain Science and Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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Buskell A. Cognitive novelties, informational form, and structural-causal explanations. SYNTHESE 2020; 198:8533-8553. [PMID: 34759435 PMCID: PMC8570306 DOI: 10.1007/s11229-020-02585-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Recent work has established a framework for explaining the origin of cognitive novelties-qualitatively distinct cognitive traits-in human beings. This niche construction approach argues that humans engineer epistemic environments in ways that facilitate the ontogenetic and phylogenetic development of such novelties. I here argue that attention to the organized relations between content-carrying informational vehicles, or informational form, is key to a valuable explanatory strategy within this project, what I call structural-causal explanations. Drawing on recent work from Cecilia Heyes, and developing a case study around a novel mathematical capacity, I demonstrate how structural-causal explanations can contribute to the niche construction approach by underwriting the application of explanatory tools and generating new empirical targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Buskell
- Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Xie Y, Weng J, Wang C, Xu T, Peng X, Chen F. The impact of long-term abacus training on modular properties of functional brain network. Neuroimage 2018; 183:811-817. [PMID: 30149141 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Revised: 08/17/2018] [Accepted: 08/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Training induces cognitive and neural plasticity, and understanding of the neural mechanisms of training-induced brain plasticity has significant implications for improving children's academic achievement. Previous studies have indicated that training in abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) improves arithmetical capacities and results in brain plasticity within visuospatial brain regions. However, previous studies have reported alterations within distributed brain regions. Thus, it remains unclear whether and how AMC training influences the functional integration and separation between and/or within networks. The current study aimed to address these questions using graph theory, engaging 162 children, 90 of whom were given long-term AMC training. The AMC group exhibited greater local efficiency and intra-module connections within the visual network and less local efficiency and intra-module connections in the cingulo-opercular network (CON). Interestingly, in the AMC group, negative correlations were found between local efficiency and intra-module connections across the two networks. Furthermore, both network characteristics of the CON were negatively correlated with math ability in the AMC group. No such correlations were found in the control group. The current study delineated the enhanced neural mechanisms of visuospatial-related brain regions at an intermediate level and highlighted the intrinsic association between different brain ensembles in neural plasticity, thus furthering the understanding of the effects of AMC training on brain network reconfiguration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Xie
- Bio-X Laboratory, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China
| | - Jian Weng
- Bio-X Laboratory, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China; Center of Brain Imaging Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrumental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Chunjie Wang
- Bio-X Laboratory, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, Department of Optical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PR China
| | - Tianyong Xu
- Bio-X Laboratory, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China
| | - Xiaogang Peng
- The First Hospital of Qiqihar, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, PR China
| | - Feiyan Chen
- Bio-X Laboratory, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, PR China.
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