Many people self-report that they hate mathematics and anything that talks about arithmetic, but this may be caused more by fear rather than poor innate ability to process numbers, researchers at the University of Chicago said.
Researchers termed this as math-anxiety, wherein the individual experiences some sort of ‘fear’ when faced with task of using arithmetic skills. Individuals with this condition feared to be overwhelmed by anxiety, thus they try to simply ‘avoid’ computing numbers to prevent being overcome by anxiety. To prove it, researchers used a functional MRI to scan the brains of university-level students who have self-reported poor mathematical skills and those who fare well in the subject. They were made to answer difficult math tests while having an MRI.
Scans reveal some differences in the brains among two groups. Greater activation of the frontal and parietal regions, areas of the brain associated with regulating negative emotions and concentration, resulted to better performance to math tests on math-anxious students. Those students got 83 percent of questions correct, almost in par to those students who don’t have problems in mathematics.
The findings suggest that students who have problems in math can improve their situation by controlling the anxiety they feel whenever faced with numbers. Improving self-confidence in computations and self-acceptance to mistakes are also very helpful to students when engaged to math subjects. Classroom practices that encourage the student to focus their attention and engage at the math task at hand can help eliminate poor performance brought by math anxiety, written by the researchers.
The study appears in the October issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex.
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Filed under Anxiety Disorders, Learning Disability, Mental Health, Mental Illness by on Oct 26th, 2011. Comment. 
Infants who had been exposed to general anesthesia by two or more times are at risk of developing learning problems as they grow up, according to a research done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The link between early general anesthesia use and learning disabilities has long been suspected by scientists because previous studies show that anesthetics can damage brains of infant monkeys and rodents.
In the Mayo Clinic, researchers monitored more than 5,000 children from 1976 to 1982. They examined 350 infants who underwent general anesthesia for surgery and 700 normal infants as controls, tracking their education, behavior and school records.
At analyzing records, those who were exposed to anesthesia at least once have 23 percent more risk of having learning difficulties before reaching the age of 19. This is higher compared to 19 percent in the 700-individual control group. It is good to know that those at higher risk are composed of only 350 individuals.
Though the researchers did not provide any solid explanation for the results, other factors might come into play. For example, some of the children that needed surgery have been predisposed to learning difficulties. They further added that anesthetics or surgery are not to blame, as delaying the procedure might cause more harm in some cases.
Researchers say that the study should not be used as a basis to forego surgery until the child is older. And it’s not right either to limit or provide inadequate anesthesia to very young children needing surgery. Many conditions are better treated surgically as soon as possible, said the researchers, and most surgeons weigh the benefits and possible harm very carefully before proceeding with the operation.
The researching team declined to offer any advice to parents. But to physicians, they advised that surgery on infants should be decided on its merits, treat each case uniquely and ascertain all possible factors.
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Filed under Learning Disability, Mental Health, Mental Illness by on Oct 17th, 2011. Comment.
Can second hand smoke actually contribute to the development of learning disabilities? Seems a bit of a stretch to me but this study suggest a possible link. However, other factors including lead exposure, maternal smoking during pregnancy and child’s current smoking status are potential unmeasured confounding factors, the researchers acknowledged.
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Filed under Learning Disability by on Aug 16th, 2011. Comment.
