Neural investigations of a digital-game based intervention for young Learners with mathematical developmental variability

Developmental dyscalculia (DD), a significant mathematics learning difficulty, remains under-researched in terms of its neural mechanisms and effective interventions. Few studies have examined neural changes after math interventions in young children. This study investigated these changes in thirty-two dyscalculia-at-risk (DR) and non-dyscalculia-at-risk (NDR) children following a digital game-based intervention, focusing on brain activation and network changes using graph theory metrics. NDR children were randomized into intervention and control groups. Results indicated increased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) during symbolic arithmetic tasks for both DR and NDR groups post-intervention. Conversely, both groups showed decreased IFG activation during nonsymbolic tasks. Notably, IPS activation significantly increased only for the NDR intervention group in symbolic tasks, a finding that disappeared when controlling for Total Reading, suggesting the potential influence of initial reading ability on intervention outcomes. Brain network analysis showed improved integration for the NDR intervention group, demonstrated by higher clustering coefficient and local efficiency. The DR group, however, displayed reduced local efficiency, potentially reflecting shifts in network states, or insufficient intervention dosage.