Supplementary Information files for The impact of a lack of mathematical education on brain development and future attainment

Supplementary Information files for The impact of a lack of mathematical education on brain development and future attainmentFormal education has a long-term impact on an individual’s life. However, our knowledge of the effect of a specific lack of education, such as in mathematics, is currently poor but is highly relevant given the extant differences between countries in their educational curricula and the differences in opportunities to access education. Here we examined whether neurotransmitter concentrations in the adolescent brain could classify whether a student is lacking mathematical education. Decreased γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration within the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) successfully classified whether an adolescent studies math and was negatively associated with frontoparietal connectivity. In a second experiment, we uncovered that our findings were not due to preexisting differences before a mathematical education ceased. Furthermore, we showed that MFG GABA not only classifies whether an adolescent is studying math or not, but it also predicts the changes in mathematical reasoning ∼19 mo later. The present results extend previous work in animals that has emphasized the role of GABA neurotransmission in synaptic and network plasticity and highlight the effect of a specific lack of education on MFG GABA concentration and learning-dependent plasticity. Our findings reveal the reciprocal effect between brain development and education and demonstrate the negative consequences of a specific lack of education during adolescence on brain plasticity and cognitive functions.

附加信息文件：缺乏数学教育对大脑发育和未来成就的影响。正规教育对个人生活具有长期影响。然而，我们对特定教育缺乏（如数学教育）影响的认识目前尚显不足，但鉴于各国教育课程设置及教育机会获取的差异，这一认识的重要性不言而喻。本研究旨在探究青少年大脑中神经递质浓度是否能够区分学生是否缺乏数学教育。在中额回（MFG）中γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）浓度的降低成功地将青少年是否学习数学进行了分类，并且与额顶叶连接性呈负相关。在第二个实验中，我们发现我们的发现并非源于数学教育停止前的既存差异。此外，我们展示了MFG中的GABA不仅能够区分青少年是否学习数学，而且能够预测大约19个月后数学推理能力的改变。本研究结果扩展了先前动物实验的研究成果，强调了GABA神经递质在突触和网络可塑性中的作用，并突出了特定教育缺乏对MFG GABA浓度和学习依赖性可塑性的影响。我们的发现揭示了大脑发育与教育之间的相互影响，并证明了青春期特定教育缺乏对大脑可塑性和认知功能的负面影响。