Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills
Software programming is a modern activity that poses strong challenges to the human brain. The neural mechanisms that support this novel cognitive faculty are still unknown. On the other hand, reading and calculation abilities represent slightly less recent human activities, in which neural correlat...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5596145 |
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| _version_ | 1832565239556603904 |
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| author | Joao Castelhano Isabel C. Duarte Joao Duraes Henrique Madeira Miguel Castelo-Branco |
| author_facet | Joao Castelhano Isabel C. Duarte Joao Duraes Henrique Madeira Miguel Castelo-Branco |
| author_sort | Joao Castelhano |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Software programming is a modern activity that poses strong challenges to the human brain. The neural mechanisms that support this novel cognitive faculty are still unknown. On the other hand, reading and calculation abilities represent slightly less recent human activities, in which neural correlates are relatively well understood. We hypothesize that calculus and reading brain networks provide joint underpinnings with distinctly weighted contributions which concern programming tasks, in particular concerning error identification. Based on a meta-analysis of the core regions involved in both reading and math and recent experimental evidence on the neural basis of programming tasks, we provide a theoretical account that integrates the role of these networks in program understanding. In this connectivity-based framework, error-monitoring processing regions in the frontal cortex influence the insula, which is a pivotal hub within the salience network, leading into efficient causal modulation of parietal networks involved in reading and mathematical operations. The core role of the anterior insula and anterior midcingulate cortex is illuminated by their relation to performance in error processing and novelty. The larger similarity that we observed between the networks underlying calculus and programming skills does not exclude a more limited but clear overlap with the reading network, albeit with differences in hemispheric lateralization when compared with prose reading. Future work should further elucidate whether other features of computer program understanding also use distinct weights of phylogenetically “older systems” for this recent human activity, based on the adjusting influence of fronto-insular networks. By unraveling the neural correlates of program understanding and bug detection, this work provides a framework to understand error monitoring in this novel complex faculty. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-71b3b7ec69774d0e8f10a089c671f09e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neural Plasticity |
| spelling | doaj-art-71b3b7ec69774d0e8f10a089c671f09e2025-02-03T01:08:48ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432021-01-01202110.1155/2021/55961455596145Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming SkillsJoao Castelhano0Isabel C. Duarte1Joao Duraes2Henrique Madeira3Miguel Castelo-Branco4CIBIT/ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalCIBIT/ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalCISUC-DEIS, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalCISUC-DEI, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalCIBIT/ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalSoftware programming is a modern activity that poses strong challenges to the human brain. The neural mechanisms that support this novel cognitive faculty are still unknown. On the other hand, reading and calculation abilities represent slightly less recent human activities, in which neural correlates are relatively well understood. We hypothesize that calculus and reading brain networks provide joint underpinnings with distinctly weighted contributions which concern programming tasks, in particular concerning error identification. Based on a meta-analysis of the core regions involved in both reading and math and recent experimental evidence on the neural basis of programming tasks, we provide a theoretical account that integrates the role of these networks in program understanding. In this connectivity-based framework, error-monitoring processing regions in the frontal cortex influence the insula, which is a pivotal hub within the salience network, leading into efficient causal modulation of parietal networks involved in reading and mathematical operations. The core role of the anterior insula and anterior midcingulate cortex is illuminated by their relation to performance in error processing and novelty. The larger similarity that we observed between the networks underlying calculus and programming skills does not exclude a more limited but clear overlap with the reading network, albeit with differences in hemispheric lateralization when compared with prose reading. Future work should further elucidate whether other features of computer program understanding also use distinct weights of phylogenetically “older systems” for this recent human activity, based on the adjusting influence of fronto-insular networks. By unraveling the neural correlates of program understanding and bug detection, this work provides a framework to understand error monitoring in this novel complex faculty.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5596145 |
| spellingShingle | Joao Castelhano Isabel C. Duarte Joao Duraes Henrique Madeira Miguel Castelo-Branco Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills Neural Plasticity |
| title | Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills |
| title_full | Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills |
| title_fullStr | Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills |
| title_short | Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills |
| title_sort | reading and calculation neural systems and their weighted adaptive use for programming skills |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5596145 |
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