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Non‐verbal number sense has been shown to significantly correlate with arithmetic fluency. Accumulated behavioral evidence indicates that the cognitive mechanism relies on visual perception. However, few studies have investigated the neural mechanism underlying this association. Following the visual perception account, we hypothesized that there would be a neural association in occipital areas of the brain between non‐verbal number sense, arithmetic fluency, and visual perception. We analyzed event‐related potentials that are sensitive to neural responses while participants performed five cognitive tasks: simple addition, simple subtraction, numerosity comparison, figure matching, and character rhyming. The single‐trial ERP‐behavior correlation approach was used to enhance the statistical power. The results showed that the N1 component significantly correlated with reaction time at occipital electrodes on all tasks except for character rhyming. The N1 component for arithmetic fluency (simple addition and subtraction) and character rhyming correlated with the reaction time for numerosity comparison and figure matching. The results suggest that there are neural associations between arithmetic fluency, non‐verbal number sense, and visual perception in the occipital cortex, and that visual perception is the shared mechanism for both non‐verbal number sense and arithmetic fluency., Previous behavioral studies suggest that the cognitive mechanism underlying the association between non‐verbal number sense and arithmetic fluency relies on visual perception. Through electroencephalograph and single‐trial ERP‐behavior correlation approach, we found the visual perception component (N1) correlated with the behavior at the occipital cortex on arithmetic fluency, non‐verbal number sense, and visual perception. And this component for arithmetic fluency correlated with the behavior for non‐verbal number sense and visual perception. These founding help underlying the neural association between non‐verbal number sense and arithmetic fluency, and proved the account of visual perception.

Background Mathematical expressions mainly include arithmetic (such as 8 − (1 + 3)) and algebraic expressions (such as a − (b + c)). Previous studies shown that both algebraic processing and arithmetic involved the bilateral parietal brain regions. Although behavioral and neuropsychological studies have revealed the dissociation between algebra and arithmetic, how algebraic processing is dissociated from arithmetic in brain networks is still unclear. Methods Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study scanned 30 undergraduates and directly compared the brain activation during algebra and arithmetic. Brain activations, single-trial (item-wise) interindividual correlation and mean-trial interindividual correlation related to algebra processing were compared with those related to arithmetic. Results Brain activation analyses showed that algebra elicited greater activation in the angular gyrus and arithmetic elicited greater activation in the bilateral supplementary motor area, left insula, and left inferior parietal lobule. Interindividual single-trial brain-behavior correlation revealed significant brain-behavior correlations in the semantic network, including the middle temporal gyri, inferior frontal gyri, dorsomedial prefrontal cortices, and left angular gyrus, for algebra. For arithmetic, the significant brain-behavior correlations were located in the phonological network, including the precentral gyrus and supplementary motor area, and in the visuospatial network, including the bilateral superior parietal lobules. Conclusion These findings suggest that algebra relies on the semantic network and arithmetic relies on the phonological and visuospatial networks.

Background Mathematical expressions mainly include arithmetic (such as 8 − (1 + 3)) and algebra (such as a − (b + c)). Previous studies have shown that both algebraic processing and arithmetic involved the bilateral parietal brain regions. Although previous studies have revealed that algebra was dissociated from arithmetic, the neural bases of the dissociation between algebraic processing and arithmetic is still unclear. The present study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the specific brain networks for algebraic and arithmetic processing. Methods Using fMRI, this study scanned 30 undergraduates and directly compared the brain activation during algebra and arithmetic. Brain activations, single-trial (item-wise) interindividual correlation and mean-trial interindividual correlation related to algebra processing were compared with those related to arithmetic. The functional connectivity was analyzed by a seed-based region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analysis. Results Brain activation analyses showed that algebra elicited greater activation in the angular gyrus and arithmetic elicited greater activation in the bilateral supplementary motor area, left insula, and left inferior parietal lobule. Interindividual single-trial brain-behavior correlation revealed significant brain-behavior correlations in the semantic network, including the middle temporal gyri, inferior frontal gyri, dorsomedial prefrontal cortices, and left angular gyrus, for algebra. For arithmetic, the significant brain-behavior correlations were located in the phonological network, including the precentral gyrus and supplementary motor area, and in the visuospatial network, including the bilateral superior parietal lobules. For algebra, significant positive functional connectivity was observed between the visuospatial network and semantic network, whereas for arithmetic, significant positive functional connectivity was observed only between the visuospatial network and phonological network. Conclusion These findings suggest that algebra relies on the semantic network and conversely, arithmetic relies on the phonological and visuospatial networks.

Background: Early identification and prevalence estimates of learning disabilities (LDs) is critical to future intervention. However, in China, most studies were conducted in a single area and they only investigated children of a specific age group. There still lacks a large-sample study on the prevalence of LDs and their comorbidities in Chinese children, adolescents, and young adults. Methods: For the first time, this study examined the prevalence of LDs and their comorbidity rates and age trend and gender difference in 9236 Chinese children (6–11 years old, mean age = 9.55, standard deviation (SD) = 1.17), adolescents (12–17 years old, mean age = 14.03, SD = 1.65), and young adults (18–35 years old, mean age = 20.63, SD = 2.72). Computerized screening tests addressing arithmetic fluency (dyscalculia), reading fluency (dyslexia), and their comorbidity were administered in a large population-based sample of children (n = 3541, 1833 males and 1708 females), adolescents (n = 3641, 1928 males and 1713 females), and young adults (n = 2054, 1045 males and 1009 females). The prevalence of dyscalculia, dyslexia, and comorbidity were analyzed based on two cutoff criteria. Findings: The results showed that with -1 SD cutoff criteria, the prevalence rates of dyscalculia and dyslexia were 10.8% and 12.3%, respectively. The comorbidity rate of dyscalculia with reading disabilities was 34.8% and the comorbidity rate of dyslexia with arithmetic disabilities was 29.6%. Using -1.5 SD cutoff criteria, the prevalence rates of dyscalculia and dyslexia were 5.8% and 6.3%, respectively. The comorbidity rate of dyscalculia with reading disabilities was 24.3% and the comorbidity rate of dyslexia with arithmetic disabilities was 22.3%. When more stringent cutoff criteria were applied, the comorbidity rates of dyscalculia and dyslexia decreased. Among the three age groups, children showed the highest prevalence rate of dyscalculia and dyslexia. In addition, we observed a preponderance of males with dyslexia, whereas the gender ratio for dyscalculia was balanced among the three age groups. Interpretation: These findings suggested that the prevalence rates of dyscalculia and dyslexia in China are similar to that of other counties. The comorbidity rates of dyscalculia and dyslexia decreased as cutoff criteria became more stringent, suggesting that dyslexia and dyscalculia may have a common biological basis. Under the two cutoff criteria among the three age groups, the prevalence rate of dyslexia was higher than dyscalculia, which suggested that dyslexia affected a wider population than dyscalculia. Children were more vulnerable to dyscalculia and dyslexia compared to adolescents and young adults. Among the three age groups, gender differences existed in the prevalence rate of dyslexia; males were more likely to have dyslexia than females. Funding: This study is funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31700977, 31671151), Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 5212004), The 111 Project (Grant No. BP0719032), Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education (Grant No. 27900-110631111). Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: The study design was approved by the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University and the school principals.

Background: Although school-age children with epilepsy are at a high risk of developing comorbid learning disabilities, there is a lack of empirical research to confirm the prevalence of learning disabilities among children with idiopathic epilepsy in China. Further, previous research has not confirmed whether children with epilepsy have a higher prevalence rate of learning disabilities than other school-age children. Methods: The current study aims to examine the prevalence and gender ratios of dyscalculia, dyslexia, and comorbidity among children with idiopathic epilepsy and other school-age children in China. Specific screening tests in arithmetic fluency (dyscalculia), reading fluency (dyslexia), and their co-occurrence were administered in a large population-based sample of children with epilepsy (N = 2,282) and other school-age children (N = 2,371). The prevalence of dyscalculia, dyslexia and comorbidity were calculated based on three cutoff criteria. Findings: The results showed that children with idiopathic epilepsy, when compared to other school-age children, have significantly higher prevalence rate of dyscalculia (-1 SD cutoff: 7·6% vs. 3·8%, -1·5 SD cutoff: 4·1% vs. 2·4%), dyslexia (-1 SD cutoff: 9·0% vs. 3·7%, -1·5 SD cutoff: 3·9% vs. 2·0%) and comorbidity (-1 SD cutoff: 5·1% vs. 1·4%, -1·5 SD cutoff: 1·5% vs. 0·4%, -2 SD cutoff: 0·4% vs. 0·1%). Moreover, gender differences in the prevalence rate of dyslexia only appeared among other school-age children. Interpretation: The results suggest that children with idiopathic epilepsy are more vulnerable to dyscalculia and dyslexia compared to other school-age children. Risk factors in the idiopathic epilepsy population should be identified to formulate effective prevention strategies. Moreover, gender differences on the prevalence of dyscalculia, dyslexia and comorbidity only exist among typical school-age children, which might be explained by clinical factors related to idiopathic epilepsy, therefore, future studies could make further examination. Funding: Funding Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31700977, 31671151), Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 5212004), The 111 Project (Grant No. BP0719032), Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education (Grant No. 27900-110631111), Directional Guidance Fund for the Capital Institute of Pediatrics (Grant No. FX-2019-03). Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics (approval no.: SHERLL 2019001). We also obtained oral consent from participants and informed consent signed by their guardians.

BackgroundExcessive worry is a defining feature of generalized anxiety disorder and is present in a wide range of other psychiatric conditions. Therefore, individualized predictions of worry propensity could be highly relevant in clinical practice, with respect to the assessment of worry symptom severity at the individual level.MethodsWe applied a multivariate machine learning approach to predict dispositional worry based on microstructural integrity of white matter (WM) tracts.ResultsWe demonstrated that the machine learning model was able to decode individual dispositional worry scores from microstructural properties in widely distributed WM tracts (mean absolute error = 10.46, p < 0.001; root mean squared error = 12.82, p < 0.001; prediction R2 = 0.17, p < 0.001). WM tracts that contributed to worry prediction included the posterior limb of internal capsule, anterior corona radiate, and cerebral peduncle, as well as the corticolimbic pathways (e.g. uncinate fasciculus, cingulum, and fornix) already known to be critical for emotion processing and regulation.ConclusionsThe current work thus elucidates potential neuromarkers for clinical assessment of worry symptoms across a wide range of psychiatric disorders. In addition, the identification of widely distributed pathways underlying worry propensity serves to better improve the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms associated with worry.

A number of studies have investigated the cognitive deficits underlying dyslexia and dyscalculia. Yet, it remains unclear as to whether dyslexia and dyscalculia are associated with the common visual perception deficits. The current investigation analyzed cognitive performance in children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, comorbidity, and typically developing subjects. The results showed that children with dyslexia, dyscalculia and comorbidity exhibited common deficits in numerosity processing and visual perception. Furthermore, visual perception deficits accounted for deficits in numerosity processing in all three groups. The results suggest that visual perception deficits are a common cognitive deficit underlying both developmental dyslexia and dyscalculia.

18p deletion syndrome is a rare chromosomal disease caused by deletion of the short arm of chromosome 18. By using cytogenetic and SNP array analysis, we identified a girl with 18p deletion syndrome exhibiting craniofacial anomalies, intellectual disability, and short stature. G-banding analysis of metaphase cells revealed an abnormal karyotype 46,XX,del(18)(p10). Further, SNP array detected a 15.3-Mb deletion at 18p11.21p11.32 (chr18:12842-15375878) including 61 OMIM genes. Genotype-phenotype correlation analysis showed that clinical manifestations of the patient were correlated with LAMA1, TWSG1, and GNAL deletions. Her neuropsychological assessment test demonstrated delay in most cognitive functions including impaired mathematics, linguistic skills, visual motor perception, respond speed, and executive function. Meanwhile, her integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-CPT) indicated a severe comprehensive attention deficit. At age 7 and 1/12 years, her height was 110.8 cm (-2.5 SD height for age). Growth hormone (GH) treatment was initiated. After 27 months treatment, her height was increased to 129.6 cm (-1.0 SD height for age) at 9 and 4/12 years, indicating an effective response to GH treatment.

Objectives: Mental arithmetic is essential to daily life. Researchers have explored the mechanisms that underlie mental arithmetic. Whether mental arithmetic fact retrieval is dependent on surface modality or knowledge format is still highly debated. Chinese individuals typically use a procedure strategy for addition; and they typically use a rote verbal strategy for multiplication. This provides a way to examine the effect of surface modality on different arithmetic operations. Methods: We used a series of neuropsychological tests (i.e., general cognitive, language processing, numerical processing, addition, and multiplication in visual and auditory conditions) for a patient who had experienced a left frontotemporal stroke. Results: The patient had language production impairment; but preserved verbal processing concerning basic numerical abilities. Moreover, the patient had preserved multiplication in the auditory presentation rather than in the visual presentation. The patient suffered from impairments in an addition task, regardless of visual or auditory presentation. Conclusions: The findings suggest that mental multiplication could be characterized as a form of modality-dependent processing, which was accessed through auditory input. The learning strategy of multiplication table recitation could shape the verbal memory of multiplication leading to persistence of the auditory module. (JINS, 2017, 23, 692–699)

Previous studies have demonstrated that mental abacus learning could be helpful in improving mathematical skills. We hypothesized that kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus would have advantages in arithmetic and related visuospatial abilities. This investigation examined two large matched samples of preschool kindergarteners aged 5–6 years who showed the same baseline accuracy and speed measures. A total of 221 kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus (i.e., those who passed the test for Level 7 on the Standard Mental Abacus Test) and 221 age-matched peers with no experience using a physical or mental abacus were compared. We found that the mental abacus group achieved better performance than matched peers in subtraction, a two-dimensional mental rotation task, and a geometric form searching task, even after controlling for other cognitive abilities such as intelligence, reaction and decision speed, and non-symbolic number sense. These findings suggest that mental abacus learning in kindergarteners is associated with good performance in arithmetic, spatial, and attentional abilities.

Although neuropsychological studies have demonstrated specific cognitive impairments in children with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), the potential role of the frontal lobe in these cognitive deficits remains unclear. We therefore evaluated cognitive functions related to and unrelated to the functionality of the frontal lobe in childhood absence epilepsy patients and control subjects. Thirty-seven childhood absence epilepsy patients and 37 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects were recruited and assessed using a computerized neuropsychological test battery. Childhood absence epilepsy patients, especially a drug-naïve subgroup, showed cognitive deficits in reasoning, visual attention, and executive function, which are typical cognitive functions of the frontal lobe. In contrast, treated childhood absence epilepsy patients only exhibited cognitive deficits in visual attention. There were no significant between-group differences for other cognitive tests. Our findings suggest that frontal lobe–related cognitive deficits represent the characteristic neuropsychological profile associated with childhood absence epilepsy.

Studies have shown that numerosity-based arithmetic training can promote arithmetic learning in typically developing children as well as children with developmental dyscalculia (DD), but the cognitive mechanism underlying this training effect remains unclear. The main aim of the current study was to examine the role of visual form perception in arithmetic improvement through an 8-day numerosity training for DD children. Eighty DD children were selected from four Chinese primary schools. They were randomly divided into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received training on an apple-collecting game, whereas the control group received an English dictation task. Children's cognitive and arithmetic performances were assessed before and after training. The results showed that the intervention group showed a significant improvement in arithmetic performance, approximate number system (ANS) acuity, and visual form perception, but not in spatial processing and sentence comprehension. The control group showed no significant improvement in any cognitive ability. Mediation analysis further showed that training-related improvement in arithmetic performance was fully mediated by the improvement in visual form perception. The results suggest that short-term numerosity training enhances the arithmetic performance of DD children by improving their visual form perception.

Numerous studies have assessed the cognitive correlates of performance in mathematics, but little research has been conducted to systematically examine the relations between visual perception as the starting point of visuospatial processing and typical mathematical performance. In the current study, we recruited 223 seventh graders to perform a visual form perception task (figure matching), numerosity comparison, digit comparison, exact computation, approximate computation, and curriculum-based mathematical achievement tests. Results showed that, after controlling for gender, age, and five general cognitive processes (choice reaction time, visual tracing, mental rotation, spatial working memory, and non-verbal matrices reasoning), visual form perception had unique contributions to numerosity comparison, digit comparison, and exact computation, but had no significant relation with approximate computation or curriculum-based mathematical achievement. These results suggest that visual form perception is an important independent cognitive correlate of lower level math categories, including the approximate number system, digit comparison, and exact computation.

Numerous studies have shown a 'negativity bias' in emotion processing and effect of menstrual phase on emotion processing. Most of these results, however, did not match the arousal of different types of stimuli. The present study examined the time course of negative emotion processing across different menstrual phases (e.g., late luteal/premenstrual phase and follicular phase) when the arousal level of negative and neutral stimuli was equal. Following previous studies, an oddball paradigm was utilized in present study. Participants viewed neutral and negative (highly (HN) and moderately negative (MN)) stimuli with matched arousal and were asked to make deviant vs. standard judgments. The behavioral results showed a higher accuracy for HN stimuli than neutral stimuli, and the other comparisons were not significant. The major event-related potential (ERP) finding was that N2 amplitude was larger for MN than neutral in the late luteal phase, whereas such difference was absent during the follicular phase. Moreover, The N2 for HN stimuli was larger in late luteal phase than in follicular phase. Therefore, female may be with higher sensitivity to MN stimuli during late luteal phase than during follicular phase when the arousal of stimuli was well controlled. These results provide additional insight to premenstrual affective syndrome and affective disorder.

Unwanted memories, such as emotionally negative, can be intentionally suppressed through voluntary control in humans. Memory suppression is thought to be mediated by the interplay of a chain of neurocognitive processes. However, empirical data in support of this notion is lacking. Using high-temporal resolution event-related potential (ERP) technique, we investigated the time course of ERPs associated with suppression of negative and neutral memories in a Think/No-Think paradigm in young, healthy participants. Results showed that participants had greater difficulty in suppressing emotionally negative memories than neutral ones. ERPs and source analyses demonstrated that memory suppression processing for negative and neutral memories were generally associated with changes during early components of a time window of 70-260 ms, such as P1 and N2, mainly at the right inferior frontal gyrus and occipital lobe; suppression of aversive memories was associated with two major late ERP components between 380 and 800 ms, with significantly smaller later negativity (LN) but larger late parietal positivity (LPP), primarily at the right medial and superior frontal gyri. These results suggest that differences in early components may reflect early stages of suppression processing including visual awareness, attention reallocation, and executive processing. Differences in late components between suppression of aversive and neutral memories may reflect a process of down-regulating conscious recollection of memory representations supported by prefrontal and parietal networks. A less effective control of this process, as evidenced by smaller LN and larger LPP, may explain the fact that emotionally negative memories were harder to be suppressed. Altogether, these findings suggest that suppression of aversive memories requires down-regulation of late conscious recollection, which can be dissociated from early visual and attention processing in memory suppression. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estrogen exerts influence on the central nervous system through complex mechanisms of physiology and psychology. Estrogen can affect the generation and efficiency of neurotransmitters in amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal lobes which are the important brain areas related to emotional cognition. It also plays a role in changing the emotional behavior by acting on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The genetic transcription of estrogen receptors also can modulate the emotional behavior. The estrogen can impact the emotional processing by neuropsychological factors. It enhances the coding ability of emotion and the recognition accuracy of facial expression. The estrogen can affect the emotional arousal and change the intensity of emotional experience. The future study should combine various factors of psychological, neuroscience and endocrine to solve the problem of emotional disorders in women.

Benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTs) is a common idiopathic partial epileptic syndrome in childhood, which often affect the pre-school and school-age children and a considerable proportion have comorbidity including lower academic achievement and cognitive impairment. Few studies involved the psychocognitive assessment in such a drug-treatable epileptic syndrome especially in the newly diagnosed and medications-naive group. This study aimed to investigate the cognitive characteristics of children with newly onset BECTs before treatment.Forty-one outpatients with newly diagnosed BECTs who visited the Clinic during the periods from October 2012 to May 2014 before the medications against epilepsy and 41 healthy controls recruited from regular school in Beijing during the period from July 2013 to March 2014, who matched in age and gender underwent battery testing by computerized cognitive testing in epilepsy (CCTE). The BECTs group included 41 children, 20 boys and 21 girls, mean age (8.2 ± 1.7) years, the age of onset of epilepsy 4.5-11.5 years (the age of onset8 years in 25 cases, ≥ 8 years in 16 cases). The cognitive characteristics and associated factors were analyzed. The primary data including correct answer numbers and reaction times were analyzed by independent sample t-test between the two groups of children with BECTs and healthy controls based on SPSS 18.0 statistical software.Raw data of 9 tasks' scores collected from BECTs and healthy control children were continuous variables in accordance with normal distribution. BECTs children performed significantly worse than controls in choice reaction time ((618+158) vs. (524+254) ms), three-dimensional mental rotation (11 ± 10 vs. 18 ± 12) and visual tracing (10 ± 6 vs.15 ± 6), t=2.01, 3.03 and 3.47, P0.05,0.01 and0.001, respectively.While other 6 tasks showed no significant difference between the two groups (P0.05 for all comparisons). BECTs boys performed significantly worse than girls on simple substraction tasks compared with standard nine score ((4.7 ± 1.5) vs. (5.6 ± 1.2), t=-2.24, P0.05). Other 8 tasks showed no significant difference between boys and girls (P0.05 for all comparisons). Other 9 tasks showed no significant differences between the two groups of BECTs children whose age of onset was before 8 years and those who started seizure ≥ 8 years (P all0.05). The standard nine scores of simple substraction from the three BECTs groups of dominance sides of spikes and waves during NREM showed significant difference (P0.05). BECTs children with bilateral discharges performed significantly worse than the other two groups dominantly right or left discharges (4.7 ± 1.2 vs. 6.0 ± 1.2 vs. 4.9 ± 1.4, P all0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups with right and left side dominance discharges (P0.05). Other 8 tasks showed no significant differences among the three groups (P0.05 for all comparisons).Although EEG discharges index below 50% during NREM period, while newly diagnosed BECTs children before treatment with medications against epilepsy performed poorer on tasks of choice reaction time, three-dimensional mental rotation, and visual tracing. The two factors of male and bilateral discharges during NREM period correlate with dysfunction of simple subtraction, the mechanism needs further study and the cognitive function of epilepsy children should be evaluated and followed up, in order to provide psychologic baseline data for persistent cognitive disturbance.

Background Childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes are the most common forms of benign epilepsy syndromes. Although cognitive dysfunctions occur in children with both childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes, the similarity between their patterns of underlying cognitive impairments is not well understood. To describe these patterns, we examined multiple cognitive functions in children with childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. Methods In this study, 43 children with childhood absence epilepsy, 47 children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes, and 64 control subjects were recruited; all received a standardized assessment (i.e., computerized test battery) assessing processing speed, spatial skills, calculation, language ability, intelligence, visual attention, and executive function. Groups were compared in these cognitive domains. Simple regression analysis was used to analyze the effects of epilepsy-related clinical variables on cognitive test scores. Results Compared with control subjects, children with childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes showed cognitive deficits in intelligence and executive function, but performed normally in language processing. Impairment in visual attention was specific to patients with childhood absence epilepsy, whereas impaired spatial ability was specific to the children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. Simple regression analysis showed syndrome-related clinical variables did not affect cognitive functions. Conclusions This study provides evidence of both common and distinctive cognitive features underlying the relative cognitive difficulties in children with childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. Our data suggest that clinicians should pay particular attention to the specific cognitive deficits in children with childhood absence epilepsy and benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes, to allow for more discriminative and potentially more effective interventions.

Quantifiers such as frequency adverbs (e.g., "always", "never") and quantity pronouns (e.g., "many", "none") convey quantity information. Whether quantifiers are processed as numbers or as general semantics has been a matter of much debate. Some neuropsychological and fMRI studies have found that the processing of quantifiers depends on the numerical magnitude comprehension system, but others have found that quantifier processing is associated with semantic representation. The selective impairment of language in semantic dementia patients provides a way to examine the above controversy. We administered a series of neuropsychological tests (i.e., language processing, numerical processing and semantic distance judgment) to two patients with different levels of severity in semantic dementia (mild vs. severe). The results showed that the two patients had intact numerical knowledge, but impairments in semantic processing. Moreover, the patient with severe/late semantic dementia showed more impairment in quantifier and semantic processing than the patient with mild/early semantic dementia. We concluded that quantifier processing is associated with general semantic processing, not with numerical processing.