Reading and Calculation Neural Systems and Their Weighted Adaptive Use for Programming Skills

Abstract

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.

Figure 1

Brain activation maps of reading, calculation, and programming skills. The ALE results corrected with FWE are shown for the three conditions in separate panels (suppl. figure A2 report the superimposed maps). Frontal decision-related areas and other calculation (parietal precuneus), reading (middle temporal including visual word form area and inferior frontal gyrus), and insula regions are activated during programming tasks.

Figure 2

A schematic representation of the reading and calculation systems and their weighed use for programming skills in the brain. Previous works suggest the circuitry that is recruited for tasks requiring these skills. Regions shown in orange, green, and blue increase their activation for the reading, calculation, and programming tasks, respectively (numbers indicate the Brodmann areas). A series of brain regions link and share resources for the distinct tasks (bar plot summary represent the normalized number of studies reporting those regions). Despite the fact that ventro-temporal areas related to reading are visible, the parietal regions related to calculation and visuo-spatial attention are strongly recruited under programming demands. The summary boxes indicate the known functions per region, and in bold, the function we suggest that those regions might be involved for particular programming skills.

Figure 3

Network analysis summary in a form of directional diagram. A previous work revealed the insula receives directed input from the anterior cingulate BA32 and middle frontal gyrus BA10 and gives directed input to the frontal regions in cingulate gyrus BA24 and middle frontal gyrus BA8. Moreover, the functional integration also includes a path to other sensory/visual areas (BA18) or math processing regions (BA40/BA44) [7].