Are mathematical learning difficulties caused by impairment of the abilities that underlie mathematical talent? Or are mathematical difficulties and talent qualitatively different? The main goal of this study was to determine whether mathematical learning difficulties are explained by the same executive functions as mathematical talent. We screened a pool of 2,682 first-year high school students and selected 48 for evaluation, dividing them into three groups: those with mathematical learning difficulties (n = 16), those with typical performance (n = 16), and those with mathematical talent (n = 16). Adolescents from the learning difficulties and talented groups had age, reading skills, and verbal and non-verbal intelligence that were similar to those of the typical performance group. Participants were administered a suite of tasks to evaluate verbal and visual short-term memory and executive functions of inhibition, shifting, and updating. Different executive functions showed different contributions at the two ends of the math ability continuum: lower levels of performance in updating visual information were related to mathematical learning difficulties, while greater shifting abilities were related to mathematical talent. Effect sizes for the differences in performance between groups were large (Hedges' g > 0.8). These results suggest that different executive functions are associated with mathematical learning difficulties and mathematical talent. We discuss how these differences in executive functions could be related to the different types of mathematical abilities that distinguish the three groups.

数学学习困难是由数学天赋基础能力的削弱引起的吗？还是数学上的困难和才能在本质上有所不同？这项研究的主要目的是确定数学学习困难是否由与数学才能相同的执行功能来解释。我们筛选了2682名一年级初中学生，并选择了48名进行评估，将他们分为三类：数学学习困难的学生（n = 16），典型的学习成绩的学生（n = 16）和数学才能的学生（n = 16）。来自学习困难和才华横溢的青少年的年龄，阅读技能以及口头和非语言智力与典型的表演组相似。参与者被执行了一系列任务，以评估言语和视觉的短期记忆以及抑制，转移和更新的执行功能。不同的执行功能在数学能力连续性的两端显示出不同的贡献：更新视觉信息的较低性能与数学学习困难有关，而较大的转移能力与数学天赋有关。两组之间绩效差异的影响量很大（Hedges's 而更大的转移能力与数学天赋有关。两组之间绩效差异的影响量很大（Hedges's 而更大的转移能力与数学天赋有关。两组之间绩效差异的影响量很大（Hedges'sg > 0.8）。这些结果表明，不同的执行功能与数学学习困难和数学才能有关。我们讨论了执行功能的这些差异如何与区分这三类的不同类型的数学能力有关。