Math is harder for some kids. Brain scans offer clues to why

anterior cingulate cortex: A part deep inside the brain located right between the eyes. This strip of neurons (nerve cells) surrounds a large white ridge in the center of the brain. The anterior cingulate cortex is important to many things, including helping to regulate your blood pressure. But it also plays cognitive roles too, helping us with decision-making, controlling impulses, regulating emotions and the intensity of our feelings for other people.

attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event.

behavior: The way something (often a person or other organism) conducts itself or acts towards others.

cognitive: A term that relates to mental activities, such as thinking, learning, remembering and solving puzzles.

development: (in biology) The growth of an organism from conception through adulthood, often undergoing changes in chemistry, size and sometimes even shape.

MRI: Short for magnetic resonance imaging. It’s an imaging technique to visualize soft, internal organs, like the brain, muscles, heart and cancerous tumors. MRI uses strong magnetic fields to record the activity of individual atoms.

neuroscience: The field of science that deals with the structure or function of the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Researchers in this field are known as neuroscientists.

short-term memory: (also known as primary memory) The small amount of memory held actively in the mind for a short period of time, such as the series of digits in a telephone number.

subtle: Adjective for something that may be important, but can be hard to see or describe. For instance, the first cellular changes that signal the start of a cancer may be only subtly different — as in small and hard to distinguish from nearby healthy tissues.