Mathematics and giftedness: insights from educational neuroscience

Exceptional performance, or giftedness, in mathematics is complicated by the variety of conceptual approaches to studies of giftedness as well as the broad and diverse nature of mathematics as taught in modern educational institutions. This paper outlines approaches to giftedness in mathematics that are based in studies of cognition within the discipline of educational neuroscience, approaches that conceptualise giftedness within a context that is sensitive to modern biology and, at the same time, inclusive of modern research in the social and behavioural sciences. Based on such approaches, exceptional performance in mathematics is discussed in relation to cognition and performance as a product of internal processing and environmental connectivity of the human organism. Such approaches have facilitated the development of an overarching framework for learning and memory that may enable a view, within the constraints of empirical science, of educational concepts related to exceptional performance. This framework may provide useful insights into the identification and education of students who may be gifted in mathematics.