Cognitive and task-related EEG correlates of arithmetic performance in adolescents.
Cognitive and neurophysiological correlates of arithmetic calculation, concepts, and applications were examined in 41 adolescents, ages 12-15 years. Psychological and task-related EEG measures which correctly distinguished children who scored low vs. high (using a median split) in each arithmetic subarea were interpreted as indicative of processes involved. Calculation was related to visual-motor sequencing, spatial visualization, theta activity measured during visual-perceptual and verbal tasks at right- and left-hemisphere locations, and right-hemisphere alpha activity measured during a verbal task. Performance on arithmetic word problems was related to spatial visualization and perception, vocabulary, and right-hemisphere alpha activity measured during a verbal task. Results suggest a complex interplay of spatial and sequential operations in arithmetic performance, consistent with processing model concepts of lateralized brain function.
Grunau
R V
RV
Dept. of Psychology, B.C. Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
Low
M D
MD
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology