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SfN 2018 San Diego, CA November

Multimodal ERP analysis of mental arithmetic processing


performance and its relationship to selective attention, and
fatigue

A.W.L. Chiu, C.L. Shen, S.J. Panzenhagen, M.N. Baker, B. Clark, D.H. Hughes

Department of Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 5500


Wabash Ave, Terre Haute, IN, USA

Abstract

In this study, we investigated a person’s ability to comprehend errors during mental arithmetic processing
(MAP). The purpose of this project is to evaluate how the evoked-response potentials are affected by the
mode of stimulus delivery, the subject’s language ability, self-identified learning style, selective attention,
and fatigue. Gender non-specific, ethnicity non-specific human subjects with healthy (or corrected) eye
sight, between the ages of 18-55, capable of performing simple mental mathematical problems, were
recruited. Each subject went through six 10-minutes recording sessions, where a total of 360 simple math
problems were given. After the presentation of each question, a short (2-5 seconds) time delay is given
before an answer was presented. 80% of the answers given were correct and 20% of the answers were
incorrect. The mode of delivery for these questions and answers came in three possible forms, visual only
(shown on a computer screen), auditory only (presented via headphones), and mixed mode (a combination
of visual and auditory). After the presentation of each math question, subjects were instructed to mental
keep track of the correct solution. Here we focused our efforts in the evaluation of human subject
responses to the presentation of unexpected solutions to mental arithmetic problems in the form of
incorrect numerical values or inconsistent form of representation to aid in the study of attention and
cognitive functions. When presented with errors in mathematical solutions, the averaged ERP showed an
increased latency. The longer latency suggests the possibility of a longer processing time when subjects
realized that the answers were not what they had in mind. Not unexpectedly, there was also a significant
increase in the averaged VEP amplitude (at Pz, Oz, PO7, PO8, C4, C5) when presented with incorrect
solutions, over four times as large as those derived from the correct solutions, approximately 500ms after
the stimulus onset (p<<0.01). There is however a weak correlation of theta rhythms (R2 =0.68) and alpha
rhythms (R2 =0.40) at Fz with the ERP delays. Consistent with recent publications in psychology and
education journals, there was little or no evidence of any dependence between the ERP latency and
amplitude to the reported visual/verbal dimensions in the Index of Learning Styles. Furthermore, follow-
up research may involve tasks that are more conducive to other various mode of delivery, and may offer
alternative ways to evaluate cognitive function and attention in a quantitative manner.

Disclosures: A.W.L. Chiu: None, C.L. Shen: None, S.J. Panzenhagen: None, M.N. Baker: None, B.
Clark: None, D.H. Hughes: None.

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