42. Differences of EEG signal between gifted and average adolescents

Abstract

The mental rotation task (Shepard and Metzler, 1971) is a standard cognitive task and a huge amount of research has been done comparing reaction times and error rates between different groups of people. O’Boyle et al. (2005) in their neuroimaging study demonstrated that mathematically gifted male adolescents engage different brain structures than those average gifted when performing 3D mental rotation. The purpose of this study was to observe differences between gifted and average adolescents during both 2D and 3D mental rotation task. We recorded and analyzed 16 adolescents (10 boys, 6 girls) with IQ > 130 and 10 adolescents with average IQ (〈90, 110〉), all 15–18 years old. From the subsequent EEG signal analysis we were able to identify brain structures that discriminates between mathematically gifted and average ability. Together with the EEG signal we measured reaction times and error rates and evaluated them. The significant difference between experimental groups was detected in both reaction times and error rates. After finishing the experiment subjects performed Raven intelligence test and filled out psychological questionnaires (autistic, systematizing and empathizing quotient) and questionnaire with factual, self-evaluation questions and questions about used strategy. Finally, the values from questionnaires were correlated with the EEG signal. We acknowledge the support of SGS grant “New approaches to collection, evaluation and utilization of biological data II”, No. SGS13/203/OHK3/3T/13.