Processing of Ordinal Information in Math-Anxious Individuals

This study aimed to investigate whether the ordinal judgments of high math-anxious (HMA) and low math-anxious (LMA) individuals differ. Two groups of 20 participants with extreme scores on the Shortened Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (sMARS) had to decide whether a triplet of numbers was presented in ascending order. Triplets could contain one-digit or two-digit numbers and be formed by consecutive numbers (counting condition), numbers with a constant distance of two or three (balanced) or numbers with variable distances between them (neutral). All these triplets were also presented unordered: sequence order in these trials could be broken at the second (D2) or third (D3) number. A reverse distance effect (worse performance for ordered balanced than for counting trials) of equal size was found in both anxiety groups. However, HMA participants made more judgment errors than their LMA peers when they judged one-digit counting ordered triplets. This effect was related to worse performance of HMA individuals on a symmetry span test and might be related to group differences on working memory. Importantly, HMAs were less accurate than LMA participants at rejecting unordered D2 sequences. This result is interpreted in terms of worse cognitive flexibility in HMA individuals.

PENGEMBANGAN MOBILE EDUGAME MATEMATIKA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN ARITMATIKA DASAR SISWA SD KELAS 4 DAN 5

The lack of attention to basic arithmetic calculation mastery intuitively causes count stuttering to be found among elementary school students. Counting stuttering is a slow counting condition. To overcome this calculating stutter, one of the instruments that can be used is the Test of Second Mathematics. TOSM is an instrument of Secondary Mathematics in the form of a measuring sheet intended to increase the basic arithmetic calculation speed. In addition to the printed version (written), TOSM has also been created in the mobile application version. However, due to visual limitations, both written TOSM and applications make students gradually become bored and bored. Seeing the popularity of mobile games and the ease of getting them, TOSM will be adopted into mobile edugame with a more attractive visual style. Through the game approach, students will not be aware of doing TOSM. The results of mobile edugame design show that students feel more comfortable and relaxed when working on TOSM in the form of edugame. The adoption of TOSM into edugame provides an entertainment aspect without leaving the initial goal of edugame design, namely as a media to learn basic arithmetic intuitively.

EEG beta 2 power as surrogate marker for memory impairment: a pilot study

ABSTRACTBackground:Memory deficits are dominant in dementia and are positively correlated with electroencephalographic (EEG) beta power. EEG beta power can predict the progression of Alzheimer´s (AD) as early as at the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and could possibly be used as surrogate marker for memory impairment. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between frontal and parietal EEG beta power and memory-test outcome. Frontal and parietal beta power is analyzed for a resting state and an eyes-closed backward counting condition and related to memory impairment parameters.Methods:A total of 28 right-handed female geriatric patients (mean age = 80.6) participated voluntarily in this study. Beta 1 (12.9–19.2 Hz) and beta 2 (19.2–32.4 Hz) EEG power at F3, F4, Fz, P3, P4, and Pz are correlated with immediate wordlist recall, delayed wordlist recall, recognition of learned words, and delayed figure recall. For classification between impaired and intact memory, we calculated a binary logistic regression model with memory impairment as a dependent variable and beta 2 power as an independent variable.Results:We found significant positive correlations between frontal and parietal beta power and delayed memory recall. A significant correlation (Bonferroni correction, p < 0.05) was found at F4 beta 2 during backward counting. The binary logistic regression model with F4 beta 2 power during the counting condition as a predictor yielded a sensitivity of 76.9% (95% CI) and a specificity of 73.3% (95% CI) for classifying patients into “verbal-memory impaired” and “intact.”Conclusions:EEG beta 2 power recorded during a backward counting condition with eyes closed can be used as surrogate marker for verbal memory impairment in geriatric patients. Antidepressant treatment was correlated with EEG data in resting state but not in counting condition. Further studies are necessary to verify the results of this pilot study.

Mental Arithmetic Leads to Multiple Discrete Changes From Baseline in the Firing Patterns of Human Thalamic Neurons

Primate thalamic action potential bursts associated with low-threshold spikes (LTS) occur during waking sensory and motor activity. We now test the hypothesis that different firing and LTS burst characteristics occur during quiet wakefulness (spontaneous condition) versus mental arithmetic (counting condition). This hypothesis was tested by thalamic recordings during the surgical treatment of tremor. Across all neurons and epochs, preburst interspike intervals (ISIs) were bimodal at median values, consistent with the duration of type A and type B γ-aminobutyric acid inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. Neuronal spike trains (117 neurons) were categorized by joint ISI distributions into those firing as LTS bursts (G, grouped), firing as single spikes (NG, nongrouped), or firing as single spikes with sporadic LTS bursting (I, intermediate). During the spontaneous condition (46 neurons) only I spike trains changed category. Overall, burst rates (BRs) were lower and firing rates (FRs) were higher during the counting versus the spontaneous condition. Spike trains in the G category sometimes changed to I and NG categories at the transition from the spontaneous to the counting condition, whereas those in the I category often changed to NG. Among spike trains that did not change category by condition, G spike trains had lower BRs during counting, whereas NG spike trains had higher FRs. BRs were significantly greater than zero for G and I categories during wakefulness (both conditions). The changes between the spontaneous and counting conditions are most pronounced for the I category, which may be a transitional firing pattern between the bursting (G) and relay modes of thalamic firing (NG).

Alpha Brain Wave Production as an Interpolated Task in a Brown-Peterson Paradigm

Rehearsal, backward counting, and production of alpha brainwaves were used as interpolated tasks in a Brown-Peterson paradigm to determine their effect upon verbal retention. A within-subjects design was used in which trained subjects were told on a given trial either to produce alpha rhythm, mentally rehearse, or count backward following presentation of a CCC trigram. Results for the backward-counting condition duplicate, for the retention intervals used, the shape of the classic Peterson and Peterson forgetting curve but indicate little loss of memory in either the rehearsal or alpha conditions. No significant difference was found between the alpha production and rehearsal conditions.