Comparative Analysis of Brain Activity during Performing Number Sense and Mental Rotational Tasks: An EEG Study Using sLORETA

Abstract

This study attempted to find out what differences of the signal sources of brain waves thatoccurred during performing number sense tasks and mental rotation tasks using sLORETAtechnology. Twenty students (10 men and 10 women) attending a four-year university inGyeongsangnam-do were asked to perform six tasks (3 number sense tasks and 3 mentalrotation tasks). The EEG brain waves were measured during performing each task and wereanalyzed by applying to the sLORETA with t-test: paired group test, A-A2=B-B2. The resultshowed that there were statistically significant differences in theta, alpha, and beta bandsbetween NS1 and NS2, which brain areas included the superior frontal gyrus, the middlefrontal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal, the anterior cingulate, theextra-nuclear, and the insula. The anterior cingulate and the superior frontal gyrus were theareas that showed a statistically significant difference between SP2 and SP3 in the gammaband. This study examined the difference in brain activity while performing two differenttypes of tasks by applying sLORETA. It will be expected to deepen the cognitive neuroscienceunderstanding of the mathematics learning process for students.