EEG correlation during the solving of simple and complex logical-mathematical problems.

Solving logical-mathematical word problems is a complex task that requires numerous cognitive operations, including comprehension, reasoning, and calculation. These abilities have been associated with activation of the parietal, temporal, and prefrontal cortices. It has been suggested that the reasoning involved in solving logical-mathematical problems requires the coordinated functionality of all these cortical areas. In this study was evaluated the activation and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlation of the prefrontal, temporal, and parietal regions in young men while solving logical-mathematical word problems with two degrees of difficulty: simple and complex. During the solving of complex problems, higher absolute power and EEG correlation of the alpha and fast bands between the left frontal and parietal cortices were observed. A temporal deactivation and functional decoupling of the right parietal-temporal cortices also were obtained. Solving complex problems probably require activation of a left prefrontal-parietal circuit to maintain and manipulate multiple pieces of information. The temporal deactivation and decreased parietal-temporal correlation could be associated to text processing and suppression of the content-dependent reasoning to focus cognitive resources on the mathematical reasoning. Together, these findings support a pivotal role for the left prefrontal and parietal cortices in mathematical reasoning and of the temporal regions in text processing required to understand and solve written mathematical problems.

Metacognitive prompts and numerical ordinality in solving word problems: An eye-tracking study.

BACKGROUND: The ability to translate concrete manipulatives into abstract mathematical formulas can aid in the solving of mathematical word problems among students, and metacognitive prompts play a significant role in enhancing this process. AIMS: Based on the concept of semantic congruence, we explored the effects of metacognitive prompts and numerical ordinality on information searching and cognitive processing, throughout the process of solving mathematical word problems among primary school students in China. SAMPLE: Participants included 73 primary school students (38 boys and 35 girls) with normal or corrected visual acuity. METHODS: This study was based on a 2 (prompt information: no-prompt, metacognitive-prompt) × 2 (number attribute: cardinal number, ordinal number) mixed experimental design. We analysed multiple eye-movement indices, such as fixation duration, saccadic amplitude, and pupil size, since they pertained to the areas of interest. RESULTS: When solving both types of problems, pupil sizes were significantly smaller under the metacognitive-prompt condition compared with the no-prompt condition, and shorter dwell time for specific sentences, conditional on metacognitive prompts, indicated the optimization of the presented algorithm. Additionally, the levels of fixation durations and saccadic amplitudes were significantly higher when solving ordinal number word problems compared with solving ordinal number problems, indicating that primary school students were less efficient in reading and faced increased levels of difficulty when solving ordinal number problems. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that for Chinese upper-grade primary school students, cognitive load was lower in the metacognitive prompting condition and when solving cardinal problems, and higher when solving ordinal problems.

Take it of your shoulders: Providing scaffolds leads to better performance on mathematical word problems in secondary school children with developmental coordination disorder.

BACKGROUND: Many children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have mathematical problems which are more pronounced for mathematical skills that also require executive functions. Although empirical evidence is missing, math and special education need teachers of children with DCD report difficulties with mathematical word problem solving that can be remediated by providing the children with scaffolds cueing the intermediate steps. AIMS: This study aims to find empirical evidence for the effectivity of such additional support. In addition, we want to investigate whether the difficulties are due to inefficient arithmetic or executive functioning skills. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A DCD and a control group solved word problems with and without scaffolds and conducted a series of tasks measuring calculation and executive skills. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Performance improves when scaffolds are presented to children with DCD. Children with DCD and control children differ on executive functioning tasks but perform similarly on arithmetic tests. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Providing scaffolds for word problem solving is effective in children with DCD. Scaffolds possibly reduce the required cognitive load, making the problem solvable for DCD children that have reduced executive functioning skills.