Differences in brain information transmission between gifted and normal children during scientific hypothesis generation.

Full Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate differences in neural information transmission between gifted and normal children involved in scientific hypothesis generation. To investigate changes in the amount of information transmission, the children's averaged-cross mutual information (A-CMI) of EEGs was estimated during their generation of scientific hypotheses. We recorded EEG from 25 gifted and 25 age-matched normal children using 16 electrodes on each subject's scalp. To generate hypotheses, the children were asked to observe 20 "quail eggs" that gave rise to questions. After observation, they were asked to generate a scientific hypothesis--a tentative causal explanation for the questions evoked. The results of this study revealed several distinguishing brain activities between gifted and normal children during hypothesis generation. In contrast to normal children, gifted children showed increased A-CMI values between the left temporal and central, between the left temporal and parietal, and between the left central and parietal locations while generating a hypothesis. These results suggested that gifted children more efficiently distribute the cognitive resources essential to cope with hypothesis generation.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Jin, Seung-Hyun (SH); Kwon, Yong-Ju (YJ); Jeong, Jin-Su (JS); Kwon, Suk-Won (SW); Shin, Dong-Hoon (DH);

Affiliation: Bio-signal Research Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Republic of Korea.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Brain and cognition (Brain Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Dec; vol 62 (issue 3) : pp 191-7

Dates: Created 2006/12/20; Completed 2007/01/11;

PMID: 16766109, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aptitude - physiology
Brain Mapping
Child
Child, Gifted
Decision Making - physiology
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials - physiology

Female
Humans
Intelligence - physiology
Male
Matched-Pair Analysis
Reference Values
Thinking - physiology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.