Norbert Jaušovec

Flexible strategy use: A characteristic of gifted problem solving

High (intelligence quotient (IQ)=126) and low intelligent individuals (IQ=88) were listening to tone pips and performed an auditory oddball task while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Significant differences relating to intelligence were observed in induced and event related band power in the theta (4-7 Hz) and upper alpha band (10-13 Hz). In the oddball task high intelligent individuals displayed less theta synchronization and more synchronization in the upper alpha band. The results were explained by the more efficient engagement of neural networks in more intelligent individuals.

Differences in EEG Power and Coherence Measures Related to the Type of Presentation: Text versus Multimedia

The objective of the study was to explore the influence of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on resting brain activity and on measures of fluid intelligence. Theta tACS was applied to the left parietal and left frontal brain areas of healthy participants after which resting electroencephalogram (EEG) data was recorded. Following sham/active stimulation, the participants solved two tests of fluid intelligence while their EEG was recorded. The results showed that active theta tACS affected spectral power in theta and alpha frequency bands. In addition, active theta tACS improved performance on tests of fluid intelligence. This influence was more pronounced in the group of participants that received stimulation to the left parietal area than in the group of participants that received stimulation to the left frontal area. Left parietal tACS increased performance on the difficult test items of both tests (RAPM and PF&C) whereas left frontal tACS increased performance only on the easy test items of one test (RAPM). The observed behavioral tACS influences were also accompanied by changes in neuroelectric activity. The behavioral and neuroelectric data tentatively support the P-FIT neurobiological model of intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence and Gender: A Neurophysiological Perspective

Differences in current density between high intelligent (IQ=124), and average intelligent individuals (IQ=110), while solving two complex cognitive tasks (analytical-figural, and identification of emotions) were analyzed with low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). High intelligent individuals, as compared with average ones in both tasks displayed a lesser full width at half maximum (FWHM) volume-indicating the amount of spatial dispersion of the source. High and average intelligent individuals also differed in their source location. The source location of high intelligent individuals was in the inferior right hemispheric brain areas, whereas the source location of average intelligent individuals was in the superior left hemispheric brain areas. The findings were explained in the light of the neural efficiency model.

A repetitive modular oscillation underlies human brain electric activity

Summary:The study investigated the influence of Mozart’s music on respondents’ brain activity while solving spatial rotation and numerical tasks. The method of induced event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) and coherence (ERCoh) was used. The music condition had a beneficial influence on respondents’ performance of spatial rotation tasks, and a slightly negative influence on the performance of numerical tasks as compared with the silence condition. On the psychophysiological level a general effect of Mozart’s music on brain activity in the induced gamma band was observed, accompanied by a more specific effect in the induced lower-2 alpha band which was only present while respondents solved the numerical tasks. It is suggested that listening to Mozart’s music increases the activity of specific brain areas and in that way facilitates the selection and “binding” together of pertinent aspects of sensory stimulus into a perceived whole.

The Effects of Theta and Gamma tACS on Working Memory and Electrophysiology

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the conflicting results in event-related desynchronization/synchronization (Pfurtscheller, 1999) in the upper alpha and theta bands related to intelligence. Two groups of individuals (high intelligent MIQ=128, and average intelligent MIQ=93), solved two memory tasks while their EEG was recorded. The data were analyzed with the ERD/ERS method and low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). In the upper alpha band high intelligent individuals displayed more desynchronization than did average intelligent individuals. In the theta band a minor but reverse effect was observed. The LORETA analysis indicated that average intelligent individuals displayed much higher signal to noise ratios (SNR) than did high intelligent individuals. The EEG source location for the high intelligent group was more anterior, whereas for the average intelligent group a more posterior EEG source location was observed. The findings were explained in the light of the neural efficiency model.

Gifted education: Some considerations as we approach the year 2000

Abstract: The putative importance of analogy in creative insight and intelligence has been repeatedly supported in anecdotal reports of creative scientists and theoretical proposals on creativity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of affect on analogical transfer. For that purpose, three experiments were conducted in which negative, neutral, or positive affect was induced by films. Persons were asked to solve ill‐defined, well‐defined, and insight problems. Analogical reasoning was evoked by base information presented prior to the film and target problem. The first two experiments indicated that positive affect facilitates transfer in ill‐defined problems, but impairs it in well‐defined problems. These findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive strategies used to solve well‐ and ill‐defined problems, and the theoretical assumptions about the impact of positive affect on cognitive organization. The results of the third experiment supported the hypothesis that the influence...

Education in Yugoslavia‐Slovenia : history and future development

Twenty individuals solved a visual oddball task in two response conditions: while listening to the Mozarts sonata K. 448, and while listening to nothing. The recorded event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed in the time and frequency domains. In the music response condition the ERP peak latencies on the left hemisphere increased, whereas on the right hemisphere a decrease of peak latencies as compared with the silence response condition was observed. In the theta, lower-1 alpha and gamma band increases in induced event-related coherences were observed while respondents solved the oddball task and listened to music, whereas a decoupling of brain areas in the gamma band was observed in the silence response condition. It is suggested that auditory background stimulation can influence visual brain activity, even if both stimuli are unrelated.

The influence of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on fluid intelligence: An fMRI study

The study investigated differences in electroencephalography (EEG) alpha activity between gifted and non-identified students. Seventeen gifted and 17 non-identified students participated in the experiment. Their EEG was recorded while they solved four problems. Two measures were used: 1) an asymmetry index or differences in hemispheric activity and 2) the overall difference between a relaxed mental state and problem solving. The findings can be summarized as follows: First, gifted students in a relaxed mental condition showed greater left hemispheric activation than did non-identified students. In contrast, during problem solving, non-identified students showed greater left hemispheric activity than did gifted students. Second, gifted students exhibited a higher overall hemispheric activation in a relaxed mental state and exploring the problem, and a lower activation when problem solving was involved, than did non-identified students.

The Mystery of Intelligence

Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between flexible strategic thinking and problem solving performance. In the first experiment, gifted, average, and poor problem solvers performed a number of tasks which were designed to provoke rigidity. The results indicated that the average and poor performance groups did not differ in the number of answers indicating response and perceptual set. On the other hand, creative and intelligent students showed fewer rigid answers than the other two groups. In the second experiment, gifted and average students were asked to think aloud while solving different problems with open and closed solution situations. The thinking aloud protocols were analyzed by classifying the statements into different strategy types. Gifted students used a variety of strategies when solving problems, as well as different strategies for different problem types. No such differences were observed with the average problem solvers. The results of both experiments demons...

Once Upon a Time We Were on the Moon

This study investigated the cognitive processes of students while learning physics using EEG methodology. Forty students (20 experts, and 20 novices in the domain of physics) learned material presented by text and in a computer supported multimedia format while their EEG was recorded. Alpha power measures which are inversely related to mental effort as well as coherence measures that provide information about the cooperation between brain areas were analyzed. The results taken altogether suggest that learning the multimedia lessons was rather demanding, yet provoked less transfer of information between brain areas and had no beneficial influence on the amount of learned material. Another finding was that experts in the domain of physics learned more than did novices, regardless of the type of presentation. EEG patterns differed mainly in the lower alpha band, thus pointing to the superior control of attentional processes in experts.