Bridging cognitive neuroscience and education: Insights from EEG recording during mathematical proof evaluation.

Background: Much of modern mathematics education prioritizes symbolic formalism even at the expense of non-symbolic intuition, we contextualize our study in the ongoing debates on the balance between symbolic and non-symbolic reasoning. We explore the dissociation of oscillatory dynamics between algebraic (symbolic) and geometric (non-symbolic) processing in advanced mathematical reasoning during a naturalistic design.

Method: Employing mobile EEG technology, we investigated students' beta and gamma wave patterns over frontal and parietal regions while they engaged with mathematical demonstrations in symbolic and non-symbolic formats within a tutor-student framework.

You can count on your fingers: Finger-based intervention improves first-graders' arithmetic learning.

The question of whether finger use should be encouraged or discouraged in early mathematics instruction remains a topic of debate. Scientific evidence on this matter is scarce due to the limited number of systematic intervention studies. Accordingly, we conducted an intervention study in which first-graders (M = 6.

Math on cortex-enhanced delta phase synchrony in math experts during long and complex math demonstrations.

Neural oscillations are important for working memory and reasoning and they are modulated during cognitively challenging tasks, like mathematics. Previous work has examined local cortical synchrony on theta (4-8 Hz) and alpha (8-13 Hz) bands over frontal and parietal electrodes during short mathematical tasks when sitting. However, it is unknown whether processing of long and complex math stimuli evokes inter-regional functional connectivity.

Foundations for future math achievement: Early numeracy, home learning environment, and the absence of math anxiety.

Background: Mathematics achievement is pivotal in shaping children's future prospects. Cognitive skills (numeracy), feelings (anxiety), and the social environment (home learning environment) influence early math development.

Method: A longitudinal study involved 85 children (mean age T1 = 6.

Adding up fine motor skills: Developmental relations between manual dexterity and numerical abilities.

The strength and development of the relationship between mathematical and motor skills is explored across three age groups of normally developing children. The presence of this relationship is postulated in classical accounts of human development. In contemporary research, the existence of a relationship between motor development and the development of abstract concepts may inform theories of embodied cognition.

Cultural similarities and specificities of finger counting and montring: Evidence from Amazon Tsimane' people.

Numerical cognition might be embodied, that is, grounded in bodily actions. This claim is supported by the observation that, potentially due to our shared biology, finger counting is prevalent among a variety of cultures. Differences in finger counting are apparent even within Western cultures.

A potential dissociation between perception and production version for bounded but not unbounded number line estimation.

Background: What, exactly, do number line estimation (NLE) tasks measure? Different versions of the task were observed to have different effects on performance.

Method: We investigated associations between the production (indicating the location) and perception version (indicating the number) of the bounded and unbounded NLE task and their relationship to arithmetic.

Results: A stronger correlation was observed between the production and perception version of the unbounded than the bounded NLE task, indicating that both versions of the unbounded-but not the bounded-NLE task measure the same construct.

The Menstrual Cycle Modulates Whole-Brain Turbulent Dynamics.

Brain dynamics have recently been shown to be modulated by rhythmic changes in female sex hormone concentrations across an entire menstrual cycle. However, many questions remain regarding the specific differences in information processing across spacetime between the two main follicular and luteal phases in the menstrual cycle. Using a novel turbulent dynamic framework, we studied whole-brain information processing across spacetime scales (i.

The effect of video games, exergames and board games on executive functions in kindergarten and 2nd grade: An explorative longitudinal study.

We examined the relation between different kinds of play behavior (video games, exergames, board games) in kindergarten (T1) and components of executive function (EF; inhibition, switching, verbal and visuospatial updating) in kindergarten and second grade (T1 and T2). Ninety-seven children participated in this longitudinal study. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding children's play behavior, reporting frequency, duration, and game type.

Individual differences in basic numerical skills: The role of executive functions and motor skills.

The aim of the current study was to explore individual differences in basic numerical skills in a normative sample of 151 kindergarteners (mean age = 6.45 years). Whereas previous research claims a substantial link between executive functions and basic numerical skills, motor abilities have been put forward to explain variance in numerical skills.

Executive functions, visual-motor coordination, physical fitness and academic achievement: Longitudinal relations in typically developing children.

The present longitudinal study included different school readiness factors measured in kindergarten with the aim to predict later academic achievement in second grade. Based on data of N = 134 children, the predictive power of executive functions, visual-motor coordination and physical fitness on later academic achievement was estimated using a latent variable approach. By entering all three predictors simultaneously into the model to predict later academic achievement, significant effects of executive functions and visual-motor coordination on later academic achievement were found.

Motor skills in kindergarten: Internal structure, cognitive correlates and relationships to background variables.

The present study aimed to contribute to the discussion about the relation between motor coordination and executive functions in preschool children. Specifically, the relation between gross and fine motor skills and executive functions as well as the relation to possible background variables (SES, physical activity) were investigated. Based on the data of N=156 kindergarten children the internal structure of motor skills was investigated and confirmed the theoretically assumed subdivision of gross and fine motor skills.

There is more than "more is up": Hand and foot responses reverse the vertical association of number magnitudes.

Recent research in cognitive sciences shows a growing interest in spatial-numerical associations. The horizontal SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect is defined by faster left-sided responses to small numbers and faster right-sided responses to large numbers in a parity judgment task. In this study we investigated whether there is also a SNARC effect for upper and lower responses.