Are gifted individuals less chaotic thinkers

Abstract This study investigated differences in EEG between gifted individuals (mean IQ = 132) and average individuals (mean IQ = 101) in resting conditions and while solving different tasks. Gifted and average students solved tasks representing processing speed, working memory, arithmetic operations, proportional, deductive and inductive reasoning. α-power and Kolmogorov entropy measures indicating low deterministic chaos were analysed. In resting conditions no significant differences between gifted and average individuals were observed. Gifted individuals during problem solving displayed higher α power (less mental activity) than did average individuals. The differences were most pronounced over the frontal brain areas for the tasks involving working memory and arithmetic operations. Less pronounced differences were obtained using the non-linear Kolmogorov entropy measure. Gifted individuals showed lower entropy, indicating less complex neural mass activity when solving tasks involving arithmetic operations and deductive reasoning. The results suggest that gifted individuals, in comparison with average ones, more efficiently activated task-relevant brain areas.

[1]  W. Ray,et al.  EEG alpha activity reflects attentional demands, and beta activity reflects emotional and cognitive processes. , 1985, Science.

[2]  W. D. Rohwer,et al.  Domain-Specific Knowledge, Metacognition, and the Promise of Instructional Reform , 1989 .

[3]  M. J. Meier,et al.  Lateralized deficits in complex visual discrimination and bilateral transfer of reminiscence following unilateral temporal lobectomy , 1965 .

[4]  P. Nunez,et al.  Neocortical Dynamics and Human EEG Rhythms , 1995 .

[5]  J. Graham Beaumont,et al.  Hemisphere Function in the Human Brain , 1974 .

[6]  Gert Pfurtscheller,et al.  Intelligence and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD). , 1995 .

[7]  A. Glass.  MENTAL ARITHMETIC AND BLOCKING OF THE OCCIPITAL ALPHA RHYTHM. , 1964, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[8]  Norbert Jaušovec,et al.  Differences in EEG Alpha Activity Between Gifted and Non-Identified Individuals: Insights into Problem Solving , 1997 .

[9]  M. Corsi-Cabrera,et al.  EEG activity during performance of cognitive tasks demanding verbal and/or spatial processing. , 1988, The International journal of neuroscience.

[10]  Werner Lutzenberger,et al.  Dimensional analysis of the human EEG and intelligence , 1992, Neuroscience Letters.

[11]  R. Doty,et al.  Lateralization in the nervous system , 1977 .

[12]  J. P. Vroom,et al.  Advances in Psychology. , 1998, Canadian Medical Association journal.

[13]  M. Buchsbaum,et al.  Intelligence and changes in regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate following learning , 1992 .

[14]  J. Duncan,et al.  Fluid intelligence after frontal lobe lesions , 1995, Neuropsychologia.

[15]  S. Butler,et al.  EEG correlates of cerebral dominance. , 1976, Advances in psychobiology.

[16]  R. Sternberg.  Human Abilities: An Information Processing Approach , 1985 .

[17]  Michael Pressley,et al.  Cognitive Strategy Research , 1983 .

[18]  Richard J. Haier,et al.  Sex differences and lateralization in temporal lobe glucose metabolism during mathematical reasoning , 1995 .

[19]  E. Hunt.  Mechanics of Verbal Ability. , 1978 .

[20]  C J Stam,et al.  EEG Changes during Mental Activation , 1994, Clinical EEG.

[21]  R. M. Dünki.  The estimation of the Kolmogorov entropy from a time series and its limitations when performed on EEG , 1991 .

[22]  A. Glass.  Cognitive and EEG asymmetry , 1984, Biological Psychology.

[23]  N. Birbaumer,et al.  Age increases brain complexity. , 1996, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[24]  M. Chi,et al.  Problem-Solving Ability. , 1985 .

[25]  R Schellenberg,et al.  Reflection of mental exercise in the dynamic quantitative topographical EEG. , 1995, Neuropsychobiology.

[26]  J. Blom,et al.  An electrode cap tested. , 1982, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[27]  P. Grassberger,et al.  Measuring the Strangeness of Strange Attractors , 1983 .

[28]  P. Grassberger,et al.  Dimensions and entropies of strange attractors from a fluctuating dynamics approach , 1984 .

[29]  C. Benbow,et al.  Developmentally advanced EEG alpha power in gifted male and female adolescents. , 1996, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[30]  Michael W. O'Boyle,et al.  Sex differences, hemispheric laterality, and associated brain activity in the intellectually gifted , 1995 .

[31]  M. Buchsbaum,et al.  Cortical glucose metabolic rate correlates of abstract reasoning and attention studied with positron emission tomography , 1988 .

[32]  Robert J. Sternberg,et al.  Handbook of human intelligence , 1984 .