Department of Behavioral Sciences Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2011 May;80(2):143-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.02.017. Epub 2011 Mar 3.
We used event-related brain potentials (ERP) to study the problem-size effect in individuals with high and low arithmetic skill. Participants were presented with a classic equality verification task, and problem size was manipulated by using small (e.g., 3+4), medium (e.g., 7+8) and large problems (e.g., 16+29). ERP analyses were time-locked to the onset of the second operand in order to address brain potentials during the production phase. High-skill individuals showed a positive slow wave when solving large problems and no differences in the ERP pattern when solving small and medium problems. In contrast, low-skill individuals showed a positive slow wave when solving medium and large problems. Given that differences between high and low skill individuals have been related to differences in calculation strategies, these results provide further support to the utility of using ERP as a signature of arithmetic strategy.
我们使用事件相关脑电位（ERP）研究了高、低算术技能个体的问题大小效应。参与者接受了一项经典的等式验证任务，通过使用小（例如 3+4）、中（例如 7+8）和大问题（例如 16+29）来操纵问题大小。ERP 分析与第二个操作数的出现同步进行，以便在产生阶段记录大脑电位。高技能个体在解决大问题时会出现正慢波，而在解决小问题和中问题时 ERP 模式没有差异。相比之下，低技能个体在解决中大和大问题时会出现正慢波。鉴于高技能和低技能个体之间的差异与计算策略的差异有关，这些结果为使用 ERP 作为计算策略特征的有效性提供了进一步的支持。
