What children’s brainwaves reveal about how we process numbers

14 November 2024 Research news item

No need to panic: there are absolutely no bone saws involved. However, there are numbers involved and maths makes some people feel queasy. Some of them even really struggle with numerical skill, which is a serious impediment to participating in society. "We know from the Netherlands education inspectorate's annual reports and other research that many children in secondary education as well as adults struggle with numbers and basic mathematical problem-solving - and the trend is getting worse," explains Van Bueren.

Whence, then, comes someone's propensity for or problems with numbers? And what can we do to help? UM's Lisa Jonkman and Radboud University's Nienke van Bueren (together with team members Sanne van der Ven and Anne van Hoogmoed from RU), are studying the underlying processes. They measure children's brain activity using EEG (electroencephalography), a technique that records the brain's electrical signals. "The problem is that it is difficult to get good quality EEG data from a large enough sample of children. The research-grade EEG system is very expensive, and often it takes a long time to apply the sensors to the children's scalp," explains Van Bueren.

Portable EEG and aperiodic brain activity

To conduct their research more efficiently, they are testing the usability of a new type of portable EEG in children, that consists of sensors in a headset which can be placed on the head with much less preparation time. Essentially, it looks a bit like a novelty head massage tool. "The cool thing about this device, the EMOTIV headset, is that it's much cheaper than a research-grade system. It's also portable, so you can take it into schools and record children's brain activity in a realistic environment, rather than in a lab," says Van Bueren. "This makes it easier to see how their brains are working during normal, everyday tasks, like solving maths problems in class."

To investigate its applicability in children, the data collected with this portable system will be compared with data from the traditional and very accurate EEG system normally used in lab-settings. Their goal is to see if results yielded by the portable system are as reliable as those from the traditional system. "This would make research cheaper and logistically much easier. Also, you can use it in the field without interfering in the children's lives too much," explains Jonkman.

On top of establishing the portable EEG as a sound method, Van Bueren tries to understand how children's brains work at rest and how this relates to their ability to acquire mathematical skills and process numbers. Brains produce electrical signals or 'brainwaves', some of which follow regular patterns (like alpha or beta waves), while others don't. Van Bueren describes aperiodic activity, which falls in the latter category in that it doesn't follow a strict rhythm, as "like background noise in your brain, but recent studies suggest that this static noise is actually important and may tell us a lot about how well the brain is functioning, especially during tasks like learning or problem-solving."

Finger number gestures

Jonkman's side of the project focuses on how children use finger gestures to understand and process numbers while solving maths problems. Using an EEG in children between 9 and 10 years old, she studies both children's performance and their brain activity during a maths verification task. Here, children see a simple sum (e.g. 1+3), followed by an image of hands showing a correct or an incorrect answer using finger number gestures. The children must then quickly decide whether the answer shown by the finger gesture is correct.

"We are specifically looking at whether children's arithmetic performance improves when sum solutions are shown in culturally familiar finger number patterns, such as when holding up thumb, index and middle finger displaying number three, as opposed to not familiar, more awkward patterns, such as e.g. thumb, middle finger, and pinkie," Jonkman explains. Apart from children's performance, the researchers study brainwaves that indicate the level of attentional processing and can show us whether culturally familiar finger number gestures are processed or recognised faster by the brain than unknown gestures.

"Finger-number representations are really important in early numeracy development. They can help children better internalise numerical concepts, which could lead to better problem-solving later on," explains Jonkman, who specialises in (neuro)cognitive and attention development. "There are some indications that we learn and internalise the numbers 1 through 4 earlier and on a more fundamental level. The numbers beyond are more abstract to us. Finger gestures are a great tool to help young children learn and understand these numbers in a more concrete way, paving the way for acquisition of the basic rules of our number system. Studying how these gestures affect early numeracy development and associated brain activity might eventually lead to the development of more effective educational strategies."

RUxUM

The collaboration between Jonkman and Van Bueren was a logical step in their careers and in the UM and RU partnership. "We had met at a conference before and Lisa was an opponent during my PhD defence," remembers Van Bueren, who researched non-invasive brain stimulation to optimise learning performance at the time. "She asked really interesting questions, and it was clear that we have very similar interests, so we decided that we should work together."

The project was made possible thanks to a deepening partnership between the two institutions. Building on previous collaborations, Radboud University and Maastricht University have joined forces in education and research to strengthen and serve the Southeast Netherlands region. Among several other initiatives, there are seed grants promoting research collaborations such as this one.

Jonkman puts their research into a larger context: "It's only a pilot project because we are establishing methods, but I hope we'll get more funding for future research. It's really important for us to better understand how children develop numeracy. Better educational methods could make a big difference to those struggling, who are now left behind."

Text: Florian Rath for Universiteit Maastricht/Radboud Universiteit

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Radboud University & Maastricht University

Radboud University and Maastricht University are to increase cooperation in education and research. Aim of the collaboration: to join forces to maximise the academic and social impact in the South-East region of the Netherlands.