Velocidade de processamento, eficiência neural e eletroencefalograma em crianças de alto desempenho cognitivo

Abstract

The literature on human intelligence emphasizes the existence of individual differences in the human population, and these differences are due in large part to biological and / or genetic issues. Several researches have shown that people with more efficient brains perform better on cognitive tests. In this sense, the present work aims to verify the processing speed and neural efficiency of children with high cognitive performance. To do so, two groups composed the sample: Group 1, children with average cognitive performance (control group, with four participants) and Group 2, children with high cognitive performance or giftedness (experimental group, with six participants). The Raven Progressive Matrix and Wechsler Scale tests (WISC-IV and WASI) were used for cognitive assessment and group definition. To observe the processing speed, evaluated through reaction time of decision-making, an elementary cognitive task (ECT) was used. The two groups were submitted to electroencephalography during the ECT, which allowed the observation of the Alpha, Beta and Gamma brain waves emitted during the activity. The results showed that Group 2 had an averaged RTDM lower than the value presented by Group 1, showing negative correlations r = - 0.52 (p <0.120) and = - 0.40 (p <0.250) between processing speed and intelligence. Mean values of Alpha, Beta and Gamma brain waves amplitudes were also lower for Group 2 when compared to the value presented by Group 1, showing evidence of association between neural efficiency and intelligence. The dispersion characteristics of these brain waves (evaluated through topographic representations of the cerebral cortices of the participants) did not show differences that could define the two groups, but showed characteristic of each of the waveforms observed. Alpha waves presented higher intensity in the parietal regions of both hemispheres (on average), Beta waves showed the same intensity in the regions of both hemispheres (on average) and the Gamma waves presented higher intensity in the temporal and occipital regions of both hemispheres (on average). In general, the results showed associations between processing speed and neural efficiency with intelligence