Differential recruitment of brain networks in single-digit addition and multiplication: Evidence from EEG oscillations in theta and lower alpha bands

• Published in: International journal of psychophysiology 2018-06, Vol.128, p.81-92
• Main Authors: Wang, Lihan, Gan, John Q., Zhang, Li, Wang, Haixian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Alpha Rhythm - physiology; Brain functional networks; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Dissociation between simple mental arithmetic operations; EEG analysis; Electroencephalography - methods; Female; Humans; Male; Mathematical Concepts; Nerve Net - physiology; Numerical cognition; Theta Rhythm - physiology; Thinking - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0167-8760; 1872-7697
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.04.005

Previous neuroimaging research investigating dissociation between single-digit addition and multiplication has suggested that the former placed more reliance on the visuo-spatial processing whereas the latter on the verbal processing. However, there has been little exploration into the disassociation in spatio-temporal dynamics of the oscillatory brain activity in specific frequency bands during the two arithmetic operations. To address this issue, the electroencephalogram (EEG) data were recorded from 19 participants engaged in a delayed verification arithmetic task. By analyzing oscillatory EEG activity in theta (5–7 Hz) and lower alpha frequency (9–10 Hz) bands, we found different patterns of oscillatory brain activity between single-digit addition and multiplication during the early processing stage (0–400 ms post-operand onset). Experiment results in this study showed a larger phasic increase of theta-band power for addition than for multiplication in the midline and the right frontal and central regions during the operator and operands presentation intervals, which was extended to the right parietal and the right occipito-temporal regions during the interval immediately after the operands presentation. In contrast, during multiplication higher phase-locking in lower alpha band was evident in the centro-parietal regions during the operator presentation, which was extended to the left fronto-central and anterior regions during the operands presentation. Besides, we found stronger theta phase synchrony between the parietal areas and the right occipital areas for single-digit addition than for multiplication during operands encoding. These findings of oscillatory brain activity extend the previous observations on functional dissociation between the two arithmetic operations. •Addition induced higher theta amplitude than multiplication during the early processing stages of an arithmetic task.•Addition involved stronger theta phase synchronizations in parieto-occipital areas for operand encoding than multiplication.•Multiplication elicited stronger lower alpha-band inter-trial phase coherence than addition during early processing stages.•Preview of the operators initialized differential brain networks recruited in the two arithmetic operations.