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This paper reviews three studies which examine cognitive processes and brain electrical activity in gifted children. The studies concentrated on mathematically gifted children and/or their sleep patterns. All three studies used the interhemispheric electroencephalogram to examine the gifted child's ability to harness right hemisphere capacities and bring them to bear in intellectual situations. Settings varied from memory representation of faces and world data tests to the use of cognitive skills required to produce dreams. In the sleep studies, the recall of substantive material from REM (rapid eye movement) sleep arousals varied positively with IQ level. But the difference between working and sleep hemispheric ratios was a greater equalization of hemispheric activities during sleep instead of the expected increase in the right hemisphere. The main difference between children with superior IQs and normal controls was that the gifted children slept longer. In the cognitive skills tests during the natural cognitive state at the baseline level, the mathematically talented subjects showed more activation in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere, suggesting that the right hemisphere of the intellectually precocious child does not become more actively engaged during cognitive processing. (Contains 15 references.) (DB)

In recent years, a number of claims have appeared in the popular media and press suggesting that television viewing has potentially detrimental effects on human brain development or activity. An extensive review of the published scientific literature finds that virtually no credible experimental evidence appears to exist in the current literature which specifically relates to the effects of television viewing on human brain development. A review of the scientific literature based upon the measurement of small electrical signals from the surface of the scalp as an indicator of cortical brain activity during television viewing revealed two major experimental findings. First, brain wave patterns occurring during TV viewing are quite similar to those that occur during other waking-state activities, suggesting that television viewing should not be characterized as producing a passive or inattentive activity in the brain. Second, television viewing does not appear to be primarily a "right brain" activity. Rather, both cortical hemispheres are involved in the information processing associated with the complex sensory and perceptual experiences that accompany television viewing. New research opportunities for investigating the relationships between television viewing and brain activity should emerge from advances in technology. However, television remains deeply embedded in a complex array of social and cultural factors and is subject to a broad spectrum of individual differences in information-processing capacity, perception, and cognition. (Author/HTH)

This study sought to determine whether differences existed between infants from low socioeconomic status (SES) families and those from high SES families in the occipital rhythmic activity of the brain, as recorded in their electroencephalograms (EEGs), as well as in other developmental measures. Ten low SES white infants and 10 high SES white infants given EEGs at age 3, 6, and 12 months did not show differences in the occipital rhythmic activity, suggesting comparable neurological functioning between groups. Three measures of infant development were administered at varying intervals between 1 and 18 months. No significant differences between the 2 groups were found until age 12 months. At 12 months, the low SES infants scored lower than the high SES infants in personal-social and adaptive development and, at 18 months, they lagged behind the high SES infants in mental development and language comprehension. Observations of the infants' home environments found that the low SES group was exposed to more television and experienced less maternal responsivity than the high SES group. (Contains 18 references.) (MDM)

An irrelevant auditory probe procedure was used to evoke brain event-related potentials (ERPs) in 56 Navy recruits while they learned pulsed radar concepts presented to them in study booklets. A mastery test was administered to assess concept acquisition. The research issue was whether brain ERPs recorded while students are in the process of learning are correlated with their subsequent achievement and performance. Test items became criteria for multiple regression and discriminant analyses using as predictors ERP amplitudes that corresponded to specific concepts. One regression analysis indicated that ERPs recorded at the right temporal and parietal areas are significantly related to concept acquisition. Three discriminant analyses showed that ERPs evoked at the right frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital and the left parietal regions significantly distinguished below- from above-average concept learners. Poorer learners engaged the right frontal and temporal regions less and with greater variability than did better learners. The study established that the right frontal, temporal, and parietal areas are significantly associated with concept learning--not only left hemisphere regions as proposed in the popular asymmetric model of the brain. (Author/YLB)

Described is research using computer techniques to study the brain's perceptual systems in both normal and pathological groups, including hyperactive children (6-12 years old). Reviewed are the early studies of A. Petrie, M. Buchsbaum, and J. Silverman using the electroencephalograph to obtain AER (average evoked response) records of schizophrenics. The use of the AER to investigate how the brain reacts to changes in stimulus intensity is explained. Summarized are major findings concerning AER abnormalities in schizophrenics, manic-depressives, pure depressives, hyperactive children, and in normal behavior. It is proposed that stimulus intensity control serves as an adaptive protective role in the face of potentially excessive stimulation; that schizophrenics might be representing this adaptive tendency to an exaggerated degree; and that hyperactive children who improve with drug therapy are those who, prior to treatment, have the most abnormal AER patterns. (SBH)

This paper examines the development of visually evoked EEG patterns in retarded and normal subjects. The paper focuses on the averaged visually evoked potentials (AVEP) in the central and occipital regions of the brain in eyes closed and eyes open conditions. Wave pattern, amplitude, and latency are examined. The first section of the paper reviews previous research on developmental changes in AVEP patterns. The second section of the paper presents a developmental and comparative study of the AVEPs of retarded and normal children in a closed eyes, diffuse white light flash condition. Results suggest that EEG patterns from the central region of the brain develop more slowly than those of the occipital region. Occipital patterns tend to be fairly similar for both retarded and normal subjects. Central recordings, however, indicate striking differences in the long latency negative and positive waves of the retarded subjects. The third section of the paper examines the AVEP patterns of retarded and normal subjects during two eyes open conditions: light flash (Rest) and a choice reaction task (CRT). Results from this study suggest similar but developmentally retarded AVEP patterns for the retarded in comparison to the normal subjects in the occipital region for both Rest and CRT. Retarded-normal differences are found for negative wave patterns in the central brain region by comparing CRT to the Rest condition. Results are discussed in terms of arousal and attention deviations which may be indicated in the AVEP patterns of the retarded subjects. (BD)

Differences in semantic recall between students hypothesized as having either a high or a low analytic style were investigated. Styles were determined by the amount of bilateral alpha activity measured from the cerebral cortex of the brain during eyes-open baseline recordings. The results indicated that when expository text was tightly structured, high analytic subjects (those producing relatively less bilateral alpha than low analytic subjects) recalled more of the logically or semantically important information from text when compared to low analytic subjects. They also recalled some of the superordinate relative to subordinate information. Low analytic subjects, on the other hand, appeared to recall superordinate and subordinate information at approximately the same rate. The results provided support for the bimodal theory of cognitive processing. (Author/RL)

To provide converging support that the integration of analog and propositional representational systems is associated with spatial ability, visual, auditory, and bimodal brain event-related potentials were recorded from 50 right-handed Caucasian male recruits at the Naval Training Center, San Diego. Sensory interaction indices were derived for these subjects who had taken the Surface Development Test of spatial ability. Product-moment correlations were computed between sensory interaction indices for eight cerebral sites and spatial ability test scores. Sensory interaction for left and right hemispheric regions was significantly related to spatial ability. As sensory suppression decreased, spatial ability increased. The results substantiated the theory that the visual-imaginal-analog and the auditory-verbal-propositional representational systems are implicated in spatial ability. The extent to which the cortex can inhibit or attenuate the interaction or integration between these dual symbol systems is associated with complicated spatial task performance. (Author)

This report is a summary of a task analysis for the emerging occupational area of electroencephalography (EEG) which sought to validate the task list for the EEG technicain and to aid in the development of a quality training program for such technicians. It contains survey methods, a description of the sample and percentage of response, background data, task inventory results, summary, and conclusions. Tables show the samples' respondents, comparisons and variables, differences in mode scores between various groups, and a numerical summary of responses to questions concerning research, training activities, and membership; more than half of the document is devoted to appendixes on a list of occupations, a roster of the National Technical Advisory Committee, the task analysis survey, a list of health care facilities selected for the national survey, response to the EEG technician survey, and write-in responses. Survey results are discussed with reference to their educational implications. (NH)

Evaluated were the properties and fine structures of averaged visually evoked potentials (AVEP) in 60 normal children between the ages of 2 and 9 years. Electroencephalographic recordings were taken while white diffuse flashes were used to deliver visual stimuli to the Ss. Three types of AVEP patterns were discerned, with no relationship observed between AVEP types and age of Ss; however, AVEP latencies of the third type appeared to be closely related to age. Results implied that AVEP latency is related to age in early developmental stages but becomes unrelated to age at later stages. (LH)

Described are two different statistical methods (component and discriminant analysis) used to compare electroencephalographic patterns of normal and three types of mentally retarded persons ages 7- to 41-years-old. (CL)