Frontal Midline Theta Rhythm and Mental Activity with Different Nationalities

Qiao Chongyang

Cerebral CortexFrontal : Motor Cortex

Occipital: Vision Temporal: Smell and Hearing Parietal: Somatosensory Cortex

Theta Rhythm - Frontal AreaMental Task Performance;

Rest and Sleep.

(Non)-REM REM & NREM-1: wake and sleepy NREM-2: hypnagogic sensations NREM-3: sleep spinelles

Frontal Midline Theta Rhythm

A train of rhythmic waves Frequency between 6-7 Hz

Induced by various mental tasks

Appearance of frontal midline theta rhythm is related to mental activity, personality traits and platelet monoamine

oxidase (MAO) activity

Mental tasks Psychopharmacology

Attention and arousal centrally acting drugs

Periodicity buspirone

Sleep ethyl lofrazepete

Music etizolam and clotiazepam

Magnetoencephalography dopamine agonist and antagonist

Personality traits alcohol

Monoamine oxidase

Research TopicMental activity with Different Nationalities

Needs Analysis• User and Task

1. Student: Mental workload (Engineering & Science)

2. Worker: Multiple task (Decision-making & Problem-solving)

• Environment Characteristics:

3. Student: Heavy work for different subjects in the classroom & laboratory

4. Worker: Strong influence for the future trends in the company & factory

Requirement Specification

• Student (Long-term memory): train memory for information retrieval, applied knowledge help to solve problem.

• Worker (Working memory): analyze information to make decision, pervious experience help to avoid human error.

Product DescriptionHuman Brain Wave

GAMMA / BETA / ALPHA / THETA / DELTA

Task AnalysisMain Task Level 2 Level 3

Cognition Model

1. Situation Awareness 2. Long-term Memory

1. Percept jigsaw puzzle 2. Comprehend rule of game 3. Declare geometric construction 4. Procedural cube calculation

Information Processing

1. Decision-Making 2. Working Memory

1. Percept the pattern / location 2. Find out regularity of sudoku 3. Guidance by cue detection 4. Series Reasoning the process

Purpose• To understand mental activity for

the complex task recognition between different nationalities

• To check the decision-making process during the multiple task performance

• To investigate mental activity after training whether the performance have improvement or not

Problems Statement• Human have low activity in the multiple tasks for the

information processing

• Human performance influenced by personality traits between different nationalities

• Human easy to make mistake for the situation recognition during the mental activity

• Human have problem to make the decision for problem-solving

Research Questions• How could Frontal Midline Theta influence the

Mental Activity in different tasks?

• What is the difference on Theta Rhythm within different nationalities?

• How to improve Personality traits by training the rhythm of Frontal Midline Theta?

• How to help human recognize the situation and make decision for problem-solving?

Research Objectives

• Human have different performance between Thai and Japanese for the multi-tasks.

• Situation recognition could be improved after training of the rhythm for decision-making

Hypothesis• H1: Fmθ is influenced in mental activity such as 2D/

3D jigsaw puzzle, sudoku/pattern-matching puzzle.

• H2: Fmθ are different between Thai and Japanese (personality traits)

• H3: Situation recognition is improved by training the Fmθ (form perception)

• H4: Decision-making is enhanced after the training of series reasoning

Mental Activity

Task Performance

Personality Traits

Situation Perception

General Information

Variable• Dependent Variable

Mental Activity

• Independent Variables

1. Task Performance

2. Personality Traits

3. Situation Perception

4. General Information

User Profile

20 Subject: 10 Thai, 10 Japanese Type: University Student

Age: 20-30 years old Gender: 50% famale, 50% male

Methodology• Frontal midline theta with mental activity (event-related potential)

1. Attention (2D/3D Jigsaw Puzzle)

2. Decision (Sudoku/Pattern Game)

• Frontal midline theta with nationality (time-frequency power)

1. 10 Thai

2. 10 Japanese

Psychological Tests: Mental Workload

Guide for Risk Assessment in Small and Medium Enterprises

20

Experiment #1

• 2D Jigsaw Puzzle Game

• Show the 2D picture to subjects, then let subjects practice by memory

• 3D Jigsaw Puzzle Game

• Present 3D model, and let subjects follow construction to build new model

No. Task description Task details

1 Read SpecificationReq`s: 2D/3D jigsaw puzzle specification

SCC: understand the content MTC: 60 seconds

2 2D jigsaw puzzleReq`s: EEG Instrument, 2D jigsaw puzzle

SCC: complete puzzle MTC: 180 seconds

3 3D jigsaw puzzleReq`s: EEG Instrument, 3D jigsaw puzzle

SCC: complete puzzle MTC: 300 seconds

4 Mistake CheckReq`s: 2D/3D puzzle, Specification

SCC: without error MTC: 30 seconds

Experiment #2• Sudoku Board Game

• http://www.websudoku.com

• Recording the series reasoning processing

• Pattern-Matching Puzzle

• http://www.nicologic.fr/pattern.php

• Analysis the correct rate during the performance

No. Task description Task details

1 Read SpecificationReq`s: Browse the Questions SCC: Recognize the content

MTC: 60 seconds

2 Pattern-Matching PuzzleReq`s: EEG Instrument, Pattern puzzle

SCC: Complete puzzle MTC: 240 seconds

3 Sudoku Board GameReq`s: EEG Instrument, Sudoku board

SCC: Complete board MTC: 240 seconds

4 Error CheckReq`s: Pattern puzzle, Sudoku board

SCC: without error MTC: 30 seconds

Performance Measurement• Time Control: 30 minutes long per subject

8 minutes preparation, 2 minutes explanation, 20 minutes EEG test (4X5)

• Performance Measures:

Help action: Time required to access information in the manual

Task action:

1. Time to complete each task

2. Number and percentage of tasks completed correctly with and without assistance;

3. Number and percentage of task information in the manual

Rejected action: Time needed to recover from error(s)

Test Environment• Person:

• Monitor, Subject

• Worksite:

• Lab, Desk, Chair

• Instruments

• 2D/3D Puzzle Game.

• Sudoku Board Game

• Pattern-match Puzzle

Test Monitor Role• Responsible test monitor: EEG instrument,

computer, stopwatch,The Observer XT.

• Video recorder:

1. capture the face of participants

2. capture the participants and test monitor

• Paper note: behavior and emotion

ResultsThrough the training of the rhythm of frontal midline theta, biological-based personality improved between Thai and Japanese

Retrospective Interview• Task ____; Time Taken ____.

• How easy or difficult was it to ____?

• Error Types (if any): ____?

• Reason for Error: ____.

• What on the product make you think that is what should be done?

• How do you think this could be improved?

NASA Task Load Index

• Assesses work load on five 7-point scales.

• Increments of high, medium and low estimates for each point;

• Result in 21 gradations on the scales.

Application

• Recognition and Information processing

• Decision-making and Problem-solving

• Interface and Interaction design

Reference

1. Inanaga., K., 1998, “Frontal midline theta rhythm and mental activity”, Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci, 52, pp. 555–566. 2. Cavanagh., J. F., Hackman., A. J., 2014, “Frontal midline theta reflects anxiety and cognitive control: Meta-analytic evidence”,

Journal of Physiology, Volume 109, Issues 1-3, February-June 2015, pp. 3-15. 3. Y Kubota, W Sato, M Toichi, T Murai, T Okada, A Hayashi, A Sengoku, 2001, "Frontal midline theta is correlated with cardiac

autonomic activities during the performance of an attention demanding meditation procedure” Cognitive Brain Research, 11 (2001), pp. 281–287.

4. L-T. Hsieh, C. Ranganath., 2014, "Frontal midline theta oscillations during working memory maintenance and episodic encoding and retrieval," Neuroimage, 85 (2014), pp. 721–729.

5. L.I. Aftanas, S.A. Golocheikine., 2001, "Human anterior and frontal midline theta and lower alpha reflect emotionally positive state and internalized attention: high-resolution EEG investigation of meditation," Neurosci. Lett., 310 (2001), pp. 57–60.