Bioelectric activity of the brain in pupils with different academic success. Report 2. The relationship between the academic success and patterns of bioelectric activity of the cortex

Background. The paper presents the study of the factors of academic success and failure in students, which is a relevant and socially significant problem. Academic failure often results in behavior deviations, drug abuse and other types of dangerous behavior. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to establish the reasons of academic failure, as well as the ways to improve academic performance. Aim. The paper aims to establish the features of responses of academically successful and unsuccessful 12-year-old children to cognitive load based on EEG data. Materials and methods. Twelve-year-old schoolchildren (n = 51) from Ekaterinburg participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups depending on their academic performance. EEG recording was performed using the CONAN-m equipment (Informatics and Computers, Russia). Monopolar EEG recordings were obtained from 10 symmetrical leads in different conditions: during resting wakefulness (for eyes open and closed) and when solving experimental tasks of three types (simple arithmetic task, verbal and logical task, spatial thinking task). The differences between the samples of academically successful and unsuccessful children were assessed using the Wilcoxon nonparametric test. Results. Differences were revealed in a number of EEG indicators both at rest and when solving experimental tasks between academically successful and unsuccessful schoolchildren. The responses of academically successful children to cognitive load were characterized by predominant activation of the anterior cortical areas with a focus of activity in the left frontal area. Academically unsuccessful children were characterized by a more generalized type of EEG response with a focus of activity in the caudal areas of the cortex, especially when solving a figure rotation task. It was also found that successful children made mistakes when solving a figure rotation task and unsuccessful ones - when solving verbal and logical tasks. Conclusion. Children with low academic success were found to have characteristic features of the functioning of the cerebral cortex, which hampered the perception of educational material presented in the form of a logically structured message. However, these children were able to brilliantly operate with visual-spatial information. This must be taken into account when working with such children to improve their academic performance.