An EEG Study: Hemispheric Brain Functioning of Six to Eight Year Old Children During Piagetian and Curriculum Tasks with Variation in Presentation Mode.

Investigated was the lateral asymmetry in children's hemispheric brain functioning during performance of Piagetian and curriculum related tasks. Six subproblems were investigated. Eighteen right-handed children, ages six to eight years old, were given electroencephalograms while performing a battery of tasks: Piagetian conservation tasks, Piagetian temporal tasks, spatial tasks, and curriculum related tasks. It was concluded that tasks which had initial visio-spatial components during the stimulus period tended to elicit right hemispheric activity during that period. If that task had verbal or logical components during the subsequent response period, then left hemispheric activity tended to be elicited; high performers tended to show a greater proportion of right hemispheric activity during the subsequent response period. Consistent patterns of hemispheric functioning were identified in children having the same sex and hand-eye dominance. (RH)