Investigation on EEG Pattern Differences in Males and Females During Convergent and Divergent Thinking

摘要

Introduction:one of the important patterns of human's thinking is convergent and divergent thinking that there are little researches in this field especially in neurological aspect. Several studies had shown that there are different results in EEG patterns of males and females. Therefore, this study examined the EEG pattern changes of males and females during convergent thinking (CT) and divergent thinking (DT) in comparison to the rest condition.Methods:This study was a fundamental-theoretical research with quasi experimental design. 34 subjects (19 boys and 15 girls) were chosen according to available sampling method by using a screening questionnaire. Each of them assigned in three conditions (rest, CT and DT). In the CT and DT conditions subjects were solved the tasks that were related to these two kinds of thinking but during rest condition they didn’t solve any task. In all three conditions, EEG patterns were recorded from 19 scalp areas. The recorded EEG in theta band, were transformed into quantitative form (QEEG) by using neuroguide software and these quantities analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA method.Results:descriptive results of this study had showed that coherence of EEG patterns in convergent thinking and divergent thinking are higher than rest condition. But there was no significant difference between these two kinds of thinking. Also the results of repeated measure ANOVA had shown that these 3 conditions hadn’t significant differences in coherence patterns in two genders. Conclusion: The results probably are due to neglect the especial function of each hemispheres. Other probability that we can consider for these results is the thinking skills that basically have no biological difference. these results can provide a background for future studies about cognitive functions.