Hemodynamic response measurement in the brains of early-school-age children during arithmetic tasks. Application of fNIRS.

<p><span style="font-size:0.86rem;letter-spacing:0px">Abstract:</span><br /></p><p>The study involved 50 children of school age. Their activity of selected primitive reflexes was evaluated: asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR), tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR), Moro reflex and Galant reflex. The activity of the reflexes was assessed on a scale from 0 to 4, where 0 indicated a lack of activity. Children with results of 2–4 were assigned to the test group, while those with results of 0–1 were assigned to the control group. Children with an intellectual disability, head injuries requiring medical intervention, epilepsy, frequent fainting, altered consciousness or structural damage to the central nervous system were excluded from the study.</p><p>Next, the haemodynamic response of the brain was assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Sensors were placed over the prefrontal cortex of the children while they performed arithmetic tasks presented on a screen. The participants solved addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems up to 100, providing answers via a keyboard. During the tasks, the haemodynamic activity of the prefrontal cortex was recorded.</p>