Visualizing the brain activities (EEG) during the Exploration stage

In the previous post, we covered the neural oscillations of the Exploration stage of the ISP model. However, the material was explained in either text or in table format. In this post, we will attempt to visualize the findings of this portion of the study instead.

To recap, the Exploration stage of the ISP model can be described:

Knowledge of a topic is gathered and a new personal knowledge is created. The individual endeavors to locate new knowledge to situate with previous understanding of the topic. Feelings of anxiety may be experienced if inconsistent and incompatible knowledge found.

One of the main focus of this study helped establish the neural oscillations of the ISP model. Simply put, we wanted to examine what happens in the brain during the Explorations stage.

As in, when we gather knowledge around a topic and when we situate that knowledge with previously accumulated information about the same topic, what happens to our brainwaves? Do they shift? If so, how do they change? And what if we felt either positive or negative when seeking knowledge? Would that change anything in our brain activities?

Note: This research controlled the neutral, positive, and negative conditions using the IAPS systems.

As explained in previous article, when the original state of being of the subjects was neutral, most of the human subjects showed Gamma bands (30+HZ) mainly in their left frontal lobes.

To illustrate, when feeling neutral while seeking (additional) information on a topic, our left frontal lobes show Gamma bands, which is 30+HZ in frequency:

But when the subjects emotional states were controlled towards positive or negative states, the neural oscillations as well as the locations of the bands actually changed.

In positive conditions, the left frontal lobe turned from Gamma to Beta bands. In other words, when feeling positive seeking (additional) information on a topic, our left frontal lobes show Beta bands (15-30HZ) frequency:

On the other hand, feeling negative when seeking (additional) information on a topic, we saw Gamma bands (30+HZ) in left frontal lobes AND right temporal and parietal lobs. Whereas Beta bands (15-30HZ) in the right frontal lobe.

What do these all mean though? In the next post, we will attempt to go into the potential meanings of these bands activations in the various brain lobes.