Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
206,690 studies31 sourcesUpdated 21 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Neuroimage: Reports

Representation updating outweighs rule switching in fraction equivalence: Evidence from ERPs and multiscale entropy

  • Chen-Yu Yao1
  • Hui-Yu Hsu2
  • Zai-Fu Yao1,3
  • Tsu-Jen Ding4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, College of Education, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 300044, Taiwan
  2. 2Graduate Institute of Mathematics and Science Education, College of Education, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 300044, Taiwan
  3. 3Research Center for Education and Mind Sciences, College of Education, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 300044, Taiwan
  4. 4Department of Environmental and Cultural Resources, College of Education, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 300044, Taiwan
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Executive function is a fundamental mechanism of human cognition, yet its specific roles in mathematical processing remain relatively underdeveloped. The study investigated behavioral and neural dynamics involved in evaluating fraction equivalence, aiming to disentangle cognitive costs associated with rule switching and representation updating, which are core to executive function. Thirty adults participated in a novel two-stage fraction-equivalence task involving both symbolic and figural representations. Contrary to findings typically reported in classical task-switching paradigms, behavioral results showed better performance in switch conditions than in non-switch conditions. Notably, participants demonstrated the poorest performance in the non-switch condition involving solely figural representations. ERP results indicated that switch conditions generally elicited larger N2 and P3 amplitudes, suggesting efficient engagement of cognitive control processes during representation transformation. When controlling for the representation presented in the first stage, a rule-switching effect emerged only when the first-stage representation was symbolic, but not when it was figural. This pattern suggests that updating processes associated with figural representations may influence the cognitive mechanisms underlying rule switching. Further analysis revealed that the Symbol-to-Symbol (SS) condition elicited significantly larger N2 and P3 amplitudes than the Figure-to-Figure (FF) condition, indicating that figural representations may provide less effective cognitive support for representation updating and lead to poorer behavioral performance. Multiscale entropy (mMSE) analysis further confirmed greater neural complexity in the FF condition, suggesting increased cognitive demands during processing. Overall, these findings indicate that when domain-general rule-switching mechanisms are applied to mathematical content, the underlying cognitive processes may undergo reweighting, highlighting the interaction between executive control and mathematical representations.

Related

  1. Dynamic belief representation and updating through learned attractor-like dynamics in the frontal cortex
    S. A. Romero Pinto, J. A. Hennig, M. Burrell +7
    bioRxivPreprintCC BY-NC-NDFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
  2. Cortical reinstatement of causally related events sparks narrative insights by updating neural representation patterns
    Hayoung Song, Jin Ke, Rhea Madhogarhia +2
    Nature CommunicationsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull text7 citedNeuroscienceOpenAlex
  3. Hydrogeological compartmentalization outweighs hydrochemistry in structuring microbial communities across contrasting subsurface habitats
    Cassandre Sara Lazar, Pierre Betti, Coralie Rolland +1
    Frontiers in microbiologyPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textMicrobiologyEurope PMC
  4. Landscape configuration outweighs composition in shaping the diversity of phytophagous scarab beetles in the Serranía del Perijá, Colombia
    Sandy García-Atencia, María Argenis Bonilla, Yamileth Domínguez-Haydar +1
    Perspectives in Ecology and ConservationPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textEcologyDOAJ
  5. Breeder age outweighs egg grading method on hatchability and chick quality in broiler hatcheries.
    Jumara Coelho Ticiano, Roberto Carlos de Freitas, Luzianna Macedo Fonseca +4
    Tropical animal health and productionPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textPlant biologyEurope PMC

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{yao2026representation,
  title = {{Representation updating outweighs rule switching in fraction equivalence: Evidence from ERPs and multiscale entropy}},
  author = {Chen-Yu Yao and Hui-Yu Hsu and Zai-Fu Yao and Tsu-Jen Ding},
  journal = {Neuroimage: Reports},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100424},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100424},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Representation updating outweighs rule switching in fraction equivalence: Evidence from ERPs and multiscale entropy
AU  - Chen-Yu Yao
AU  - Hui-Yu Hsu
AU  - Zai-Fu Yao
AU  - Tsu-Jen Ding
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
JO  - Neuroimage: Reports
DO  - 10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100424
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100424
AB  - Executive function is a fundamental mechanism of human cognition, yet its specific roles in mathematical processing remain relatively underdeveloped. The study investigated behavioral and neural dynamics involved in evaluating fraction equivalence, aiming to disentangle cognitive costs associated with rule switching and representation updating, which are core to executive function. Thirty adults participated in a novel two-stage fraction-equivalence task involving both symbolic and figural representations. Contrary to findings typically reported in classical task-switching paradigms, behavioral results showed better performance in switch conditions than in non-switch conditions. Notably, participants demonstrated the poorest performance in the non-switch condition involving solely figural representations. ERP results indicated that switch conditions generally elicited larger N2 and P3 amplitudes, suggesting efficient engagement of cognitive control processes during representation transformation. When controlling for the representation presented in the first stage, a rule-switching effect emerged only when the first-stage representation was symbolic, but not when it was figural. This pattern suggests that updating processes associated with figural representations may influence the cognitive mechanisms underlying rule switching. Further analysis revealed that the Symbol-to-Symbol (SS) condition elicited significantly larger N2 and P3 amplitudes than the Figure-to-Figure (FF) condition, indicating that figural representations may provide less effective cognitive support for representation updating and lead to poorer behavioral performance. Multiscale entropy (mMSE) analysis further confirmed greater neural complexity in the FF condition, suggesting increased cognitive demands during processing. Overall, these findings indicate that when domain-general rule-switching mechanisms are applied to mathematical content, the underlying cognitive processes may undergo reweighting, highlighting the interaction between executive control and mathematical representations.
SN  - 2666-9560
ER  -