The comparison of P300 amplitude in students with high and low conceptual and procedural knowledge on graphical and algebraic representation of function

Aim: The aim of this paper was to examine the electrophysiological differences between two groups of students during solving problems on translation between graphical and algebraic representations of functions.
The research method of this paper was quantitative and quasi-experimental. We recruited 177 undergraduate male students studing engineering at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Using a a researcher-made mathematics exam they were divided into two groups; high conceptual and procedural knowledge group (HKG) and low conceptual and procedural knowledge group (LKG). Fourteen individuals were randomly selected from each group and participated in the ERPs experiment.
The number of true responses were higher for the HKG compared to the LKG. No significant differences were found between speed of response time of two groups. The ERP results showed that the P300 amplitude for the LKG was significantly higher than that of the HKG over CP5, CP6, P3, PZ, P4, O1 and O2 electrodes.
It seems possible that the differences between P300 amplitude between LKG and HKG are probably due to different mental strategies adopted by the two aforementioned groups during problem solving