Electroencephalography (EEG) Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Index as an Indicator of Children’s Emotions in the Three Quran Learning Methods: Visual, Auditory, and Memory

Quran memorization is familiar in Indonesia since early childhood (EC) education level and it is reported to have a positive effect on children’s emotional state. This study investigates how Quran memorization influences children’s emotions in a certain condition using Frontal Alpha Asymmetry (FAA) index.

The participants were 4 children aged 5-7 years, studying at Islamic-based schools in Surakarta. The tasks included three methods of Quran learning: visual, by watching videos; auditory, by listening to murattal recitations of the Quran; and memory, by repeating rote. The FAA index measurement used absolute power data obtained from Electroencephalography (EEG) by calculating the natural logarithm (ln [right alpha power] – ln [left alpha power]) from channel F8 and channel F7 respectively.

The majority of participants showed a positive FAA index in almost all tasks. The FAA index of various tasks were not significantly different from each other, with P = 0.592 based on Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test. The post hoc Mann-Whitney U test does not find any intervention that stands out among the others.

Learning the Quran with methods that involve visual, auditory, and memory activities results in positive, happy, motivated and excited feelings in children’s emotional state based on the FAA index assessment.