Liliana Valladares-Torres; Manuel Hernando Franco-Arias; Alejandro Arboleda-Carvajal; Gustavo Montealegre Lynett & Gloria Patricia Baena-Caldas

There exists a scarcity of neurocognitive research that has successfully used electrophysiology as an objective tool to assess different learning modalitiesthat are commonly used in anatomy. The objective of this study was to explore the trend in the expression of brain waves in medical students when using different didactic strategies in learning anatomy. An exploratory, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted on 22 first- semester medical students in anatomy. Using didactic strategies with different pedagogical tools such as biological models (human skulls and pig hearts) and/or digital application (Visible Body software), and different evaluation methods, students were grouped into three groups: "EOR1" students who learned using a skull and were evaluated with it; "EOV1" students who learned using a pig heart and were evaluated with the Visible Body software; and "EOV2" for students who learned through the Visible Body software and were evaluated with it. During the evaluation, each student was monitored in real-time using an electroencephalogram and the Emotiv EPOC brain-computer interface system to record the electro-physiological activity of beta (B), theta (T), and gamma (G) waves. The data obtained (the trend of the electrical activity of each wave and its relationship with students' performance in each didactic strategy) were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Groups EOR1 and EOV1 had satisfactory results in their evaluations and showed a predominance of B waves (x=67.33) and T waves (x=57.67). Additionally, a strongly positive correlation (r=0.82) was found between the presence of B waves and the duration of T waves. Students who used three-dimensional biological models as a pedagogical tool showed a predominance of B and T waves, which are associated with sensorimotor and exploratory learning necessary for studying anatomy.

KEY WORDS: Brain waves; Anatomy; Electroencephalogram; Learning; Cognitive neuroscience.

VALLADARES-TORRES, L.; FRANCO-ARIAS, M.H.; ARBOLEDA-CARVAJAL, A.; MONTEALEGRE LYNETT, G. & BAENA-CALDAS, G.P. Brain waves in the anatomy classroom: An analysis of didactic strategies using electroencephalography in medical students. Int. J. Morphol., 42(5):1189-1194, 2024.