Tracking Cognitive and Emotional Functions with fNIRS and Existential Graphs. A Study in Progress.

The main objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of fNIRs in monitoring cognitive and emotional responses during a logical game activity. Additionally, the study explores the use of Existential Graphs as a tool for observing brain cognitive responses during problem-solving tasks. Through the fNIR device, the study measures oxygenation and deoxygenation levels in the frontal lobe while participants engage in cognitive activities such as attention, information processing, decision-making, and future planning. While the focus is on Existential Graphs, the study incorporates the block and puzzle game Tetris as a counter example to validate the findings.

For this purpose, our study has for the first time applied Peirce’s Existential Graphs as a practical cognitive model to observe real time problem solving processing of the frontal lobe; the study is also the first to use fNIRs to study the brain activity while processing existential graphs.