Unit 1 Essay Questions Flashcards
In explaining why he thinks that Neuroscience and Education is a bridge too far, Bruer gives three main examples of true neuroscience findings that have been misapplied to education. Describe each of the three examples and explain how he feels they have been misapplied.
- Synaptogenesis
- Critical periods
- Enriched environments
- These are the 3 fundamental findings in neuroscience that have been embellished and misapplied to education due to an overall lack of filtering across multiple levels of analysis, namely cognitive psychology
- Studies have shown that synaptogenesis peaks early in life before tapering off, causing many to incorrectly believe that we should “forcefeed” children with learning material in order to maximize development before synaptogenesis tapers off. However, this tapering off is a normal part of development, and in no way is the ability to form new synapses impaired later in life.
- Hubel & Wiesel showed that critical periods exist, and educators blew this way out of proportion by incorrectly applying it to far too many aspects of development. In reality, most things do not have critical periods. Need a middle-man (cog. psych)!!!
- Enriched environments showed to increase the number of synapses in rats. Again, education took this and ran with it, incorrectly believing that excessive stimulation benefits learning, when in reality, it is an issue of standard environments vs. impoverised environments that we should be worried about.
Drawing on the readings (especially of the Ansari and Coch article), describe some of the key research methodology differences between neuroscience and education, and ways that we can bridge the gap (think of the Han et al., article and the arguments by Hovarth discussed in lecture). Be sure to discuss at least two methodologies and two ways to bridge the gap.
2 methodology differences:
1. Brain research prioritizes reproducibility, reliability, and statistical power, while education research prioritizes authenticity, socio-cultural context, and learners’ first-person experiences (largely aspects of ecological validity).
2. Brain research often uses a highly controlled setting that is not reminiscent of the classroom. Specifically, experimental lab tasks gain experimental control by giving up ecological validity. On the other side, education research takes place in applicable settings such as classrooms and schools.
2 way to bridge the gap:
1. Teacher education and training:
- increasing scientific literacy
- reduce proliferation of neuromyths
- apply neuroscience data that may affect pedagogy
Researcher education and training:
- train neuroscientists in education processes and practice with real-world constraints
- think “beyond the lab” and apply external/ecological validity
- develop new insights in exploring real world problems and solutions
2. Use multiple types of bridges:
- prescriptive
- conceptual
- functional
- diagnostic
Describe two of the major methods of investigation used in neuroscience to record or image the brain. What are the benefits and the limitations of these methods/technologies? Be sure to discuss spatial resolution, temporal resolution
and invasiveness.
EEG and fMRI are perhaps the most major methods of investigation.
1. EEG involves utilization of an electrode cap to measure actual neural activity in the form of electrical signals. Highly applicable to real-world issues such as sleep problems and epilepsy. Can use ERPs to filter out noise and subsequent ERP latency to identify active brain processes in response to stimuli.
Benefits are:
- extremely high temporal resolution
- direct measure of real neural activity
- extremely affordable
- relatively non-invasive (unless you count hair gel as invasive)
Downsides are:
- can only measure most superficial layers of brain
- poor spatial resolution
- may take a lot of time (continuous EEG or literally waiting for a seizure to occur)
2. fMRI utilizes disruptions of magnetic fields to analyze a BOLD signal. It is hemodynamic and measures metabolic changes correlated with neural activity. Oxygenated blood is required for high neural activity, so we can directly measure oxygenated blood in a region as a reflection of brain activity. Typically uses the subtraction method, allowing for easy compare/contrast and identification of regions responsible for certain things (e.g., Area MT).
Benefits are:
- good spatial resolution
- widely available
- non-invasive
Downsides are:
- very expensive
- poor temporal resolution (2 s or more)
- cannot move while in the machine
- not portable (e.g., can’t being MRI scanner into the classroom)
What are neuromyths? How do they form and why are they so hard to dislodge from the popular conception of neuroscience and education? Support your argument with at least one concrete example.
Neuromyths are misconceptions or embellishments related to brain research that are often used to make a case for the brain research in particular contexts, including education. They form due to the fact that they are very often based on real neuroscience information and studies, but are twisted in a way in which they are largely believable. Moreover, a study by Dekker et al. found that educators who had more general knowledge were much more likely to believe neuromyths, which can be especially problematic because of the outward role of teachers as educators makes the information they feed forward much more believable. Why should a student doubt a “fact” told by their teacher? It was also unveiled that interest in pop-sci contributed to neuromyth belief, and that these myths are believed my a majority of the general public, as well as those with a nueorscience background, making them extra challenging to remove from society. It was found that learning styles and dyslexics seeing letters backwards were the two most prevalent neuromyths, but many others, including R/L brain individuals and “enriched” environments were also widely believed.
We discussed the four main theories of dyslexia (phonological, auditory, visual and integration) and the evidence in favor of one particular theory. Which theory has the best support? Describe two studies (one behavioral, one neuroimaging) that
supported the best supported theory, with details.
Ramus et al. conducted the first study to analyze all of these theories in a combined manner, revealing that phonological impairments were present in ALL participants with dyslexia, making it the primary distinguishing diagnostic factor for dyslexia vs. neurotypical.
Examples include:
1. FastForWord is a phonological training intervention app that uses games to help students practice phoneme sounds and map them onto written words. In a study among dyslexics and neurotypical individuals, FastForWord significantly increased left lateralization/neural activity in PT and IFG. Prime example of remediation = specific deficit is improved, reacquire neural activity. Great success story!
2. Phonological training intervention improved speech comprehension and grammar between pretraining and posttraining (behavioral)
Could also discuss how DTI shows decreased arcuate fasciculus volume and altered structure even prior to formal reading instruction, and note how arcuate fasciculata connects the VWFA and PT, regions involved in phonological processing through print and sound-print association, respectively.
Define domain-specific and domain-general abilities, with an example of each. Then describe how domain-general abilities can help build a domain-specific specialization in another specific region of the brain (include experimental detail).
Domain-general ability refers to a cognitive ability, such as executive function, that influences performance over a wide range of situations and tasks. Domain-specific ability refers to a highly specialized ability such as math or reading that are applicable only in specific contexts.
