Abstract
In anatomy education, a key hurdle to engaging in higher-level discussion in the classroom is recognizing and understanding the extensive terminology used to identify and describe anatomical structures. Given the time-limited classroom environment, seeking methods to impart this foundational knowledge to students in an efficient manner is essential. Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) methods incorporate pre-class exercises (typically online) meant to establish foundational knowledge in novice learners so subsequent instructor-led sessions can focus on deeper, more complex concepts. Determining how best do we design and assess pre-class exercises requires a detailed examination of learning and retention in an applied educational context. Here we used electroencephalography (EEG) as a quantitative dependent variable to track learning and examine the efficacy of JiTT activities to teach anatomy. Specifically, we examined changes in the amplitude of the N250 and reward positivity event-related brain potential (ERP) components alongside behavioral performance as novice students participated in a series of computerized reinforcement-based learning modules to teach neuroanatomical structures. We found that as students learned to identify anatomical structures, the amplitude of the N250 increased and reward positivity amplitude decreased in response to positive feedback. Both on a retention and transfer exercise when learners successfully remembered and translated their knowledge to novel images, the amplitude of the reward positivity remained decreased compared to early learning. Our findings suggest ERPs can be used as a tool to track learning, retention, and transfer of knowledge and that employing the reinforcement learning paradigm is an effective educational approach for developing anatomical expertise.
Highlights
In anatomy education, instructors utilize reinforcement learning principles informally in lecture and lab settings to build foundational knowledge
Our results demonstrate that as novice participants learn to identify anatomical structures: (a) N250 amplitude is enhanced; (b) reward positivity amplitude decreases; (c) the diminished reward positivity amplitude to positive feedback is maintained on a knowledge retention exercise; and (d) reward positivity amplitude remains diminished as learners successfully transfer their learning to a new context
Together the behavioral and neural correlate evidence indicate that Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) activities employing a reinforcement learning paradigm are an effective method to build retainable knowledge
Summary
Instructors utilize reinforcement learning principles informally in lecture and lab settings to build foundational knowledge. Neuroeducational Approach for Anatomy Education (Sutton and Barto, 1998). This time-consuming process dominates limited student-instructor interactions since anatomy curricula requires extensive terminology to identify and describe anatomical structures. Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) methods incorporate independent pre-class exercises (typically online) to establish foundational knowledge followed by instructor-led teaching that leverages this foundation to focus on more complex concepts (Marrs and Novak, 2004). JiTT methodology, pre-class exercises, should focus on incorporation and retention of knowledge into long-term memory (Custers, 2010; Mayer, 2010). The practical gap in anatomy education is how best do we design and assess pre-class exercises to foster learning and retention?
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