Neuroscience Students Research Articles

Research funding is not enough

Universities compete for research money but at the risk of neglecting teaching and maintenance of their infrastructure.

Supporting the training of master and doctoral neuroscience students across Europe

Supporting the training of master and doctoral neuroscience students across Europe

The design of experiments in neuroscience

Using engaging prose, Mary E. Harrington introduces neuroscience students to the principles of scientific research including selecting a topic, designing an experiment, analyzing data, and presenting research. This new third edition updates and clarifies the book's wealth of examples while maintaining the clear and effective practical advice of the previous editions. New and expanded topics in this edition include techniques such as optogenetics and conditional transgenes as well as a discussion of rigor and reproducibility in neuroscience research. Extended coverage of descriptive and inferential statistics arms readers with the analytical tools needed to interpret data. Throughout, practical guidelines are provided on avoiding experimental design problems, presenting research including creating posters and giving talks, and using a '12-step guide' to reading scientific journal articles.

Behavioral Science at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia

ABSTRACTWhether behavior is present in the science for many years, it is still young and very attractive discipline that needs interdisciplinar approach for studying. Large scale of experimental models makes experimental and scientific work more exciting. At the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade (Serbia), we have behavioral courses at all three levels of studies (bachelor, master and PhD). At the basic level, we have Animal Behavior course, than, at the master level, we offer to our students two courses, Biology of Behavior and Introduction into Behavioral Genetics. Finally, for PhD students of Neuroscience we have two courses—Cellular Basis of Behavior and Neurobiology of Behavior, while PhD students of Genetics attend course Behavior Genetics. In this way, all aspects and levels of understanding behavioral mechanisms are covered.

Are there ten times more glia than neurons in the brain?

Neuroscience students take it for granted that there aremany more glia than neurons in the brain. Neurosciencetextbooks state with confidence: ‘‘Although there are manyneurons in the human brain…, glia outnumber neurons bytenfold’’ (Bear et al. 2006) or, not to be outdone, even by‘‘10–50 times’’, as claimed in another text (Kandel et al.2000). This fact is happily invoked by gliologists to pro-mote the status of their field.Given this well-accepted figure, we were surprised whenour cell counts in the prefrontal cortex of the rhesusmonkey turned up a glia-to-neuron ratio (GNR) of justabout 1 (Dombrowski et al. 2001). There was someregional variation, but no prefrontal area had a GNR largerthan 1.2. Maybe the proportion of glia is very different inother cortical regions or other parts of the brain, so that theoverall ratio for the whole brain is much larger than 1?Classic studies, however, conducted by O’Kusky andColonnier (1982) in the opposite pole of the brain, thevisual cortex, had reported an even lower GNR of 0.5.More recently, Lidow and Song (2001) estimated the GNRacross a whole cortical hemisphere of healthy rhesusmonkeys to be 0.82. And another recent study of neuronand glia numbers in various frontal, parietal, temporal andoccipital cortical regions in the rhesus monkey also found alow average GNR of 0.56 (Christensen et al. 2007).However, the same study also showed an average GNR of1.72 across hippocampal regions CA1 and CA2-3.All these estimates were based on stereologic cellcounting methods (West 1999), which are consideredreliable and are now widely used in neuroscience. Themethods are based on the simple and fundamental principleof unbiased counting, with each cell having an equalchance of being counted once and only once. However, theapproach requires sampling from isotropic cellular popu-lations, which makes it difficult, or at least labor intensive,to apply across many different cortical regions or the wholebrain. Therefore, it is conceivable that the stereologicalapproach may have missed contributions from structureswith high concentrations of glia, such as subcortical nucleior the white matter. In the spinal cord of the rat, forexample, the GNR is about 1.6 (Bjugn and Gundersen1993). The problem of overlooking the true contribution ofglia to the neuraxis was circumvented by a straightforwardapproach for large-scale tissue analysis that was recentlyused by Herculano-Houzel and Lent (2005). Instead ofcounting cells in fixed tissue, they homogenized the brainand then counted cellular nuclei in the isotropic suspension.This approach gives a simple and reliable estimate of totalcell number, assuming that each cell has exactly onenucleus. Neuronal nuclei were identified by NeuN stainingwhich labels neurons but not glia. The remaining unlabeledcells, which included glia but also other non-neuronal cells,provided an upper estimate on the number of glia in thebrain.With the help of this elegant approach Herculano-Houzel and Lent determined total cell numbers in differentlarge-scale brain regions as well as the whole brain. Theyestimated that of all cells in the adult rat brain, 60% (orabout 200 million) are neurons. The ratio of all non-neu-ronal cells to neurons across different primate species was

Hyperdimensional Computing: An Introduction to Computing in Distributed Representation with High-Dimensional Random Vectors

The 1990s saw the emergence of cognitive models that depend on very high dimensionality and randomness. They include Holographic Reduced Representations, Spatter Code, Semantic Vectors, Latent Semantic Analysis, Context-Dependent Thinning, and Vector-Symbolic Architecture. They represent things in high-dimensional vectors that are manipulated by operations that produce new high-dimensional vectors in the style of traditional computing, in what is called here hyperdimensional computing on account of the very high dimensionality. The paper presents the main ideas behind these models, written as a tutorial essay in hopes of making the ideas accessible and even provocative. A sketch of how we have arrived at these models, with references and pointers to further reading, is given at the end. The thesis of the paper is that hyperdimensional representation has much to offer to students of cognitive science, theoretical neuroscience, computer science and engineering, and mathematics.

Commentary: Electro-, loco-, and otromotor components of electric fish behaviour

As beginning neuroscience students, we are taught that behaviour is controlled via output to various types of effectors, with different types of muscles and glands being the prime examples. Later, when we discover the world of weakly electric fish, we learn that the electric organ also qualifies as an effector and that the electric organ discharge (EOD) is a form of motor output. Typically, one of the first behaviours that we then learn about in detail is the jamming avoidance response (JAR; Bullock et al., 1972). We soon come to appreciate the beauty of the JAR as a behavioural paradigm for studying a complete sensory-motor loop. Because the JAR involves only electromotor output, the full behaviour can be elicited from immobilized animals in the confines of an electrophysiology rig, allowing both neural activity and behavioural output to be monitored simultaneously. Using this powerful approach, Walter Heiligenberg and colleagues were able to functionally map out the neuronal networks controlling the JAR, from sensory input to motor output, at an unprecedented level of detail (Heiligenberg, 1991). The JAR quickly became one of the most compelling examples of a model system in which behavioural analysis was used to extract both cellular- and systems-level understanding of neurophysiological function (Konishi, 2006). The electromotor component of electric fish behaviour tends to stand out because it is something unique that other fish do not possess. It is easy to overlook the more mundane components of fish behaviour, like the locomotor system. Just because locomotor systems are commonplace, however, does not mean we should discount their to provide unique insights into electrosensory function. Indeed, the seminal experiments by Lissmann and Machin (1958) that first demonstrated a clear sensory role for the EOD were based on locomotor, not electromotor, responses of Gymnarchus. It is via locomotor output that the fish can approach or avoid a target. Lissmann and Machin made use of locomotor responses in a set of conditioning experiments in which fish were trained to choose between objects of different electrical properties (Lissmann and

Dissection technique for the study of the cerebral sulci, gyri and ventricles

Neuroanatomy in addition to neurophysiology, are the basic areas for the proper formation from health students to specialized professionals in neuroscience. A step by step guide for practical studies of neuroanatomy is required for this kind of knowledge to become more acceptable among medical students, neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuropediatricians and psychiatric physicians. Based on the well known courses of sulci, gyri and ventricles offered by Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, two times a year, since 1994, totalizing more than 20 complete courses, and answering the request of many neuroscience students and professionals whose asked for a practical guide to the neuroanatomy study, the authors suggest a protocol for the study of superficial and deep brain structures showing how to approach the more structures as possible with minimum damage to the anatomic piece and with the smaller number of brains.

Psychiatry in the Scientific Imageby Dominic Murphy; Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 2006, 422 pages, $35

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessPsychiatry in the Scientific ImageJeffrey S. Barkin M.D.Jeffrey S. Barkin M.D.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Mar 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2008.59.3.336AboutSectionsView articleView PDFView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article Dominic Murphy is assistant professor of psychiatry in the Department of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology. His Psychiatry in the Scientific Image is a scholarly and rigorous volume that straddles clinical psychiatry and the boundaries of scientific theory. What emerges is a thorough discussion of psychiatric disorders at a deep theoretic level. Murphy attempts, largely successfully, to understand and classify mental disorders. He tackles theoretic underpinnings in the cognitive neurosciences to foster a deeper philosophic description of what constitutes a mental illness. He takes us on a rigorous journey suggesting that categorical descriptions detract from allowing a deep understanding of mental phenomena. He posits that understanding psychiatric diagnosis must instead be rigorously defined by the scientific method and incorporate explanation from the cognitive neurosciences. We are shortchanged by atheoretic systems, such as the DSM , he argues, as we fail to adequately describe and understand what a mental disorder even is. Murphy starts the book by defining what constitutes a mental disorder. At what point are certain unusual behaviors considered to be psychiatric disorders? Though persons with Tourette's syndrome demonstrate behavioral symptoms they are not psychotic. Motoric behaviors are not a departure from the reality that defines a psychotic state. Indeed, the categorical taxonomic description detracts from permitting an understanding of etiologic causality.Murphy then draws upon the work of Guze and Kandel to define the medical model of explanation in psychiatry. Indeed, his description of Kandel's framework of biologic psychiatry is one of the excellent sections in this volume, and he chooses the work of Kandel as a model of scientific reductionism. Murphy then describes the work of Nancy Andreasen to define cognitive neuroscience as a series of convergences from numerous disparate models. He then makes a transition to define the very boundaries of mechanistic explanation of psychosis, addiction, and psychopathy. This section of the book is derived more from philosophy than psychiatry and is more difficult to grasp.Murphy then segues into a theory of explanatory power that is more intellectually rigorous than simple construct validity. Indeed, in this section his central idea is realized: we must strive to understand psychiatric conditions based upon a group of symptoms that derive from understanding the causal features of normal mental functioning. Rather than a simple categorical description, we will be on firmer ground if we instead view mental disorders based upon underlying etiologies.This volume is provocative in its intellectual indictment of conventional methods of classifying mental disorders. Murphy strives to understand psychiatric illness from the lens of normal mind- and brain-based behavior. This volume is not readily accessible to the clinically focused reader but will instead be of interest to students of cognitive neuroscience and hypothesis testing related to diagnostic classification.Dr. Barkin is in private practice in Portland, Maine. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 59Issue 3 March, 2008Pages 336-336PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES March 2008 Volume 59 Number 3 Metrics History Published online 1 March 2008 Published in print 1 March 2008

Does Cervical Manipulative Therapy Cause Vertebral Artery Dissection and Stroke?

Does cervical manipulative therapy (CMT) cause vertebral arterial dissection (VAD) and subsequent ischemic stroke? What is the best estimate of the incidence of CMT associated with VAD and ischemic stroke? The questions were addressed with a structured evidence-based clinical neurologic practice review. Participants included neuroscience students, consultant neurologists, clinical epidemiologists, medical librarians, and clinical content experts. A critically appraised topic format was employed, starting with a clinical scenario and structured question. The participant group devised search strategies, located and compiled the best evidence, performed critical appraisals, synthesized the results, summarized the evidence, provided commentary, and declared bottom-line conclusions. The search yielded 169 citations, of which 55 were deemed most relevant. From this return, we selected 26 publications of the highest evidence available: 3 case-control studies, 8 prospective and retrospective case series studies, 4 illustrative case reports, 1 survey, 1 systematic review of observational research, 5 reviews, and 4 opinion and expert commentary pieces. Five of the applicable 7 criteria for causation were satisfactorily met and supported weak to moderate strength of evidence for causation between CMT and VAD and associated stroke, especially in young adults. Young vertebrobasilar artery territory stroke patients were 5 times more likely than controls to have had CMT within 1 week of the event date (OR 5.03, 95% CI, 1.32-43.87). No significant associations were found for those > or =45 years of age. The best available estimate of incidence is approximately 1.3 cases of VAD or occlusion attributable to CMT for every 100,000 persons <45 years of age receiving CMT within 1 week of manipulative therapy. Weak to moderately strong evidence exists to support causation between CMT and VAD and associated stroke. Ultimately, the acceptable level of risk associated with a therapeutic intervention like CMT must be balanced against evidence of therapeutic efficacy. Further research, employing prospective cohort study designs, is indicated to uncover both the benefits and the harms associated with CMT.

Providing Formative Feedback From a Summative Computer-aided Assessment

To examine the effectiveness of providing formative feedback for summative computer-aided assessment. Two groups of first-year undergraduate life science students in pharmacy and neuroscience who were studying an e-learning package in a common pharmacology module were presented with a computer-based summative assessment. A sheet with individualized feedback derived from each of the 5 results sections of the assessment was provided to each student. Students were asked via a questionnaire to evaluate the form and method of feedback. The students were able to reflect on their performance and use the feedback provided to guide their future study or revision. There was no significant difference between the responses from pharmacy and neuroscience students. Students' responses on the questionnaire indicated a generally positive reaction to this form of feedback. Findings suggest that additional formative assessment conveyed by this style and method would be appreciated and valued by students.

Fibre pathways of the brain

This large, well illustrated volume deals with one aspect of the fibre systems of the brain. The book reports the results of tracing efferent fibre connections from various areas of the cerebral cortex of 32 macaque monkeys. The book would be useful for those wishing to have an anatomical basis for interpreting patterns of connectivity seen in scans, and some of the clinical symptoms that might be associated with interruption of fibre pathways. There is a brief history of prior contributions, and some elegant illustrations from the classical literature. The bulk of the book reports the results of studies of the course of cortically-originating nerve fibres after an injection of a labelled amino acid is placed into a specific region of the monkey cerebral cortex. The study of neural connections has a long history. Early views were changed by later evidence, and old problems clarified. The process continues. The tracing technique used here is useful, but it is not the final word, and it leaves many problems to solve. Here I consider the problem of fibre connections in the brain in a broader, historical context. Introductory students of neuroscience quickly learn that axons are extensions of nerve cell bodies. This simple truth took well over 100 years to establish. Even when that became established, it was still not at all clear how the axon is formed. The idea that an axon either fires or it does not fire; the ‘all or none law’, also is usually introduced in chapter 1 of introductory texts, seldom with any consideration of how we know this or why it should be true. The early history of some of these questions can help to put our modern views in perspective. Nerve fibres were recognized long before nerve cells. Early anatomists searched for tube-like structures that …

Charles Dickens: The man, medicine, and movement disorders

Nineteenth-century Victorian novelists played an important role in developing our understanding of medicine and illness. With the eye of an expert clinician, Charles Dickens provided several detailed accounts of movement disorders in his literary works, many of which predated medical descriptions. His gift for eloquence, imagery, and precision attest not only to the importance of careful clinical observation, but also provide an insightful and entertaining perspective on movement disorders for modern students of neuroscience.

From faculty for undergraduate neuroscience: encouraging innovation in undergraduate neuroscience education by supporting student research and faculty development.

The organization Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN; www.funfaculty.org) was established in 1991 by a group of neuroscientists dedicated to innovation and excellence in undergraduate neuroscience education and research (Ramirez and Normansell, 2003 ). The founders experienced a need for a community of neuroscience educators because no formal division existed within the Society for Neuroscience (SfN; www.sfn.org) to support undergraduates or the faculty who focus on undergraduate neuroscience education. An educator's ability to incorporate current research and techniques in crowded undergraduate curricula becomes even more critical as our understanding of how nervous systems develop, function, adapt, and malfunction continues to expand. Teaching faculty must meet the significant challenges of communicating a broad and fast-paced discipline to a growing undergraduate audience. Moreover, as research experiences for undergraduates are increasingly encouraged and expected, providing undergraduates with meaningful research experiences is an additional, ongoing challenge for educators in the face of smaller budgets for research and education. To help undergraduate neuroscience faculty meet these challenges, FUN has emerged as a professional organization dedicated to the support and development of undergraduate neuroscience educators. The need for an organization that specifically supports excellence in undergraduate neuroscience has grown as an increasing number of interdisciplinary undergraduate neuroscience programs are formalized at colleges and universities. As evidence of the growing interest, FUN's membership has been increasing steadily and currently includes more than 500 individuals at more than 300 colleges and universities. FUN's members represent a broad range of scientific disciplines, including biology, psychology, chemistry, computer science, and philosophy; they work and teach at a variety of institutions, ranging from private, small liberal arts colleges to regional, state, and research universities.

Panksepp’s common sense view of affective neuroscience is not the commonsense view in large areas of neuroscience

Jaak Panksepp’s article ‘Affective Consciousness: Core Emotional Feelings in Animals and Humans’ is a excellent review and summary by a leading empirical contributor whose work for many years has been running counter to reigning behavioristic premises in neuroscience. It may unfortunately be true that he could not get this review published in many neuroscience journals because it attacks too many sacred (behavioristic) cows. Panksepp has given readers of Consciousness and Cognition a nicely condensed summary of much of his classic 1998 textbook, Affective Neuroscience. I’m reasonably confident that future neuroscience students will look on that textbook as one of the seminal publications on the subject of emotion and the brain, much as we might now look back on Luria’s Higher Cortical Functions in Man, or Paul MacLean’s classic work, The Triune Brain. There is probably little that I can add to his elegant presentation of the basic affective neuroscience findings, but I would like to highlight a few key issues for the reader.

Behavioral Neurology, 4th ed.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book Forum: NeurologyFull AccessBehavioral Neurology, 4th ed.MICHAEL R. TRIMBLE, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.Psych., MICHAEL R. TRIMBLESearch for more papers by this author, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.Psych., London, U.K.Published Online:1 Sep 2004https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.9.1727AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail This new edition of an old standard comes as does a lovely breath of fresh air into an enclosed room that has become rather crowded and somewhat musty. It is hard to believe that 30 years have passed since the first edition of this book, but we now recognize the importance of that publication as a landmark in clinical neuroscience thinking. The fact that it has now run through four editions (this text is updated from the third edition, published in 1985) attests to the popularity of the book among behavioral neuroscience students and the continuing relevance of the book for clinical practice.In the last dozen years a plethora of books has been published on neuropsychiatry, each covering a very similar field, and many differing only in the density of the text, the number of figures and illustrations, or the complexity of the referencing. There are fewer books that proclaim the title Behavioral Neurology, although recent years have seen a distinct blurring of boundaries of neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology. Both are recognized as disciplines that attempt to understand behavior primarily through an understanding of the brain and its structure and function and to apply those principles to clinical practice. The discipline of behavioral neurology stems back more formally to neurology (the term was introduced by Norman Geschwind), whereas neuropsychiatry has somewhat different origins, reflecting on the state of the art before neurology evolved as an independent discipline, and the pioneers are such thinkers as Hughlings Jackson in England and Adolf Meyer in the United States.This book begins with epilepsy, the paradigmatic disorder of behavioral neurology. The chapter serves as a model for the layout of the other chapters. It is clinically oriented, and it provides an initial description of the condition, followed by treatments, followed by comorbid behavioral disorders. It includes discussions about etiology and pathogenesis and relationships between the neurological disorder and the behavioral problems. The text is not overreferenced, and a number of older references are retained, essentially as a reminder of earlier editions. However, more recent references that support or refute the conclusion are also included (not overdone). Obviously, the more recent references contain information from up-to-date neuroscience, in particular theories that relate to neurochemistry and neuroimaging, which the first edition of this book could hardly have anticipated.The additional chapters also emphasize the different approach to the subject compared with most other textbooks in this field. There is a chapter on violence and neurobiology, a chapter on disorders of cognitive function, a chapter on mood, movement, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, and a chapter on schizophrenia. There is an important chapter titled “Distinguishing Neurological From Psychiatric Symptoms” and another important one on “Clinical Examination.” Within, clearly described, are several important clinical bedside examinations that should be part of the routine evaluation of patients in a neuropsychiatric setting.The text is not overcluttered with jargon or references and contains a considerable amount of good clinical sense. The latter comes from the long heritage and experience of the authors and stands in contrast to some texts in this area, which sometimes reveal a neophyte naiveté underlying an enthusiasm for dogmatism.It is rewarding to see how the field of behavioral neurology and its related discipline neuropsychiatry have developed so substantially in the 30 years since the first edition of this book. Although, sadly, this is going to be the last edition of Behavioral Neurology, it stands with its predecessors as one of the substantial cornerstones upholding the temple of behavioral neurology; the task of filling in more of the masonry will have to be left to others. Thank you, Jonathan Pincus and Gary Tucker, for persevering with this book over the years.By Jonathan H. Pincus and Gary J. Tucker. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003, 320 pp., $60.00; $32.95 (paper). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 161Issue 9 September 2004Pages 1727-1727 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 September 2004 Published in print 1 September 2004

The effects of motivation, coaching, and knowledge of neuropsychology on the simulated malingering of head injury

Two student groups, introductory psychology (n=91) and advanced neuroscience (n=34) undergraduates, were asked to malinger a head injury on Rey's 15-Item Test (FIT) and Dot Counting Test (DCT). The participants were randomly assigned to one of three motivation conditions (no motivation given, compensation, avoidance of blame for a motor vehicle accident) and to one of three coaching conditions (no coaching, coaching post-concussive symptoms, coaching symptoms plus warning of malingering detection). Analyses revealed a MotivationxStudent Group interaction on the FIT, indicating that the advanced neuroscience students, particularly when in the compensation condition, malingered the most flagrantly. On the DCT, main effects for motivation and coaching on the qualitative variables and a MotivationxCoaching interaction on the accuracy variables indicated that those in the compensation condition performed the most poorly, and that coaching plus warning only tempers malingering on memory tasks, not timed tasks.

The effects of motivation, coaching, and knowledge of neuropsychology on the simulated malingering of head injury

Two student groups, introductory psychology ( n=91) and advanced neuroscience ( n=34) undergraduates, were asked to malinger a head injury on Rey’s 15-Item Test (FIT) and Dot Counting Test (DCT). The participants were randomly assigned to one of three motivation conditions (no motivation given, compensation, avoidance of blame for a motor vehicle accident) and to one of three coaching conditions (no coaching, coaching post-concussive symptoms, coaching symptoms plus warning of malingering detection). Analyses revealed a Motivation×Student Group interaction on the FIT, indicating that the advanced neuroscience students, particularly when in the compensation condition, malingered the most flagrantly. On the DCT, main effects for motivation and coaching on the qualitative variables and a Motivation×Coaching interaction on the accuracy variables indicated that those in the compensation condition performed the most poorly, and that coaching plus warning only tempers malingering on memory tasks, not timed tasks.

Comparison of Final Exam Test Scores of Neuroscience Students Who Experienced Traditional Methodologies versus Problem-Based Learning Methodologies

Comparison of Final Exam Test Scores of Neuroscience Students Who Experienced Traditional Methodologies versus Problem-Based Learning Methodologies

Comparison of Final Exam Test Scores of Neuroscience Students Who Experienced Traditional Methodologies versus Problem-Based Learning Methodologies

Faculty members in the Occupational Therapy Department at Belmont University needed to determine if an alternative teaching method, consisting of lecture and problem-based learning (PBL), was more effective than a traditional lecture method in maximizing student achievement in neuroscience.This study was undertaken to determine if students who participated in an alternative methodology (experimental group) would perform differently on a comprehensive final exam than students who experienced a traditional lecture approach (control group). A second purpose was to determine if the experimental group achieved a greater score on higher-level thinking test questions than the control group.There were two research questions for this study. First, “Will there be a significant difference in the mean final unit test score of the experimental group in comparison with the control group?” Second, “Will there be a significant increase in the mean final unit test score on higher-level thinking items between the experimental and control groups?For research question one, a two-tailed independent samples t-test was used to compare mean test scores of the two groups. Based on a P value of. 846, it was determined that there was not a significant difference in total test scores between the two groups. For research question two, a one-tailed independent samples t-test resulted in a P value of. 491; therefore, it was determined that there was not a significant difference on higher-level thinking test scores between the two groups. However, a bi-modal distribution of the scores for the experimental group suggests that some performed well under PBL conditions while some did not. Potential implications of this bimodal distribution are discussed to assist OT educators in choosing appropriate instructional methodologies. The findings suggest that faculty should continue to explore variables that may affect performance under PBL conditions and achievement in neuroscience.