Exploring the Neural Mechanisms of Physics Learning

This dissertation presents a series of neuroimaging investigations and achievements that strive to deepen and broaden our understanding of human problem solving and physics learning. Neuroscience conceives of dynamic relationships between behavior, experience, and brain structure and function, but how neural changes enable human learning across classroom instruction remains an open question. At the same time, physics is a challenging area of study in which introductory students regularly struggle to achieve success across university instruction. Research and initiatives in neuroeducation promise a new understanding into the interactions between biology and education, including the neural mechanisms of learning and development. These insights may be particularly useful in understanding how students learn, which is crucial for helping them succeed. Towards this end, we utilize methods in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as informed by education theory, research, and practice, to investigate the neural mechanisms of problem solving and learning in students across semester-long University-level introductory physics learning environments. In the first study, we review and synthesize the neuroimaging problem solving literature and perform quantitative coordinate-based meta-analysis on 280 problem solving experiments to characterize the common and dissociable brain networks that underlie human problem solving across different representational contexts. Then, we describe the Understanding the Neural Mechanisms of Physics Learning project, which was designed to study functional brain changes associated with learning and problem solving in undergraduate physics students before and after a semester of introductory physics instruction. We present the development, facilitation, and data acquisition for this longitudinal data collection project. We then perform a sequence of fMRI analyses of these data and characterize the first-time observations of brain networks underlying physics problem solving in students after university physics instruction. We measure sustained and sequential brain activity and functional connectivity during physics problem solving, test brain-behavior relationships between accuracy, difficulty, strategy, and conceptualization of physics ideas, and describe differences in student physics-related brain function linked with dissociations in conceptual approach. The implications of these results to inform effective instructional practices are discussed. Then, we consider how classroom learning impacts the development of student brain function by examining changes in physics problem solving-related brain activity in students before and after they completed a semester-long Modeling Instruction physics course. Our results provide the first neurobiological evidence that physics learning environments drive the functional reorganization of large-scale brain networks in physics students. Through this collection of work, we demonstrate how neuroscience studies of learning can be grounded in educational theory and pedagogy, and provide deep insights into the neural mechanisms by which students learn physics

Why teens take risks ... : a neurocognitive analysis of developmental changes and individual differences in decision-making under risk

The research described in this thesis aimed to gain insight in risky behavior in adolescence, by examining the development of decision-making in relation to brain development. Chapter 1 describes two existing possible explanations for adolescent risky behavior, the first explanation focuses on the development of cognitive control, and states that adolescents’ immature ability to control their impulses may bias them to act risky. The second explanation focuses on emotional/motivational processes, and suggests that adolescents engage in risky behavior because they respond stronger to the possible rewards associated with risks than children and adults do. Chapters 2, 3, and 7 describe studies on developmental changes in the processes that form the building blocks of more complex decision-making under risk; probability estimation, reward processing and working memory. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 explore the relative contributions of reward sensitivity and cognitive control to decision-making across development. This thesis shows knowledge about brain maturation can inform models of adolescent risky behavior. And that adolescent risk-taking can be explained as the consequence of the earlier maturation of reward related relative to cognitive control related brain circuitry.LEI Universiteit LeidenDevelopmental pathways of social-emotional and cognitive functioning - ou

Contributions of Human Prefrontal Cortex to the Recogitation of Thought

Human beings have a unique ability to not only verbally articulate past and present experiences, as well as potential future ones, but also evaluate the mental representations of such things. Some evaluations do little good, in that they poorly reflect facts, create needless emotional distress, and contribute to the obstruction of personal goals, whereas some evaluations are the converse: They are grounded in logic, empiricism, and pragmatism and, therefore, are functional rather than dysfunctional. The aim of non-pharmacological mental health interventions is to revise dysfunctional thoughts into more adaptive, healthier ones; however, the neurocognitive mechanisms driving cognitive change have hitherto remained unclear. Therefore, this thesis examines the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in this aspect of human higher cognition using the relatively new method of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Chapter 1 advances recogitation as the mental ability on which cognitive restructuring largely depends, concluding that, as a cognitive task, it is a form of open-ended human problem-solving that uses metacognitive and reasoning faculties. Because these faculties share similar executive resources, Chapter 2 discusses the systems in the brain involved in controlled information processing, specifically the nature of executive functions and their neural bases. Chapter 3 builds on these ideas to propose an information-processing model of recogitation, which predicts the roles of different subsystems localized within the PFC and elsewhere in the context of emotion regulation. This chapter also highlights several theoretical and empirical challenges to investigating this neurocognitive theory and proposes some solutions, such as to use experimental designs that are more ecologically valid. Chapter 4 focuses on a neuroimaging method that is best suited to investigating questions of spatial localization in ecological experiments, namely functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Chapter 5 then demonstrates a novel approach to investigating the neural bases of interpersonal interactions in clinical settings using fNIRS. Chapter 6 explores physical activity as a ‘bottom-up’ approach to upregulating the PFC, in that it might help clinical populations with executive deficits to regulate their mental health from the ‘top-down’. Chapter 7 addresses some of the methodological issues of investigating clinical interactions and physical activity in more naturalistic settings by assessing an approach to recovering functional events from observed brain data. Chapter 8 draws several conclusions about the role of the PFC in improving psychological as well as physiological well-being, particularly that rostral PFC is inextricably involved in the cognitive effort to modulate dysfunctional thoughts, and proposes some important future directions for ecological research in cognitive neuroscience; for example, psychotherapy is perhaps too physically stagnant, so integrating exercise into treatment environments might boost the effectiveness of intervention strategies

Changes in psychological and biological signals after completing an adaptive training program requiring working memory related cognitive processes

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud. Fecha de lectura: 11-12-201

Tracing the boundaries of executive function fractionation: evidence from lesion-symptom mapping in brain tumor patients

The purpose of the present research project was to investigate, by means of different lesion-symptom mapping techniques, the behavioral consequences of focal frontal lobe injuries in order to tackle the currently debated issues regarding the PFC organization. In particular, in the first two studies we aimed at delineating the observed impairments as possible disruptions of common and/or distinct processes in order to test the dissociability of putatively distinct cognitive control processes. We focused on switching and response inhibition abilities, which according to the literature rely on left and right prefrontal areas, and tested whether their impairments could be accounted for by more general task-setting and/or sustained attention impairments. In particular, we tested brain tumor patients with left and right prefrontal damage, and compared their performance with non-prefrontal patients and healthy controls. Critically, in order to exclude eventual lower-level processing difficulties known to emerge after lateralized brain lesions, verbal and spatial features of the employed tasks were mostly balanced. The results from both studies suggest that there is probably no specialized inhibitory or switching module hosted by a particular brain area; instead they show how performance on tasks requiring both inhibitory and switching abilities can be disrupted by a more general task-setting impairment supported by left prefrontal areas and their connections with posterior regions. Furthermore, inhibitory impairments, previously observed in patients with right prefrontal lesion, might alternatively be explained by sustained attention impairments. In the last study, instead, we focused on finding out whether lesions in specific prefrontal areas could account for a general cognitive decline, as supported by unitary models of the PFC organization. In particular, we applied a latent variable analysis on distinct neuropsychological test scores in order to minimize the influence of low-level processing requirements and thus obtain a more pure measure of general cognitive functioning. Additionally, we examined the impact of surgical tumor removal on general cognitive functioning across different tumor histological types. The results confirmed previous findings on the impact of surgery on low-grade glioma. However, they also extend them by showing that surgery in left dorsolateral frontal areas causes a more prominent cognitive decline, regardless of the tumor histology. Taken together, the findings across all the three studies have highlighted a critical involvement of left- lateralized prefrontal areas in most of the high-level cognitive tasks we employed, event though the precise localization was somewhat different. However, the involvement of right prefrontal areas seemed critical in more sustained type of processing required to maintain attention to task-relevant events. This observation is in line with a more integrative, albeit lateralized, view of the PFC organization according to which higher, associative types of processes rely on the interaction between frontal and posterior brain regions, but their left and right lateralizations reflect separate, specialized type of processing probably involved in more phasic type of processing, necessary to form and flexibly implement task-relevant associations, and sustained type of processing, needed to maintain the relevant features of the task in an active state

An Investigation of the Association between Handedness, Cognition, Brain Structure and Function

Left- and right-handers show functional and structural brain differences. However, the literature on the relationship between handedness and cognitive ability is inconsistent. Moreover, possible differences in the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive ability, including regional grey matter (GM) volume, between left- and right-handers have not been explored. This thesis describes work with two main aims: (i) to explore differences in brain structure and function between left- and right-handers using MRI on a sample of left- (n=40) and right- (n=42) handers, and (ii) to explore the effect of handedness on the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive capacity on the same cohort. The effect of sex and handedness on pars opercularis (PO) and pars triangularis (PTR) volume and the sulcal contours defining these regions are described in Chapter 5. PO volume asymmetry is leftward (left-greater-than-right) in right-handed males, non-asymmetrical in right-handed females and rightward in left-handed males and females. PTR volume is rightward in right-handers and non-asymmetrical in left-handers. The inferior frontal sulcus is discontinuous more often in the right than left hemisphere in right-handers and discontinuous more often in the left than right hemisphere in left-handers. The probability of presence of diagonal sulcus is higher in the right than the left hemisphere for left-handers. A second part to this study found a significant effect of handedness on foot preference for kicking and parental handedness. In Chapter 6 fractional anisotropy (FA) asymmetry across the whole brain is explored using voxel-wise statistics on FA maps obtained from diffusion weighted images: increased FA is found in right-handers, and FA asymmetry along the uncinate fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus in both groups. Chapter 7 shows significantly greater leftward language laterality in right-handers and greater activation in right IFG in response to a language production task in left- compared to right-handers. Working memory score is higher in right-handers is associated with increased leftward language laterality. Subjects with opposed language and spatial laterality perform better in tests assessing verbal comprehension and perceptual organization. Next, relationships between GM volume and cognitive ability is explored for fluid and crystallised intellectual functioning using voxel-based morphology (Chapter 8). Significant differences in the GM correlates of fluid and crystallised intelligence were found between the handedness groups. Lastly, Chapter 9 explores the relationship between prefrontal cortex (PFC) volume and intentionality in left- and right-handers using stereological volume estimates from T1-weighted MR images. Although no significant difference in intentionality score was found between the handedness groups, higher scores of intentionality were associated with larger orbital PFC volume in right-handers, but with larger dorsal PFC volume in left-handers. This research extends the literature demonstrating differences in brain structure and function between left- and right-handers. Overall, the results suggest that individuals may achieve similar cognitive ability scores with different brain designs. Future research should consider the effect of group differences in the population and how this might influence brain ‘design’ and cognitive ability

Harm reduction for alcohol and other drug use in young people: The seductive allure of neuroscience

A predominance of mental disorders, including substance use disorders, arise during adolescence and track into adulthood. Protracted neurodevelopment may promote the onset and escalation of substance use and increase the vulnerability to harm, however to date there has been no comprehensive review of neurobiological and cognitive risk factors and consequences of illicit substance use. Effective public health efforts to reduce the harms of substance use among young people are critically important. Senior secondary school represents an optimal developmental period to effect change, however age-appropriate interventions targeting this older age group are extremely limited. Moreover, neuroscience-based preventive interventions are virtually non-existent. This thesis aims to first, investigate the impact of substance use on neurodevelopment and second, to develop and evaluate neuroscience-based resources that reduce substance-use related harms in late adolescents. Study 1 is a comprehensive, quantitative systematic review of the neurobiological and cognitive precursory risks and consequential harms of illicit substance use in young people. The review reports few neurodevelopmental risk factors and many structural, functional and cognitive consequences following frequent illicit substance use, which demonstrate some degree of recovery following abstinence. Study 2 evaluates neuroscience-based animations and neuroscience-literacy levels among young people. The findings support the use of neuroscience in substance use education, however, indicates the belief in neuromyths continue to persist. Studies 3-5 outline the development and evaluation of a neuroscience-based, harm reduction program known as The Illicit Project, in secondary schools across New South Wales, Australia. The results from a cluster randomised controlled trial indicate the intervention is feasible and effective in reducing the likelihood of risky alcohol, cannabis, MDMA and tobacco use, as well as reducing alcohol-related harms, and improving drug literacy levels among late adolescents. Overall, this body of studies makes a substantial contribution to the fields of substance use and prevention science through the development and translation of new knowledge into effective resources for young people

White matter integrity, executive dysfunction, and processing speed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by deficits on tests of executive functions however the contribution of processing speed is unknown. By contrast, multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disorder in which slowed processing speed is regarded as the core deficit, however, methodology is often confounded by tasks which depend on motor speed. MRI studies have revealed multi-system cerebral involvement in ALS, with evidence of reduced white matter volume and integrity in predominantly frontotemporal regions. The current study had two aims. Firstly, to investigate whether cognitive impairments in ALS and MS are due to executive dysfunction or slowed processing speed, independent of motor dysfunction. Secondly, to investigate the relationship between specific cognitive impairments and the integrity of distinct white matter tracts in ALS. Twenty-nine ALS patients, twenty-five MS patients, and matched healthy control groups were administered a dual task paradigm and processing speed tasks in which stimulus presentation times were manipulated. In addition background measures of executive functioning, working memory, verbal memory, and language were administered. White matter integrity was investigated using region-of-interest (ROI) and tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) analyses of diffusion MRI data. ALS patients did not show impairments in tests of processing speed, but deficits were revealed in the dual task, as well as background tests of executive functioning, working memory, and verbal memory. MS patients also exhibited deficits in the dual task as well as background tests of executive functioning, working memory, and verbal memory. However, in contrast to ALS patients, a processing speed deficit was also observed in MS. ROI analyses revealed significant differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity () between ALS patients and healthy controls. Reduced integrity was observed in the corticospinal tracts and prefrontal and temporal white matter tracts including uncinate fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and regions of the cingulum. Significant differences also emerged in the white matter underlying the superior, medial and inferior frontal gyri, and the temporal gyri. Similar group differences were found in the TBSS analyses; ALS patients displayed prominent changes in the corticospinal tract and corpus callosum as well as extensive changes in prefrontal and temporal tracts and association fibres. Correlations between task performance and ROI parameters revealed that dual task performance was associated with FA in the middle frontal gyrus white matter while letter fluency indices correlated with FA in the corpus callosum and corticospinal tracts. Furthermore, verbal memory performance correlated with FA in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and working memory performance correlated with in uncinate fasciculus and hippocampal portion of the cingulum. Correlations with TBSS revealed significant associations between letter fluency indices and FA in the corticospinal tracts and anterior corpus callosum. The current study demonstrates that cognitive impairment in ALS is not due to slowed processing speed. Moreover dual task deficits are related to distinct prefrontal tract involvement in ALS, whilst fluency deficits may reflect decreasing callosal integrity. Deficits in working memory and verbal memory are related to white matter changes in fibre bundles connecting prefrontal, temporal, and limbic structures

The experience of absorption : comparison of the mental processes of meditation between emic yogic and etic neuroscientific perspectives on Ishvara Pranidhana meditation

textModernity has seen the exchange of ideas about cognition between western science and eastern meditation traditions. In particular, western ways of thinking about the natural world have infiltrated Indian theories of yoga. This intersection of ideas in the twentieth-century has resulted in a problematic trend to theorize yogic phenomena, including meditation, in scientific terms. These translations converge on explicating yogic processes within a context of advancing knowledge about the brain. This translational approach to bringing etic and emic perspectives together in the same framework results in interpretations of meditation that succumb to problems cognitive science faces at a broader level in theorizing cognition and mind-body interrelations. In this study, I take a different approach to bringing emic and etic perspectives together by placing a phenomenologically interpreted emic account of absorption (the meditative shift in consciousness) into dialogue with current scientific understandings of three central mental processes of meditation. Specifically, I analyze ways of conceptualizing attention, memory, and emotion, and their underlying mechanisms as posited in yoga and science, focusing on the problem of how each system interprets the reality of absorption. This comparison suggests a basic similarity between the two systems: theorizing cognition and meditative absorption in terms of embodiment. This finding emphasizes the dual nature of embodiment as both experiential and physical. Finally, I consider this dialogue from an embodied mind perspective, an emerging way of thinking about and theorizing the mind-body in cognitive science, because this perspective challenges longstanding theoretical problems in western understandings of how the mind works. This analysis suggests that theorizing meditation in these dual terms of embodiment potentially solves the reductive challenges of dualistic and materialist philosophy that have plagued both religious and naturalistic attempts to explain absorption. This interdisciplinary dialogue provides a framework with which to think more critically about translational and cross-disciplinary efforts that have previously confused the goals of yoga and science and their respective foci on practice and mechanisms. I conclude that bridging ideas in this dialogical way reveals a complementary perspective between phenomenological and biological ways of understanding the mind that both hinge on embodied cognition.Educational Psycholog