Collecting neurophysiological data to investigate users’ cognitive states during game play

This paper explores the potential of collecting neurophysiological data in order to further understand user’s learning experience. The experimental setup involves collecting electroencephalographic signal (EEG) from the brain cortex to infer users’ cognitive state while they played an educational video game designed to support the learning of Newtonian mechanics. Preliminary results suggest that this neuroscience perspective is quite promising in the idea of quantitatively characterizing users’ learning experience. This could be an innovative and promising avenue in general game development or in educational videogame research field

ADDING FICTION INTO PHYSICS'LABS TO ENGAGE UNDERGRAD STUDENTS

International audienceLearning experimental physics is often perceived as being poorly engaging by students, especially at the university level. We wanted to test whether an immersive format could increase student engagement in experimental physics. Twenty-eight (M ± SD = 20.4 ± 1.0 year-old; 19 males) third year university science students were immersed into a fictional scenario. The learning goals were centered on experimental methodology and transverse skills, such as teamwork. They were all given a role in a story that unfold during the class (i.e. not unlike a live-action role play). All of them had to perform physical measurements, not because their teacher asked for it but because the scenario they were going through required it. We measured the impact of the fictional scenario on the students’ behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement by comparing with teaching as usual. The results show that students’ emotional engagement was higher in the context of immersion (p<0.001). No behavioral or cognitive effects were found. Student transcripts confirm that students enjoyed the use of fiction, and that the learning goals were achieved. We were concerned that fictional scenarios could result in differentiated effects among gamers; we found no correlation between the students’ game culture and any engagement scores. The use of fiction in teaching experimental physics therefore appears to be beneficial for the emotional engagement of students. It would be interesting to test the use of an immersive scenario in other contexts where engagement is known to be poor

Adding fiction into physics' labs to engage undergrade students

International audienceLearning experimental physics is often perceived as being poorly engaging by students, especially at the university level. We wanted to test whether an immersive format could increase student engagement in experimental physics. Twenty-eight (M ± SD = 20.4 ± 1.0 year-old; 19 males) third year university science students were immersed into a fictional scenario. The learning goals were centered on experimental methodology and transverse skills, such as teamwork. They were all given a role in a story that unfold during the class (i.e. not unlike a live-action role play). All of them had to perform physical measurements, not because their teacher asked for it but because the scenario they were going through required it. We measured the impact of the fictional scenario on the students' behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement by comparing with teaching as usual. The results show that students' emotional engagement was higher in the context of immersion (p<0.001). No behavioral or cognitive effects were found. Student transcripts confirm that students enjoyed the use of fiction, and that the learning goals were achieved. We were concerned that fictional scenarios could result in differentiated effects among gamers; we found no correlation between the students' game culture and any engagement scores. The use of fiction in teaching experimental physics therefore appears to be beneficial for the emotional engagement of students. It would be interesting to test the use of an immersive scenario in other contexts where engagement is known to be poor

Relations entre le contrôle inhibiteur, la persévérance et le sentiment d’auto-efficacité en mathématiques.

International audienceLe contrôle inhibiteur (CI ; i.e. processus de résistance cognitive) est une fonction exécutive centrale du développement cognitif et social (Diamond, 2013). Il est aujourd'hui largement documenté qu'une meilleure efficience inhibitrice s'accompagne d'une meilleure réussite tant sur le plan académique que professionnel (Moffitt et al., 2011). Prédictrice de réussite, nous avons tenté de vérifier si en mathématiques l'efficience inhibitrice était liée à la persévérance d'une part et au sentiment d'auto-efficacité d'autre part auprès de notre population étudiante.Dans le cadre de la Chaire de recherche-action sur l'innovation pédagogique de l'Université Paris Saclay (en collaboration avec l'Université de Québec à Montreal), 18 étudiants (16-19 ans ; 12 hommes) de deuxième année de licence de sciences se sont portés volontaires pour une passation expérimentale. Individuellement, chacun a réalisé une tâche de Stroop couleur (Stroop, 1935) au format numérique permettant de mesurer l'efficience inhibitrice. Un score d'interférence a été calculé (items incongruents – items congruents) sur la base des temps de réaction aux items réussis. Chacun a également complété un questionnaire auto-rapporté visant à quantifier le sentiment d'auto-efficacité (Bandura, 2006) ainsi que la persévérance en mathématiques (Dunker, 2013). Par ailleurs, une moyenne académique disciplinaire semestrielle était accessible pour chacun de ces apprenants. Nous avons retrouvé une anti-corrélation entre le score d'interférence et la persévérance (p=.03). En d'autres termes, une plus forte efficience inhibitrice s'accompagne d'une plus forte persévérance de la part de nos étudiants. De plus, cette persévérance est liée à un plus fort sentiment d'auto-efficacité (p<.01). Toutefois, aucune corrélation significative n'a été retrouvée avec la moyenne semestrielle.Il est fort probable que les participants présentant une meilleure résistance cognitive soient plus sensibles à une gratification différée ; ce qui les amène à persévérer davantage. Leur persévérance doit s'accompagner d'un progrès en termes de performance, leur procurant une rétroaction positive (probablement liée à une activation striatale accrue et à une libération de dopamine) d'où leur plus fort sentiment d'auto-efficacité. Toutefois, leurs efforts et leurs choix de stratégies ne semblent pas encore optimaux pour leur permettre d'obtenir l'assurance d'un succès académique

Using Fiction in Physics’ Laboratories to Engage Undergrad Students

International audienceLearning experimental physics is often perceived as being poorly engaging by students, especially at the university level. We wanted to test whether an immersive format could increase students’ engagement in experimental physics. Forty-six second and third-year university students (18 females, 28 males) were immersed in a fictional scenario. The learning goals were centred on experimental methodology and transversal skills, such as teamwork. They were all given a role in a story that unfolds during the class (not unlike a live-action role-play). All of them had to perform physical measurements, not because their teacher asked for it but because the scenario they were going through required it. For 28 students, we could measure the impact of the fictional scenario on their behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement by comparing it with teaching as usual. The results show that students’ emotional engagement was higher in the context of immersion (p < 0.001). No behavioural or cognitive effects were found. Student transcripts confirmed that they enjoyed the use of fiction and that the learning goals were achieved. We were concerned that fictional scenarios could result in differentiated effects among gamers; in the population of all students who followed this new teaching, we found no correlation between the students’ gaming habits and engagement scores. No gender effect was found for students’ engagement. It would be interesting to test the use of an immersive scenario in other contexts where engagement is known to be poor

Sulcal Polymorphisms of the IFC and ACC Contribute to Inhibitory Control Variability in Children and Adults

International audienceInhibitory control (IC) is a core executive function that enables humans to resist habits, temptations, or distractions. IC efficiency in childhood is a strong predictor of academic and professional success later in life. Based on analysis of the sulcal pattern, a qualitative feature of cortex anatomy determined during fetal life and stable during development, we searched for evidence that interindividual differences in IC partly trace back to prenatal processes. Using anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we analyzed the sulcal pattern of two key regions of the IC neural network, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), which limits the inferior frontal gyrus. We found that the sulcal pattern asymmetry of both the ACC and IFC contributes to IC (Stroop score) in children and adults: participants with asymmetrical ACC or IFC sulcal patterns had better IC efficiency than participants with symmetrical ACC or IFC sulcal patterns. Such additive effects of IFC and ACC sulcal patterns on IC efficiency suggest that distinct early neurodevelopmental mechanisms targeting different brain regions likely contribute to IC efficiency. This view shares some analogies with the " common variant–small effect " model in genetics, which states that frequent genetic polymorphisms have small effects but collectively account for a large portion of the variance. Similarly, each sulcal polymorphism has a small but additive effect: IFC and ACC sulcal patterns, respectively, explained 3% and 14% of the variance of the Stroop interference scores. Significance Statement Inhibitory control (IC) is a cognitive function that plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of several psychiatric conditions and in academic and professional success. Using anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of healthy children and adults, we found that IC efficiency is constrained by the morphology (sulcal pattern) of two key regions of the neural network underlying IC. Because the sulcal pattern is a morphologic feature of cortical anatomy that is determined during fetal life and stable during development, our findings provide evidence that interindividual differences in IC partly trace back to prenatal processes and that distinct early neurodevelopmental mechanisms targeting different brain regions likely contribute to IC efficiency