The student experience of applied equivalence-based instruction for neuroanatomy teaching

Purpose Esoteric jargon and technical language are potential barriers to the teaching of science and medicine. Effective teaching strategies which address these barriers are desirable. Here, we created and evaluated the effectiveness of stand-alone ‘equivalence-based instruction’ (EBI) learning resources wherein the teaching of a small number of direct relationships between stimuli (e.g., anatomical regions, their function, and pathology) results in the learning of higher numbers of untaught relationships. Methods We used a pre and post test design to assess students’ learning of the relations. Resources were evaluated by students for perceived usefulness and confidence in the topic. Three versions of the resources were designed, to explore learning parameters such as the number of stimulus classes and the number of relationships within these classes. Results We show that use of EBI resulted in demonstrable learning of material that had not been directly taught. The resources were well received by students, even when the quantity of material to be learned was high. There was a strong desire for more EBI-based teaching. The findings are discussed in the context of an ongoing debate surrounding ‘rote’ vs. ‘deep’ learning, and the need to balance this debate with considerations of cognitive load and esoteric jargon routinely encountered during the study of medicine. Conclusion These standalone EBI resources were an effective, efficient and well-received method for teaching neuroanatomy to medical students. The approach may be of benefit to other subjects with abundant technical jargon, science and other areas of medicine

The role of surface-based representations of shape in visual object recognition

This study contrasted the role of surfaces and volumetric shape primitives in three-dimensional object recognition. Observers (N�=�50) matched subsets of closed contour fragments, surfaces, or volumetric parts to whole novel objects during a whole�part matching task. Three factors were further manipulated: part viewpoint (either same or different between component parts and whole objects), surface occlusion (comparison parts contained either visible surfaces only, or a surface that was fully or partially occluded in the whole object), and target�distractor similarity. Similarity was varied in terms of systematic variation in nonaccidental (NAP) or metric (MP) properties of individual parts. Analysis of sensitivity (d�) showed a whole�part matching advantage for surface-based parts and volumes over closed contour fragments�but no benefit for volumetric parts over surfaces. We also found a performance cost in matching volumetric parts to wholes when the volumes showed surfaces that were occluded in the whole object. The same pattern was found for both same and different viewpoints, and regardless of target�distractor similarity. These findings challenge models in which recognition is mediated by volumetric part-based shape representations. Instead, we argue that the results are consistent with a surface-based model of high-level shape representation for recognition

The representation of response effector and response location in episodic memory for newly acquired actions:evidence from retrieval-induced forgetting

Information retrieval can cause forgetting for related but non-retrieved information. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) has been previously found for semantically and episodically related information. The current study used RIF to examine whether response effector and location are encoded explicitly in action memory. Participants learned unique touchscreen responses to ten novel objects. Correct actions to each object involved left-hand or right-hand pushing of one of four possible object buttons. After learning, participants practiced two of the ten object-specific sequences. Unpracticed actions could share hand only, button only, both hand and button, or neither hand nor button, with the practiced actions. Subsequent testing showed significant RIF (in retrieval accuracy and speed measures) for actions that shared hand only, button only, or both hand and button with the practiced action. The results have implications for understanding the representations mediating episodic action memory, and for the potential of RIF as a tool for elucidating feature-based representations in this and other domains

Derived insensitivity:Rule-based insensitivity to contingencies propagates through equivalence

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Rule-governed behaviours enable rapid acquisition of appropriate and often complex behaviour in novel contexts; however, this capacity can also make individuals insensitive to environmental contingencies. This problem may be exacerbated if rules propagate from one context to another through derived relational responding. Here we assessed whether insensitivity due to rule-following would transfer to stimuli that were never directly associated with that rule, by means of combinatorial entailment. Multiple reinforcement schedules (1A = VR8; 2A = DRL8) were initially presented to two groups, one receiving rules on how to behave to earn as many points as possible, the other not receiving any rule. The participants then completed a matching-to-sample task in which equivalence classes were trained in a one-to-many format (1A ⟵ 1B → 1C; 2A ⟵ 12B → 2C). Finally, the derived stimuli (1C and 2C) were presented in a second multiple-schedule task, where the associated schedules were reversed (1C = DRL8; 2C = VR8), without informing the participants. Results demonstrated that insensitivity transferred to the stimuli set in equivalence for the participants who received rules, while participants who did not receive any rule adapted quicker to the contingencies changes. Results are discussed in relation to behavioural variability and psychological inflexibility that contributes to the development and maintenance of psychological issues