Trends in Neuroscience and Education最新文献

{"title":"Structured versus free block play: the impact on arithmetic processing","authors":"Sharlene D. Newman ,&nbsp;Erin Loughery ,&nbsp;Ambur Ecklund ,&nbsp;Cindy You ,&nbsp;Hannah Von Werder ,&nbsp;Firat Soylu","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100146","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100146","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Block play is one type of intervention that improves visuospatial skills. There are multiple forms of block play and it is unclear whether they have differential cognitive effects.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>Given the importance of visuospatial skills for mathematical performance, we studied the differential impact of two types of block playstructured (copying a block design) and free (building from imagination) on arithmetic processing, using behavioral and fMRI methods. Forty-three children aged 8.3±0.8 years participated (21 free play and 22 structured block play).</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Results showed that while both groups showed behavioral improvements, only the structured block play group showed significant improvements in both addition and subtraction performance. Additionally, the structured block play group showed increased activation in several regions linked to memory, motor, and arithmetic processing after training.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The results inform choices for activities used in the classroom to improve visuospatial skills and suggest structured block play may be beneficial for arithmetic processing.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100146","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25585719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Open schools! Weighing the effects of viruses and lockdowns on children","authors":"Manfred Spitzer","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2021.100151","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2021.100151","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This review weighs the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 against the side effects of school closures on physical and mental health, education, and well-being of those affected by the school closures. Whereas short term effects – decreased learning and food security, and increased anxiety, violence against children, child labor and teen pregnancies – are frequently discussed, the long-term effects of school closures will be much more detrimental across the lifespan of the “Generation Corona”: Existing pandemics of inactivity and myopia, already affecting billions of people, are worsening due to less physical exercise and less time spent outdoors, poor diet, weight gain, and increased screen time during lockdowns, causing future increases of stroke, heart attack, cancer, and blindness. Socio-emotional complications of isolation, learned helplessness, economic and existential insecurity will include increased depression and suicide, decreased empathy and increased loneliness. Together with decreased educational attainment and economic productivity, the amount of ensuing increased future global morbidity and mortality justifies immediate action of school reopening.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2021.100151","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10756527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Approximate arithmetic training does not improve symbolic math in third and fourth grade children","authors":"S. Bugden ,&nbsp;E. Szkudlarek ,&nbsp;E.M. Brannon","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2021.100149","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2021.100149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Prior studies reported that practice playing an approximate arithmetic game improved symbolic math performance relative to active control groups in adults and preschool children (e.g. Park &amp; Brannon, 2013, 2014; Park et al., 2016; Szkudlarek &amp; Brannon, 2018). However, Szkudlarek, Park and Brannon (2021) recently failed to replicate those findings in adults. Here we test whether approximate arithmetic training yields benefits in elementary school children who have intermediate knowledge of arithmetic.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>We conducted a randomized controlled trial<span> with a pre and post-test design to compare the effects of approximate arithmetic training and visuo-spatial working memory training on standardized math performance in third and fourth grade children.</span></p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>We found that approximate arithmetic training did not yield any significant gains on standardized measures of symbolic math performance.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>A Bayesian analysis supports the conclusion that approximate arithmetic provides no benefits for symbolic math performance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2021.100149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25583656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preservice teachers’ neuroscience literacy and perceptions of neuroscience in education: Implications for teacher education","authors":"Fiona N.Y. Ching ,&nbsp;Winnie W.M. So ,&nbsp;Sing Kai Lo ,&nbsp;Savio W.H. Wong","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100144","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100144","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Owing to the prevalence of neuromyths in education, there has been a call for more teacher training in neuroscience<span>. However, neuroscience is rarely featured in teacher education. This study investigated the neuroscience literacy and perceptions of neuroscience in education among preservice teachers in order to inform future development of initial teacher education.</span></p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p><span>Neuroscience literacy of 968 preservice teachers and their perceptions towards applying neuroscience in education were examined using survey items adapted from studies addressing similar constructs. Rasch item response theory and </span>classical test theory techniques were employed for data analysis.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Most of the preservice teachers had limited brain knowledge and subscribed to many common neuromyths but were positive towards applying neuroscience in education. General brain knowledge was the only predictor for ability to identify neuromyths (β = .564).</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Neuroscience knowledge can help safeguard preservice teachers against neuromyths. Neuroscience training deserves a place in teacher education.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100144","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38359563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The History of Writing Reflects the Effects of Education on Discourse Structure: Implications for Literacy, Orality, Psychosis and the Axial Age","authors":"Sylvia Pinheiro ,&nbsp;Natália Bezerra Mota ,&nbsp;Mariano Sigman ,&nbsp;Diego Fernández-Slezak ,&nbsp;Antonio Guerreiro ,&nbsp;Luís Fernando Tófoli ,&nbsp;Guillermo Cecchi ,&nbsp;Mauro Copelli ,&nbsp;Sidarta Ribeiro","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100142","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100142","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Graph analysis detects psychosis and literacy acquisition. Bronze Age literature has been proposed to contain childish or psychotic features, which would only have matured during the Axial Age (∼800-200 BC), a putative boundary for contemporary mentality.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>Graph analysis of literary texts spanning ∼4,500 years shows remarkable asymptotic changes over time.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>While lexical diversity, long-range recurrence and graph length increase away from randomness, short-range recurrence declines towards random levels. Bronze Age texts are structurally similar to oral reports from literate typical children and literate psychotic adults, but distinct from poetry, and from narratives by preliterate preschoolers or Amerindians. Text structure reconstitutes the “arrow-of-time”, converging to educated adult levels at the Axial Age onset.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The educational pathways of oral and literate traditions are structurally divergent, with a decreasing range of recurrence in the former, and an increasing range of recurrence in the latter. Education is seemingly the driving force underlying discourse maturation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100142","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38359561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why do teachers believe educational neuromyths?","authors":"Brenda Hughes ,&nbsp;Karen A. Sullivan ,&nbsp;Linda Gilmore","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100145","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>It is not well understood whether qualified teachers believe neuromyths, and whether this affects their practice and learner outcomes.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>A standardised survey was administered to practising teachers (<em>N</em> <em>=</em> 228) to determine whether or not they believe <em>fictional</em> (neuromyth) or <em>factual</em> statements about the brain, the confidence in those beliefs, and their application.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Although factual knowledge was high, seven neuromyths were believed by &gt;50% of the sample. Participants who endorsed neuromyths were generally more confident in their answers than those who identified the myths. Key neuromyths appear to be incorporated into classrooms.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p><span>Australian teachers, like their overseas counterparts, have some neuroscience awareness but are susceptible to neuromyths. A stronger partnership with neuroscientists would addresss the complex problem of disentangling brain facts from fictions, and provide better support for teachers. This study uncovered </span>psychometric weaknesses in the commonly used neuromyth measure that future research should address.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100145","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38359562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neurofunctional plasticity in fraction learning: An fMRI training study","authors":"Silke M. Wortha ,&nbsp;Johannes Bloechle ,&nbsp;Manuel Ninaus ,&nbsp;Kristian Kiili ,&nbsp;Antero Lindstedt ,&nbsp;Julia Bahnmueller ,&nbsp;Korbinian Moeller ,&nbsp;Elise Klein","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Fractions are known to be difficult for children and adults. Behavioral studies suggest that magnitude processing of fractions can be improved via number line estimation (NLE) trainings, but little is known about the neural correlates of fraction learning.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>To examine the neuro-cognitive foundations of fraction learning, behavioral performance and neural correlates were measured before and after a five-day NLE training.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>In all evaluation tasks behavioral performance increased after training. We observed a fronto-parietal network associated with number magnitude processing to be recruited in all tasks as indicated by a numerical distance effect. For symbolic fractions, the distance effect on intraparietal activation was only observed after training.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The absence of a distance effect of symbolic fractions before the training could indicate an initially less automatic access to their overall magnitude. NLE training facilitates processing of overall fraction magnitude as indicated by the distance effect in neural activation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100141","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38359560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of BMI on cognition following acute physical activity in preadolescent children","authors":"Lauren B. Raine ,&nbsp;Shih-Chun Kao ,&nbsp;Eric S. Drollette ,&nbsp;Matthew B. Pontifex ,&nbsp;Dominika Pindus ,&nbsp;Jennifer Hunt ,&nbsp;Arthur F. Kramer ,&nbsp;Charles H. Hillman","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100143","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100143","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>There is an increasing prevalence of physical inactivity<span> during childhood, concurrent with a rise in obesity rates, which is associated with a variety of health problems<span><span>. However, the extent to which increased body mass index (BMI) influences acute </span>physical activity<span> (PA) benefits on cognition in childhood remains unknown. The aim of this study was to examine whether BMI influences the effects of acute PA on inhibitory control task performance.</span></span></span></p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p><span>In a sample of 116 children pooled from four prior studies (ages 8-11; 51 females), demographic measures of age, sex, IQ, socioeconomic status, and aerobic fitness were considered along with BMI. Children participated in a counterbalanced, randomized crossover study<span>, whereby they completed two different interventions; 20 minutes of treadmill walking (60-70% heart rate max) and restful reading (non-exercise control). Following each intervention, children performed a modified flanker task that manipulates inhibitory control demands. Correlations were conducted to determine the influence of demographic variables, fitness, and BMI on inhibitory control following each intervention. Subsequent hierarchical </span></span>regression analyses were performed with significant demographic factors in the first step, aerobic fitness in the second step when significant, and BMI in the final step.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Analyses indicated that children exhibited improved task performance (<em>p's</em> ≤ 0.001) and decreased interference (<em>p</em> = 0.04) following the walking intervention compared to the restful reading control condition, indicating greater benefits following acute PA across task condition, with selectively greater benefits for the task condition requiring greater inhibitory control. Regression analyses revealed that greater BMI was related to decreased performance following acute PA (<em>p</em> = 0.001); an association not observed following restful reading (<em>p's</em> ≥ 0.11). These results suggest that BMI negatively influences the effect of acute exercise on performance.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Confirming previous studies, these findings indicate beneficial effects of acute PA on a flanker task that modulates inhibitory control requirements, but the effects are significantly greater for task conditions requiring greater amounts of inhibitory control. Further, these beneficial effects of PA appear to be blunted in children with higher BMI. These findings suggest that the acute benefits of PA on cognition may not be fully realized in children with higher BMI.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100143","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38359564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aerobic fitness relates to superior exact and approximate arithmetic processing in college-aged adults","authors":"A. McGowan, M. C. Chandler, Matthew B. Pontifex","doi":"10.31234/osf.io/sepfh","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/sepfh","url":null,"abstract":"BACKGROUND\u0000Aerobic fitness relates to superior math achievement, but the underlying reasons remain unclear. This study tested how more efficient processing (efficiency hypothesis) or enhanced allocation of cognitive resources (resources hypothesis) underly fitness-related differences in arithmetic cognition in a sample of 138 college-aged adults.\u0000\u0000\u0000METHOD\u0000Participants completed an arithmetic task while pupillary measures were recorded prior to an aerobic fitness test.\u0000\u0000\u0000RESULTS\u0000Higher aerobic fitness was associated with shorter reaction time for all problems and greater pupillary reactivity for problems requiring approximate and exact arithmetic.\u0000\u0000\u0000CONCLUSIONS\u0000Superior aerobic fitness relates to greater cognitive resources available to execute exact and approximate arithmetic faster. Fitness-related differences in math achievement may be driven by the cognitive resources underlying arithmetic strategy. These differences may extend beyond educational achievement and affect the motivation to engage in health behaviors based on quantitative information. Thus, improving cardiovascular fitness has the potential to also ameliorate health numeracy.","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78576688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fit to Study: Reflections on designing and implementing a large-scale randomized controlled trial in secondary schools","authors":"Catherine Wheatley ,&nbsp;Nick Beale ,&nbsp;Thomas Wassenaar ,&nbsp;Mackenzie Graham ,&nbsp;Emma Eldridge ,&nbsp;Helen Dawes ,&nbsp;Heidi Johansen-Berg","doi":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100134","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tine.2020.100134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The randomised controlled trial (RCT) design is increasingly common among studies seeking good-quality evidence to advance educational neuroscience, but conducting RCTs in schools is challenging. Fit to Study, one of six such trials funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and Wellcome Trust, tested an intervention to increase vigorous physical activity during PE lessons on maths attainment among pupils aged 12–13. This review of designing and conducting an RCT in 104 schools is intended as a resource on which researchers might draw for future studies.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>We consider intervention design and delivery; recruitment, retention, trial management, data collection and analysis including ethical considerations and working with evaluators.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Teacher training, intervention delivery and data collection during large-scale RCTs require a flexible approach appropriate to educational settings, which in turn entails planning and resources.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Simple interventions, with few outcome measures and minimal missing data, are preferable to more complex designs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46228,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Neuroscience and Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.tine.2020.100134","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38372060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}