Sample records for individual learning differences

  1. Individual differences in implicit motor learning: task specificity in sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning

    PubMed Central

    Raza, Meher; Ivry, Richard B.

    2016-01-01

    In standard taxonomies, motor skills are typically treated as representative of implicit or procedural memory. We examined two emblematic tasks of implicit motor learning, sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning, asking whether individual differences in learning are correlated between these tasks, as well as how individual differences within each task are related to different performance variables. As a prerequisite, it was essential to establish the reliability of learning measures for each task. Participants were tested twice on a visuomotor adaptation task and on a sequence learning task, either the serial reaction time task or the alternating reaction time task. Learning was evident in all tasks at the group level and reliable at the individual level in visuomotor adaptation and the alternating reaction time task but not in the serial reaction time task. Performance variability was predictive of learning in both domains, yet the relationship was in the opposite direction for adaptation and sequence learning. For the former, faster learning was associated with lower variability, consistent with models of sensorimotor adaptation in which learning rates are sensitive to noise. For the latter, greater learning was associated with higher variability and slower reaction times, factors that may facilitate the spread of activation required to form predictive, sequential associations. Interestingly, learning measures of the different tasks were not correlated. Together, these results oppose a shared process for implicit learning in sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning and provide insight into the factors that account for individual differences in learning within each task domain. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We investigated individual differences in the ability to implicitly learn motor skills. As a prerequisite, we assessed whether individual differences were reliable across test sessions. We found that two commonly used tasks of implicit learning, visuomotor adaptation and the alternating serial reaction time task, exhibited good test-retest reliability in measures of learning and performance. However, the learning measures did not correlate between the two tasks, arguing against a shared process for implicit motor learning. PMID:27832611

  2. Individual differences in implicit motor learning: task specificity in sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning.

    PubMed

    Stark-Inbar, Alit; Raza, Meher; Taylor, Jordan A; Ivry, Richard B

    2017-01-01

    In standard taxonomies, motor skills are typically treated as representative of implicit or procedural memory. We examined two emblematic tasks of implicit motor learning, sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning, asking whether individual differences in learning are correlated between these tasks, as well as how individual differences within each task are related to different performance variables. As a prerequisite, it was essential to establish the reliability of learning measures for each task. Participants were tested twice on a visuomotor adaptation task and on a sequence learning task, either the serial reaction time task or the alternating reaction time task. Learning was evident in all tasks at the group level and reliable at the individual level in visuomotor adaptation and the alternating reaction time task but not in the serial reaction time task. Performance variability was predictive of learning in both domains, yet the relationship was in the opposite direction for adaptation and sequence learning. For the former, faster learning was associated with lower variability, consistent with models of sensorimotor adaptation in which learning rates are sensitive to noise. For the latter, greater learning was associated with higher variability and slower reaction times, factors that may facilitate the spread of activation required to form predictive, sequential associations. Interestingly, learning measures of the different tasks were not correlated. Together, these results oppose a shared process for implicit learning in sensorimotor adaptation and sequence learning and provide insight into the factors that account for individual differences in learning within each task domain. We investigated individual differences in the ability to implicitly learn motor skills. As a prerequisite, we assessed whether individual differences were reliable across test sessions. We found that two commonly used tasks of implicit learning, visuomotor adaptation and the alternating serial reaction time task, exhibited good test-retest reliability in measures of learning and performance. However, the learning measures did not correlate between the two tasks, arguing against a shared process for implicit motor learning. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  3. Identifying the Individual Differences among Students during Learning and Teaching Process by Science Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kubat, Ulas

    2018-01-01

    It is important for teachers to know variables such as physical characteristics, intelligence, perception, gender, ability, learning styles, which are individual differences of the learners. An effective and productive learning-teaching process can be planned by considering these individual differences of the students. Since the learners' own…

  4. Individual Differences and Learning Contexts: A Self-Regulated Learning Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ben-Eliyahu, Adar

    2017-01-01

    This article examines how individual differences (giftedness) interact with learning contexts (favorite versus least favorite courses) to influence learning processes and outcomes. The findings show that gifted and typically developing students differ solely in their expectancies for success and grades among a large variety of measures, including…

  5. Exploring the Dynamic System of TCFL: Individual Differences, Learning and Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, Henghua

    2012-01-01

    In the setting of TCFL, this dissertation is an exploration of the dynamic development of individual differences and the learning and instruction environment. Major research studies done on motivation and learning strategies are reviewed. The motivation research in foreign language learning is introduced from three different perspectives in…

  6. Verbal learning changes in older adults across 18 months.

    PubMed

    Zimprich, Daniel; Rast, Philippe

    2009-07-01

    The major aim of this study was to investigate individual changes in verbal learning across a period of 18 months. Individual differences in verbal learning have largely been neglected in the last years and, even more so, individual differences in change in verbal learning. The sample for this study comes from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging (ZULU; Zimprich et al., 2008a) and comprised 336 older adults in the age range of 65-80 years at first measurement occasion. In order to address change in verbal learning we used a latent change model of structured latent growth curves to account for the non-linearity of the verbal learning data. The individual learning trajectories were captured by a hyperbolic function which yielded three psychologically distinct parameters: initial performance, learning rate, and asymptotic performance. We found that average performance increased with respect to initial performance, but not in learning rate or in asymptotic performance. Further, variances and covariances remained stable across both measurement occasions, indicating that the amount of individual differences in the three parameters remained stable, as did the relationships among them. Moreover, older adults differed reliably in their amount of change in initial performance and asymptotic performance. Eventually, changes in asymptotic performance and learning rate were strongly negatively correlated. It thus appears as if change in verbal learning in old age is a constrained process: an increase in total learning capacity implies that it takes longer to learn. Together, these results point to the significance of individual differences in change of verbal learning in the elderly.

  7. Individual Differences in Online Personalized Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Samah, Norazrena Abu; Yahaya, Noraffandy; Ali, Mohamad Bilal

    2011-01-01

    The need has arise for the consideration of individual differences, to include their learning styles, learning orientations, preferences and needs in learning to allow learners engage and be responsible for their own learning, retain information longer, apply the knowledge more effectively, have positive attitudes towards the subject, have more…

  8. Effects of Situated Learning on Students' Knowledge Acquisition: An Individual Differences Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zheng, Robert

    2010-01-01

    This study focuses on the effects of situated learning on students' knowledge acquisition by investigating the influence of individual differences in such learning. Seventy-nine graduates were recruited from an educational department and were assigned to situated learning and traditional learning based on a randomized block design. Results…

  9. Correlates of Individual, and Age-Related, Differences in Short-Term Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Zhiyong; Davis, Hasker P.; Salthouse, Timothy A.; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M.

    2007-01-01

    Latent growth models were applied to data on multitrial verbal and spatial learning tasks from two independent studies. Although significant individual differences in both initial level of performance and subsequent learning were found in both tasks, age differences were found only in mean initial level, and not in mean learning. In neither task…

  10. Learning Styles and Individual Differences in Learning English Idioms via Computer Assisted Language Learning in English as a Second Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Viteli, Jarmo

    The purpose of this study was to determine the learning styles of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students and individual differences in learning English idioms via computer assisted language learning (CALL). Thirty-six Hispanic students, 26 Japanese students, and 6 students with various language backgrounds from the Nova University Intensive…

  11. Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies.

    PubMed

    Molleman, Lucas; van den Berg, Pieter; Weissing, Franz J

    2014-04-04

    Social learning has allowed humans to build up extensive cultural repertoires, enabling them to adapt to a wide variety of environmental and social conditions. However, it is unclear which social learning strategies people use, especially in social contexts where their payoffs depend on the behaviour of others. Here we show experimentally that individuals differ in their social learning strategies and that they tend to employ the same learning strategy irrespective of the interaction context. Payoff-based learners focus on their peers' success, while decision-based learners disregard payoffs and exclusively focus on their peers' past behaviour. These individual differences may be of considerable importance for cultural evolution. By means of a simple model, we demonstrate that groups harbouring individuals with different learning strategies may be faster in adopting technological innovations and can be more efficient through successful role differentiation. Our study highlights the importance of individual variation for human interactions and sheds new light on the dynamics of cultural evolution.

  12. Accounting for individual differences in human associative learning

    PubMed Central

    Byrom, Nicola C.

    2013-01-01

    Associative learning has provided fundamental insights to understanding psychopathology. However, psychopathology occurs along a continuum and as such, identification of disruptions in processes of associative learning associated with aspects of psychopathology illustrates a general flexibility in human associative learning. A handful of studies have looked specifically at individual differences in human associative learning, but while much work has concentrated on accounting for flexibility in learning caused by external factors, there has been limited work considering how to model the influence of dispositional factors. This review looks at the range of individual differences in human associative learning that have been explored and the attempts to account for, and model, this flexibility. To fully understand human associative learning, further research needs to attend to the causes of variation in human learning. PMID:24027551

  13. Accounting for individual differences in human associative learning.

    PubMed

    Byrom, Nicola C

    2013-09-04

    Associative learning has provided fundamental insights to understanding psychopathology. However, psychopathology occurs along a continuum and as such, identification of disruptions in processes of associative learning associated with aspects of psychopathology illustrates a general flexibility in human associative learning. A handful of studies have looked specifically at individual differences in human associative learning, but while much work has concentrated on accounting for flexibility in learning caused by external factors, there has been limited work considering how to model the influence of dispositional factors. This review looks at the range of individual differences in human associative learning that have been explored and the attempts to account for, and model, this flexibility. To fully understand human associative learning, further research needs to attend to the causes of variation in human learning.

  14. The Effect of Mode of CAI and Individual Learning Differences on the Understanding of Concept Relationships.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rowland, Paul McD.

    The effect of mode of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and individual learning differences on the learning of science concepts was investigated. University elementary education majors learned about home energy use from either a computer simulation or a computer tutorial. Learning of science concepts was measured using achievement and…

  15. Linking Individual Learning Styles to Approach-Avoidance Motivational Traits and Computational Aspects of Reinforcement Learning

    PubMed Central

    Carl Aberg, Kristoffer; Doell, Kimberly C.; Schwartz, Sophie

    2016-01-01

    Learning how to gain rewards (approach learning) and avoid punishments (avoidance learning) is fundamental for everyday life. While individual differences in approach and avoidance learning styles have been related to genetics and aging, the contribution of personality factors, such as traits, remains undetermined. Moreover, little is known about the computational mechanisms mediating differences in learning styles. Here, we used a probabilistic selection task with positive and negative feedbacks, in combination with computational modelling, to show that individuals displaying better approach (vs. avoidance) learning scored higher on measures of approach (vs. avoidance) trait motivation, but, paradoxically, also displayed reduced learning speed following positive (vs. negative) outcomes. These data suggest that learning different types of information depend on associated reward values and internal motivational drives, possibly determined by personality traits. PMID:27851807

  16. Do Children Copy an Expert or a Majority? Examining Selective Learning in Instrumental and Normative Contexts.

    PubMed

    Burdett, Emily R R; Lucas, Amanda J; Buchsbaum, Daphna; McGuigan, Nicola; Wood, Lara A; Whiten, Andrew

    2016-01-01

    This study examined whether instrumental and normative learning contexts differentially influence 4- to 7-year-old children's social learning strategies; specifically, their dispositions to copy an expert versus a majority consensus. Experiment 1 (N = 44) established that children copied a relatively competent "expert" individual over an incompetent individual in both kinds of learning context. In experiment 2 (N = 80) we then tested whether children would copy a competent individual versus a majority, in each of the two different learning contexts. Results showed that individual children differed in strategy, preferring with significant consistency across two different test trials to copy either the competent individual or the majority. This study is the first to show that children prefer to copy more competent individuals when shown competing methods of achieving an instrumental goal (Experiment 1) and provides new evidence that children, at least in our "individualist" culture, may consistently express either a competency or majority bias in learning both instrumental and normative information (Experiment 2). This effect was similar in the instrumental and normative learning contexts we applied.

  17. Do Children Copy an Expert or a Majority? Examining Selective Learning in Instrumental and Normative Contexts

    PubMed Central

    Lucas, Amanda J.; Buchsbaum, Daphna; McGuigan, Nicola; Wood, Lara A.; Whiten, Andrew

    2016-01-01

    This study examined whether instrumental and normative learning contexts differentially influence 4- to 7-year-old children’s social learning strategies; specifically, their dispositions to copy an expert versus a majority consensus. Experiment 1 (N = 44) established that children copied a relatively competent “expert” individual over an incompetent individual in both kinds of learning context. In experiment 2 (N = 80) we then tested whether children would copy a competent individual versus a majority, in each of the two different learning contexts. Results showed that individual children differed in strategy, preferring with significant consistency across two different test trials to copy either the competent individual or the majority. This study is the first to show that children prefer to copy more competent individuals when shown competing methods of achieving an instrumental goal (Experiment 1) and provides new evidence that children, at least in our “individualist” culture, may consistently express either a competency or majority bias in learning both instrumental and normative information (Experiment 2). This effect was similar in the instrumental and normative learning contexts we applied. PMID:27768716

  18. Employing Augmented-Reality-Embedded Instruction to Disperse the Imparities of Individual Differences in Earth Science Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Cheng-ping; Wang, Chang-Hwa

    2015-01-01

    Studies have proven that merging hands-on and online learning can result in an enhanced experience in learning science. In contrast to traditional online learning, multiple in-classroom activities may be involved in an augmented-reality (AR)-embedded e-learning process and thus could reduce the effects of individual differences. Using a…

  19. Novice medical students: individual patterns in the use of learning strategies and how they change during the first academic year.

    PubMed

    Fabry, Götz; Giesler, Marianne

    2012-01-01

    Adequate use of different learning strategies is one of the most important prerequisites of academic success. The actual use of learning strategies is the result of an interaction between individual and situational variables. Against this background we conducted a longitudinal study with first year medical students to investigate whether individuals show different patterns in their use of learning strategies and whether these patterns change during the first academic year. Medical students (N=175, 58% female) were surveyed three times in their first academic year regarding their use of learning strategies. A hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward) was conducted in order to identify groups of students with different patterns of learning strategies. We identified four different patterns in approaches to learning among novice medical students ("easy-going", "flexible", "problematic" and "hardworking" learners). Compared to their peers, the problematic learners had the worst final school grades. In addition changes in the use of learning strategies were identified, most of them occurred during the first term. Students start their academic studies with different patterns of learning strategies; the characteristics of these patterns change during the first academic year. Further research is necessary to better understand how individual and situational variables determine students' learning.

  20. Novice medical students: Individual patterns in the use of learning strategies and how they change during the first academic year

    PubMed Central

    Fabry, Götz; Giesler, Marianne

    2012-01-01

    Background: Adequate use of different learning strategies is one of the most important prerequisites of academic success. The actual use of learning strategies is the result of an interaction between individual and situational variables. Against this background we conducted a longitudinal study with first year medical students to investigate whether individuals show different patterns in their use of learning strategies and whether these patterns change during the first academic year. Methods: Medical students (N=175, 58% female) were surveyed three times in their first academic year regarding their use of learning strategies. A hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward) was conducted in order to identify groups of students with different patterns of learning strategies. Results: We identified four different patterns in approaches to learning among novice medical students (“easy-going”, “flexible”, “problematic” and “hardworking” learners). Compared to their peers, the problematic learners had the worst final school grades. In addition changes in the use of learning strategies were identified, most of them occurred during the first term. Conclusion: Students start their academic studies with different patterns of learning strategies; the characteristics of these patterns change during the first academic year. Further research is necessary to better understand how individual and situational variables determine students’ learning. PMID:22916082

  1. Multimedia Learning: Cognitive Individual Differences and Display Design Techniques Predict Transfer Learning with Multimedia Learning Modules

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Austin, Katherine A.

    2009-01-01

    In the wake of the information explosion and rapidly progressing technology [Mayer, R. E. (2001). "Multimedia learning". Cambridge: University Press] formulated a theory that focused on human cognition, rather than technology capacity and features. By measuring the effect of cognitive individual differences and display design manipulations on…

  2. Variability in Second Language Learning: The Roles of Individual Differences, Learning Conditions, and Linguistic Complexity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tagarelli, Kaitlyn M.; Ruiz, Simón; Vega, José Luis Moreno; Rebuschat, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    Second language learning outcomes are highly variable, due to a variety of factors, including individual differences, exposure conditions, and linguistic complexity. However, exactly how these factors interact to influence language learning is unknown. This article examines the relationship between these three variables in language learners.…

  3. Am I Extravert or Introvert? Considering the Personality Effect toward e-Learning System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Dujaily, Amal; Kim, Jieun; Ryu, Hokyoung

    2013-01-01

    A concern of computer-based learning system design is how to accommodate learners' individual differences during learning activities. Previous research suggests that adaptive e-learning systems can effectively address such individual differences and, consequently, they enable more directed tutoring via computer-assisted instruction. In this paper,…

  4. Constructing Knowledge with an Agent-Based Instructional Program: A Comparison of Cooperative and Individual Meaning Making

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moreno, Roxana

    2009-01-01

    Participants in the present study were 87 college students who learned about botany using an agent-based instructional program with three different learning approaches: individual, jigsaw, or cooperative learning. Results showed no differences among learning approaches on retention. Students in jigsaw groups reported higher cognitive load during…

  5. A Conceptual Framework for Web-Based Learning Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alomyan, Hesham

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to provide a coherent framework to present the relationship between individual differences and web-based learning. Two individual difference factors have been identified for investigation within the present paper: Cognitive style and prior knowledge. The importance of individual differences is reviewed and previous…

  6. Do Individual Differences in Children's Curiosity Relate to Their Inquiry-Based Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Schijndel, Tessa J. P.; Jansen, Brenda R. J.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates how individual differences in 7- to 9-year-olds' curiosity relate to the inquiry-learning process and outcomes in environments differing in structure. The focus on curiosity as individual differences variable was motivated by the importance of curiosity in science education, and uncertainty being central to both the…

  7. Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard.

    PubMed

    Carazo, Pau; Noble, Daniel W A; Chandrasoma, Dani; Whiting, Martin J

    2014-05-07

    Understanding individual differences in cognitive performance is a major challenge to animal behaviour and cognition studies. We used the Eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii) to examine associations between exploration, boldness and individual variability in spatial learning, a dimension of lizard cognition with important bearing on fitness. We show that males perform better than females in a biologically relevant spatial learning task. This is the first evidence for sex differences in learning in a reptile, and we argue that it is probably owing to sex-specific selective pressures that may be widespread in lizards. Across the sexes, we found a clear association between boldness after a simulated predatory attack and the probability of learning the spatial task. In contrast to previous studies, we found a nonlinear association between boldness and learning: both 'bold' and 'shy' behavioural types were more successful learners than intermediate males. Our results do not fit with recent predictions suggesting that individual differences in learning may be linked with behavioural types via high-low-risk/reward trade-offs. We suggest the possibility that differences in spatial cognitive performance may arise in lizards as a consequence of the distinct environmental variability and complexity experienced by individuals as a result of their sex and social tactics.

  8. Employing Augmented-Reality-Embedded Instruction to Disperse the Imparities of Individual Differences in Earth Science Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Cheng-ping; Wang, Chang-Hwa

    2015-12-01

    Studies have proven that merging hands-on and online learning can result in an enhanced experience in learning science. In contrast to traditional online learning, multiple in-classroom activities may be involved in an augmented-reality (AR)-embedded e-learning process and thus could reduce the effects of individual differences. Using a three-stage AR-embedded instructional process, we conducted an experiment to investigate the influences of individual differences on learning earth science phenomena of "day, night, and seasons" for junior highs. The mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed. In the quantitative phase, factors of learning styles and ICT competences were examined alongside with the overall learning achievement. Independent t tests and ANCOVAs were employed to achieve inferential statistics. The results showed that overall learning achievement was significant for the AR-embedded instruction. Nevertheless, neither of the two learner factors exhibited significant effect on learning achievement. In the qualitative phase, we analyzed student interview records, and a wide variation on student's preferred instructional stages were revealed. These findings could provide an alternative rationale for developing ICT-supported instruction, as our three-stage AR-embedded comprehensive e-learning scheme could enhance instruction adaptiveness to disperse the imparities of individual differences between learners.

  9. Repetition Suppression in the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus Predicts Tone Learning Performance.

    PubMed

    Asaridou, Salomi S; Takashima, Atsuko; Dediu, Dan; Hagoort, Peter; McQueen, James M

    2016-06-01

    Do individuals differ in how efficiently they process non-native sounds? To what extent do these differences relate to individual variability in sound-learning aptitude? We addressed these questions by assessing the sound-learning abilities of Dutch native speakers as they were trained on non-native tone contrasts. We used fMRI repetition suppression to the non-native tones to measure participants' neuronal processing efficiency before and after training. Although all participants improved in tone identification with training, there was large individual variability in learning performance. A repetition suppression effect to tone was found in the bilateral inferior frontal gyri (IFGs) before training. No whole-brain effect was found after training; a region-of-interest analysis, however, showed that, after training, repetition suppression to tone in the left IFG correlated positively with learning. That is, individuals who were better in learning the non-native tones showed larger repetition suppression in this area. Crucially, this was true even before training. These findings add to existing evidence that the left IFG plays an important role in sound learning and indicate that individual differences in learning aptitude stem from differences in the neuronal efficiency with which non-native sounds are processed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Statistical Learning and Language: An Individual Differences Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Misyak, Jennifer B.; Christiansen, Morten H.

    2012-01-01

    Although statistical learning and language have been assumed to be intertwined, this theoretical presupposition has rarely been tested empirically. The present study investigates the relationship between statistical learning and language using a within-subject design embedded in an individual-differences framework. Participants were administered…

  11. Group level effects of social versus individual learning.

    PubMed

    Jost, Jürgen; Li, Wei

    2013-06-01

    We study the effects of learning by imitating others within the framework of an iterated game in which the members of two complementary populations interact via random pairing at each round. This allows us to compare both the fitness of different strategies within a population and the performance of populations in which members have access to different types of strategies. Previous studies reveal some emergent dynamics at the population level, when players learn individually. We here investigate a different mechanism in which players can choose between two different learning strategies, individual or social. Imitating behavior can spread within a mixed population, with the frequency of imitators varying over generation time. When compared to a pure population with solely individual learners, a mixed population with both individual and social learners can do better, independently of the precise learning scheme employed. We can then search for the best imitating strategy. Imitating the neighbor with the highest payoff turns out to be consistently superior. This is in agreement with findings in experimental and model studies that have been carried out in different settings.

  12. Assortative social learning and its implications for human (and animal?) societies.

    PubMed

    Katsnelson, Edith; Lotem, Arnon; Feldman, Marcus W

    2014-07-01

    Choosing from whom to learn is an important element of social learning. It affects learner success and the profile of behaviors in the population. Because individuals often differ in their traits and capabilities, their benefits from different behaviors may also vary. Homophily, or assortment, the tendency of individuals to interact with other individuals with similar traits, is known to affect the spread of behaviors in humans. We introduce models to study the evolution of assortative social learning (ASL), where assorting on a trait acts as an individual-specific mechanism for filtering relevant models from which to learn when that trait varies. We show that when the trait is polymorphic, ASL may maintain a stable behavioral polymorphism within a population (independently of coexistence with individual learning in a population). We explore the evolution of ASL when assortment is based on a nonheritable or partially heritable trait, and when ASL competes with different non-ASL strategies: oblique (learning from the parental generation) and vertical (learning from the parent). We suggest that the tendency to assort may be advantageous in the context of social learning, and that ASL might be an important concept for the evolutionary theory of social learning. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  13. Individual differences in learning predict the return of fear.

    PubMed

    Gershman, Samuel J; Hartley, Catherine A

    2015-09-01

    Using a laboratory analogue of learned fear (Pavlovian fear conditioning), we show that there is substantial heterogeneity across individuals in spontaneous recovery of fear following extinction training. We propose that this heterogeneity might stem from qualitative individual differences in the nature of extinction learning. Whereas some individuals tend to form a new memory during extinction, leaving their fear memory intact, others update the original threat association with new safety information, effectively unlearning the fear memory. We formalize this account in a computational model of fear learning and show that individuals who, according to the model, are more likely to form new extinction memories tend to show greater spontaneous recovery compared to individuals who appear to only update a single memory. This qualitative variation in fear and extinction learning may have important implications for understanding vulnerability and resilience to fear-related psychiatric disorders.

  14. Working Memory Capacity and Mobile Multimedia Learning Environments: Individual Differences in Learning While Mobile

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Doolittle, Peter E.; Mariano, Gina J.

    2008-01-01

    The present study examined the effects of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) on learning from an historical inquiry multimedia tutorial in stationary versus mobile learning environments using a portable digital media player (i.e., iPod). Students with low (n = 44) and high (n = 40) working memory capacity, as measured by the…

  15. A Q Study of Music Teachers' Attitudes towards the Significance of Individual Differences for Teaching and Learning in Music

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hewitt, Allan

    2006-01-01

    Classroom teachers' beliefs and attitudes regarding the role and significance of individual differences have received relatively little attention in the literature to date, notwithstanding the well-documented importance both of teachers' beliefs and factors of individual difference for the learning and teaching process. The purpose of this study…

  16. Learning a novel phonological contrast depends on interactions between individual differences and training paradigm design

    PubMed Central

    Perrachione, Tyler K.; Lee, Jiyeon; Ha, Louisa Y. Y.; Wong, Patrick C. M.

    2011-01-01

    Studies evaluating phonological contrast learning typically investigate either the predictiveness of specific pretraining aptitude measures or the efficacy of different instructional paradigms. However, little research considers how these factors interact—whether different students learn better from different types of instruction—and what the psychological basis for any interaction might be. The present study demonstrates that successfully learning a foreign-language phonological contrast for pitch depends on an interaction between individual differences in perceptual abilities and the design of the training paradigm. Training from stimuli with high acoustic-phonetic variability is generally thought to improve learning; however, we found high-variability training enhanced learning only for individuals with strong perceptual abilities. Learners with weaker perceptual abilities were actually impaired by high-variability training relative to a low-variability condition. A second experiment assessing variations on the high-variability training design determined that the property of this learning environment most detrimental to perceptually weak learners is the amount of trial-by-trial variability. Learners’ perceptual limitations can thus override the benefits of high-variability training where trial-by-trial variability in other irrelevant acoustic-phonetic features obfuscates access to the target feature. These results demonstrate the importance of considering individual differences in pretraining aptitudes when evaluating the efficacy of any speech training paradigm. PMID:21786912

  17. Correlates of individual, and age-related, differences in short-term learning.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zhiyong; Davis, Hasker P; Salthouse, Timothy A; Tucker-Drob, Elliot M

    2007-07-01

    Latent growth models were applied to data on multitrial verbal and spatial learning tasks from two independent studies. Although significant individual differences in both initial level of performance and subsequent learning were found in both tasks, age differences were found only in mean initial level, and not in mean learning. In neither task was fluid or crystallized intelligence associated with learning. Although there were moderate correlations among the level parameters across the verbal and spatial tasks, the learning parameters were not significantly correlated with one another across task modalities. These results are inconsistent with the existence of a general (e.g., material-independent) learning ability.

  18. Individual Differences in Discriminatory Fear Learning under Conditions of Ambiguity: A Vulnerability Factor for Anxiety Disorders?

    PubMed Central

    Arnaudova, Inna; Krypotos, Angelos-Miltiadis; Effting, Marieke; Boddez, Yannick; Kindt, Merel; Beckers, Tom

    2013-01-01

    Complex fear learning procedures might be better suited than the common differential fear-conditioning paradigm for detecting individual differences related to vulnerability for anxiety disorders. Two such procedures are the blocking procedure and the protection-from-overshadowing procedure. Their comparison allows for the examination of discriminatory fear learning under conditions of ambiguity. The present study examined the role of individual differences in such discriminatory fear learning. We hypothesized that heightened trait anxiety would be related to a deficit in discriminatory fear learning. Participants gave US-expectancy ratings as an index for the threat value of individual CSs following blocking and protection-from-overshadowing training. The difference in threat value at test between the protected-from-overshadowing conditioned stimulus (CS) and the blocked CS was negatively correlated with scores on a self-report tension-stress scale that approximates facets of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-Stress (DASS-S), but not with other individual difference variables. In addition, a behavioral test showed that only participants scoring high on the DASS-S avoided the protected-from-overshadowing CS. This observed deficit in discriminatory fear learning for participants with high levels of tension-stress might be an underlying mechanism for fear overgeneralization in diffuse anxiety disorders such as GAD. PMID:23755030

  19. Towards a Pedagogy for Clinical Education: Beyond Individual Learning Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kinchin, Ian M.; Baysan, Aylin; Cabot, Lyndon Bruce

    2008-01-01

    The development of teaching in higher education towards a more learner-orientated model has been supported by the literature on individual learning differences and on learning styles in particular. This has contributed to the evolution of university pedagogy away from a medieval transmission model than runs counter to contemporary understanding of…

  20. Individual Differences in Dyadic Cooperative Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horn, Elizabeth M.; Collier, William G.; Oxford, Julie A.; Bond, Charles F., Jr.; Dansereau, Donald F.

    1998-01-01

    The impact of individual differences on the performance of roles of learner and learning facilitator was studied during dyadic cooperative learning with 80 college students in same-sex groups of 4. The learner role accounted for more than 70% of the variance in total recall. The influence of cognitive and rapport factors is discussed. (SLD)

  1. Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: the mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness.

    PubMed

    Brooks, Patricia J; Kempe, Vera

    2013-02-01

    In this study, we sought to identify cognitive predictors of individual differences in adult foreign-language learning and to test whether metalinguistic awareness mediated the observed relationships. Using a miniature language-learning paradigm, adults (N = 77) learned Russian vocabulary and grammar (gender agreement and case marking) over six 1-h sessions, completing tasks that encouraged attention to phrases without explicitly teaching grammatical rules. The participants' ability to describe the Russian gender and case-marking patterns mediated the effects of nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning on grammar learning and generalization. Hence, even under implicit-learning conditions, individual differences stemmed from explicit metalinguistic awareness of the underlying grammar, which, in turn, was linked to nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning. Prior knowledge of languages with grammatical gender (predominantly Spanish) predicted learning of gender agreement. Transfer of knowledge of gender from other languages to Russian was not mediated by awareness, which suggests that transfer operates through an implicit process akin to structural priming.

  2. Individual Learning Accounts: A Strategy for Lifelong Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Renkema, Albert

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: Since the end of the previous century social partners in different branches of industry have laid down measures to stimulate individual learning and competence development of workers in collective labour agreements. Special attention is given to stimulating learning demand among traditional non-participants to lifelong learning, such as…

  3. Science Student Teachers' Preferences for Ways of Learning: Differences and Similarities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Efe, Rifat; Gonen, Selahattin; Maskan, A. Kadir; Hevedanli, Murat

    2011-01-01

    Knowing an individual's learning style is considered important because it can help educators to prepare and develop learning environments in which the individual can enhance his/her learning. In this study, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Primary science student teachers' learning styles were investigated. The participants were 387 student…

  4. The Influences of Cognitive Styles on Individual Learning and Collaborative Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Sherry Y.; Chang, Li-Ping

    2016-01-01

    Both individual learning (IL) and collaborative learning (CL) provide students with different benefits. However, previous research indicates that cognitive styles affect students' learning preferences. Thus, it is necessary to examine how cognitive styles influence students' reactions to IL and CL. Among various cognitive styles, Pask's…

  5. Different Levels of Leadership for Learning: Investigating Differences between Teachers Individually and Collectively Using Multilevel Factor Analysis of the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyce, Jared; Bowers, Alex J.

    2018-01-01

    This study investigated the differences between how individual teachers perceive leadership for learning and how teachers collectively perceive leadership for learning, using a large nationally generalizable data-set of 7070 schools from the National Center for Education Statistics 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. This study used…

  6. Brain composition and olfactory learning in honey bees

    PubMed Central

    Gronenberg, Wulfila; Couvillon, Margaret J.

    2015-01-01

    Correlations between brain or brain component size and behavioral measures are frequently studied by comparing different animal species, which sometimes introduces variables that complicate interpretation in terms of brain function. Here, we have analyzed the brain composition of honey bees (Apis mellifera) that have been individually tested in an olfactory learning paradigm. We found that the total brain size correlated with the bees’ learning performance. Among different brain components, only the mushroom body, a structure known to be involved in learning and memory, showed a positive correlation with learning performance. In contrast, visual neuropils were relatively smaller in bees that performed better in the olfactory learning task, suggesting modality-specific behavioral specialization of individual bees. This idea is also supported by inter-individual differences in brain composition. Some slight yet statistically significant differences in the brain composition of European and Africanized honey bees are reported. Larger bees had larger brains, and by comparing brains of different sizes, we report isometric correlations for all brain components except for a small structure, the central body. PMID:20060918

  7. Testing the predictions of coping styles theory in threespined sticklebacks

    PubMed Central

    Bensky, Miles K.; Paitz, Ryan; Pereira, Laura; Bell, Alison M.

    2017-01-01

    Coping styles theory provides a framework for understanding individual variation in how animals respond to environmental change, and predicts how individual differences in stress responsiveness and behavior might relate to cognitive differences. According to coping styles theory, proactive individuals are bolder, less reactive to stressors, and more routinized than their reactive counterparts. A key tenet of coping styles theory is that variation in coping styles is maintained by tradeoffs with behavioral flexibility: proactive individuals excel in stable environments while more flexible, reactive individuals perform better in variable environments. Here, we assess evidence for coping styles within a natural population of threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We developed a criterion-based learning paradigm to evaluate individual variation in initial and reversal learning. We observed strong individual differences in boldness, cortisol production, and learning performance. Consistent with coping styles, fish that released more cortisol were more timid in response to a predator attack and slower to learn a color discrimination task. However, there was no evidence that reactive individuals performed better when the environment changed (when the rewarded color was reversed). The failure to detect trade-offs between behavioral routinization and flexibility prompts other explanations for the maintenance of differing coping styles. PMID:28017848

  8. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN TASK-SPECIFIC PAIRED ASSOCIATES LEARNING IN OLDER ADULTS: THE ROLE OF PROCESSING SPEED AND WORKING MEMORY

    PubMed Central

    Kurtz, Tanja; Mogle, Jacqueline; Sliwinski, Martin J.; Hofer, Scott M.

    2013-01-01

    Background The role of processing speed and working memory was investigated in terms of individual differences in task-specific paired associates learning in a sample of older adults. Task-specific learning, as distinct from content-oriented item-specific learning, refers to gains in performance due to repeated practice on a learning task in which the to-be-learned material changes over trials. Methods Learning trajectories were modeled within an intensive repeated-measures design based on participants obtained from an opt-in internet-based sampling service (Mage = 65.3, SD = 4.81). Participants completed an eight-item paired associates task daily over a seven-day period. Results Results indicated that a three-parameter hyperbolic model (i.e., initial level, learning rate, and asymptotic performance) best described learning trajectory. After controlling for age-related effects, both higher working memory and higher processing speed had a positive effect on all three learning parameters. Conclusion These results emphasize the role of cognitive abilities for individual differences in task-specific learning of older adults. PMID:24151913

  9. Transfer of Learning Relates to Intrinsic Connectivity between Hippocampus, Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, and Large-Scale Networks

    PubMed Central

    Gerraty, Raphael T.; Davidow, Juliet Y.; Wimmer, G. Elliott; Kahn, Itamar

    2014-01-01

    An important aspect of adaptive learning is the ability to flexibly use past experiences to guide new decisions. When facing a new decision, some people automatically leverage previously learned associations, while others do not. This variability in transfer of learning across individuals has been demonstrated repeatedly and has important implications for understanding adaptive behavior, yet the source of these individual differences remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unknown why such variability in transfer emerges even among homogeneous groups of young healthy participants who do not vary on other learning-related measures. Here we hypothesized that individual differences in the transfer of learning could be related to relatively stable differences in intrinsic brain connectivity, which could constrain how individuals learn. To test this, we obtained a behavioral measure of memory-based transfer outside of the scanner and on a separate day acquired resting-state functional MRI images in 42 participants. We then analyzed connectivity across independent component analysis-derived brain networks during rest, and tested whether intrinsic connectivity in learning-related networks was associated with transfer. We found that individual differences in transfer were related to intrinsic connectivity between the hippocampus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and between these regions and large-scale functional brain networks. Together, the findings demonstrate a novel role for intrinsic brain dynamics in flexible learning-guided behavior, both within a set of functionally specific regions known to be important for learning, as well as between these regions and the default and frontoparietal networks, which are thought to serve more general cognitive functions. PMID:25143610

  10. Effect of Chemistry Triangle Oriented Learning Media on Cooperative, Individual and Conventional Method on Chemistry Learning Result

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Latisma D, L.; Kurniawan, W.; Seprima, S.; Nirbayani, E. S.; Ellizar, E.; Hardeli, H.

    2018-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to see which method are well used with the Chemistry Triangle-oriented learning media. This quasi experimental research involves first grade of senior high school students in six schools namely each two SMA N in Solok city, in Pasaman and two SMKN in Pariaman. The sampling technique was done by Cluster Random Sampling. Data were collected by test and analyzed by one-way anova and Kruskall Wallish test. The results showed that the high school students in Solok learning taught by cooperative method is better than the results of student learning taught by conventional and Individual methods, both for students who have high initial ability and low-ability. Research in SMK showed that the overall student learning outcomes taught by conventional method is better than the student learning outcomes taught by cooperative and individual methods. Student learning outcomes that have high initial ability taught by individual method is better than student learning outcomes that are taught by cooperative method and for students who have low initial ability, there is no difference in student learning outcomes taught by cooperative, individual and conventional methods. Learning in high school in Pasaman showed no significant difference in learning outcomes of the three methods undertaken.

  11. Perceptual learning in Williams syndrome: looking beyond averages.

    PubMed

    Gervan, Patricia; Gombos, Ferenc; Kovacs, Ilona

    2012-01-01

    Williams Syndrome is a genetically determined neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an uneven cognitive profile and surprisingly large neurobehavioral differences among individuals. Previous studies have already shown different forms of memory deficiencies and learning difficulties in WS. Here we studied the capacity of WS subjects to improve their performance in a basic visual task. We employed a contour integration paradigm that addresses occipital visual function, and analyzed the initial (i.e. baseline) and after-learning performance of WS individuals. Instead of pooling the very inhomogeneous results of WS subjects together, we evaluated individual performance by expressing it in terms of the deviation from the average performance of the group of typically developing subjects of similar age. This approach helped us to reveal information about the possible origins of poor performance of WS subjects in contour integration. Although the majority of WS individuals showed both reduced baseline and reduced learning performance, individual analysis also revealed a dissociation between baseline and learning capacity in several WS subjects. In spite of impaired initial contour integration performance, some WS individuals presented learning capacity comparable to learning in the typically developing population, and vice versa, poor learning was also observed in subjects with high initial performance levels. These data indicate a dissociation between factors determining initial performance and perceptual learning.

  12. Learning a novel phonological contrast depends on interactions between individual differences and training paradigm design.

    PubMed

    Perrachione, Tyler K; Lee, Jiyeon; Ha, Louisa Y Y; Wong, Patrick C M

    2011-07-01

    Studies evaluating phonological contrast learning typically investigate either the predictiveness of specific pretraining aptitude measures or the efficacy of different instructional paradigms. However, little research considers how these factors interact--whether different students learn better from different types of instruction--and what the psychological basis for any interaction might be. The present study demonstrates that successfully learning a foreign-language phonological contrast for pitch depends on an interaction between individual differences in perceptual abilities and the design of the training paradigm. Training from stimuli with high acoustic-phonetic variability is generally thought to improve learning; however, we found high-variability training enhanced learning only for individuals with strong perceptual abilities. Learners with weaker perceptual abilities were actually impaired by high-variability training relative to a low-variability condition. A second experiment assessing variations on the high-variability training design determined that the property of this learning environment most detrimental to perceptually weak learners is the amount of trial-by-trial variability. Learners' perceptual limitations can thus override the benefits of high-variability training where trial-by-trial variability in other irrelevant acoustic-phonetic features obfuscates access to the target feature. These results demonstrate the importance of considering individual differences in pretraining aptitudes when evaluating the efficacy of any speech training paradigm. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

  13. Structural and Functional Bases for Individual Differences in Motor Learning

    PubMed Central

    Tomassini, Valentina; Jbabdi, Saad; Kincses, Zsigmond T.; Bosnell, Rose; Douaud, Gwenaelle; Pozzilli, Carlo; Matthews, Paul M.; Johansen-Berg, Heidi

    2013-01-01

    People vary in their ability to learn new motor skills. We hypothesize that between-subject variability in brain structure and function can explain differences in learning. We use brain functional and structural MRI methods to characterize such neural correlates of individual variations in motor learning. Healthy subjects applied isometric grip force of varying magnitudes with their right hands cued visually to generate smoothly-varying pressures following a regular pattern. We tested whether individual variations in motor learning were associated with anatomically colocalized variations in magnitude of functional MRI (fMRI) signal or in MRI differences related to white and grey matter microstructure. We found that individual motor learning was correlated with greater functional activation in the prefrontal, premotor, and parietal cortices, as well as in the basal ganglia and cerebellum. Structural MRI correlates were found in the premotor cortex [for fractional anisotropy (FA)] and in the cerebellum [for both grey matter density and FA]. The cerebellar microstructural differences were anatomically colocalized with fMRI correlates of learning. This study thus suggests that variations across the population in the function and structure of specific brain regions for motor control explain some of the individual differences in skill learning. This strengthens the notion that brain structure determines some limits to cognitive function even in a healthy population. Along with evidence from pathology suggesting a role for these regions in spontaneous motor recovery, our results also highlight potential targets for therapeutic interventions designed to maximize plasticity for recovery of similar visuomotor skills after brain injury. PMID:20533562

  14. Learning Style Preferences and the Perceived Usefulness of E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mohr, Alexander Toni; Holtbrugge, Dirk; Berg, Nicola

    2012-01-01

    This paper uses data gathered from 953 students to investigate how far individuals' preferences for a particular learning style are associated with the perceived usefulness of e-learning. Our findings reveal the effect of individuals' learning styles as well as their gender and professional experience on the perceived usefulness of different forms…

  15. Learning Style Differences in the Perceived Effectiveness of Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karns, Gary L.

    2006-01-01

    The learning style individual difference factor has long been a basis for understanding student preferences for various learning activities. Marketing educators have been advised to heavily invest in tailoring course design based on the learning style groups in their classes. A further exploration of the effects of learning style differences on…

  16. Relationship between the Learning Styles Preferences and Academic Achievement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Awang, H.; Samad, N. Abd; Faiz, N. S. Mohd; Roddin, R.; Kankia, J. D.

    2017-08-01

    The individual learning differences that have been much explored relate to differences in personality, learning styles, strategies and conceptual of learning. This article studies the learning style profile exhibited by students towards the academic achievement in Malaysian Polytechnic. The relationship between learning styles of Polytechnic students and their academic achievement based on VARK learning styles model. The target population was international business students of Malaysian Polytechnic. By means of randomly sampling method, 103 students were selected as sample of research. By descriptive - survey research method and a questionnaire adapted from VARK Learning Style Index, required data were collected. According to the results, no significantly difference between learning style and academic achievement of students. Students academic achievement was quite similar to their individual learning styles. These facts reveal that each learning style has its own strengths and weaknesses.

  17. Learning to Read in the Digital Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, David; Dalton, Bridget

    2009-01-01

    The digital age offers transformative opportunities for individualization of learning. First, modern imaging technologies have changed our understanding of learning and the sources and ranges of its diversity. Second, digital technologies make it possible to design learning environments that are responsive to individual differences. We draw on…

  18. Second Language Experience Facilitates Statistical Learning of Novel Linguistic Materials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Potter, Christine E.; Wang, Tianlin; Saffran, Jenny R.

    2017-01-01

    Recent research has begun to explore individual differences in statistical learning, and how those differences may be related to other cognitive abilities, particularly their effects on language learning. In this research, we explored a different type of relationship between language learning and statistical learning: the possibility that learning…

  19. Individual Differences in a Positional Learning Task across the Adult Lifespan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rast, Philippe; Zimprich, Daniel

    2010-01-01

    This study aimed at modeling individual and average non-linear trajectories of positional learning using a structured latent growth curve approach. The model is based on an exponential function which encompasses three parameters: Initial performance, learning rate, and asymptotic performance. These learning parameters were compared in a positional…

  20. Transfer of learning relates to intrinsic connectivity between hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and large-scale networks.

    PubMed

    Gerraty, Raphael T; Davidow, Juliet Y; Wimmer, G Elliott; Kahn, Itamar; Shohamy, Daphna

    2014-08-20

    An important aspect of adaptive learning is the ability to flexibly use past experiences to guide new decisions. When facing a new decision, some people automatically leverage previously learned associations, while others do not. This variability in transfer of learning across individuals has been demonstrated repeatedly and has important implications for understanding adaptive behavior, yet the source of these individual differences remains poorly understood. In particular, it is unknown why such variability in transfer emerges even among homogeneous groups of young healthy participants who do not vary on other learning-related measures. Here we hypothesized that individual differences in the transfer of learning could be related to relatively stable differences in intrinsic brain connectivity, which could constrain how individuals learn. To test this, we obtained a behavioral measure of memory-based transfer outside of the scanner and on a separate day acquired resting-state functional MRI images in 42 participants. We then analyzed connectivity across independent component analysis-derived brain networks during rest, and tested whether intrinsic connectivity in learning-related networks was associated with transfer. We found that individual differences in transfer were related to intrinsic connectivity between the hippocampus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and between these regions and large-scale functional brain networks. Together, the findings demonstrate a novel role for intrinsic brain dynamics in flexible learning-guided behavior, both within a set of functionally specific regions known to be important for learning, as well as between these regions and the default and frontoparietal networks, which are thought to serve more general cognitive functions. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3411297-07$15.00/0.

  1. Individual Differences in Students' Knowing and Learning about Fractions: Evidence from an In-Depth Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bempeni, Maria; Vamvakoussi, Xenia

    2015-01-01

    We present the results of an in-depth qualitative study that examined ninth graders' conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions as well as their approach to mathematics learning, in particular fraction learning. We traced individual differences, even extreme, in the way that students combine the two kinds of knowledge. We also provide…

  2. Individual Differences in Dynamic Measures of Verbal Learning Abilities in Young Twin Pairs and Their Older Siblings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Soelen, Inge L. C.; van den Berg, Stephanie M.; Dekker, Peter H.; van Leeuwen, Marieke; Peper, Jiska S.; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E.; Boomsma, Dorret I.

    2009-01-01

    We explored the genetic background of individual differences in dynamic measures of verbal learning ability in children, using a Dutch version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Nine-year-old twin pairs (N = 112 pairs) were recruited from the Netherlands Twin Register. When possible, an older sibling between 10 and 14 years old…

  3. Learning Styles: A Comparison between Indian and German Business Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bhatnagar, Tushar; Sinha, Vinita

    2018-01-01

    Every individual is characterized by a learning style which an individual develops over a course of time. The learning style may be shaped by different cultural environment. This study aims to find and compare the learning style of Indian and German business students by examining the learning styles of 81 students from India and Germany. The study…

  4. Individual Differences in Arousal and Their Relationship to Short- and Long-Term Retention. Report From the Project on Motivation and Individual Differences in Learning and Retention.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Osborne, John W.; Farley, Frank H.

    In two separate paired-associate learning experiments each employing 40 university students as subjects, the contribution of individual differences (IDs) in arousal to short- and long-term retention was investigated using IDs in salivary response to lemon juice stimulation as an index of arousal. Experimental subjects were pre-selected out of 184…

  5. Social stress reactivity alters reward and punishment learning

    PubMed Central

    Frank, Michael J.; Allen, John J. B.

    2011-01-01

    To examine how stress affects cognitive functioning, individual differences in trait vulnerability (punishment sensitivity) and state reactivity (negative affect) to social evaluative threat were examined during concurrent reinforcement learning. Lower trait-level punishment sensitivity predicted better reward learning and poorer punishment learning; the opposite pattern was found in more punishment sensitive individuals. Increasing state-level negative affect was directly related to punishment learning accuracy in highly punishment sensitive individuals, but these measures were inversely related in less sensitive individuals. Combined electrophysiological measurement, performance accuracy and computational estimations of learning parameters suggest that trait and state vulnerability to stress alter cortico-striatal functioning during reinforcement learning, possibly mediated via medio-frontal cortical systems. PMID:20453038

  6. Social stress reactivity alters reward and punishment learning.

    PubMed

    Cavanagh, James F; Frank, Michael J; Allen, John J B

    2011-06-01

    To examine how stress affects cognitive functioning, individual differences in trait vulnerability (punishment sensitivity) and state reactivity (negative affect) to social evaluative threat were examined during concurrent reinforcement learning. Lower trait-level punishment sensitivity predicted better reward learning and poorer punishment learning; the opposite pattern was found in more punishment sensitive individuals. Increasing state-level negative affect was directly related to punishment learning accuracy in highly punishment sensitive individuals, but these measures were inversely related in less sensitive individuals. Combined electrophysiological measurement, performance accuracy and computational estimations of learning parameters suggest that trait and state vulnerability to stress alter cortico-striatal functioning during reinforcement learning, possibly mediated via medio-frontal cortical systems.

  7. Learning in networks: individual teacher learning versus organizational learning in a regional health-promoting schools network.

    PubMed

    Flaschberger, Edith; Gugglberger, Lisa; Dietscher, Christina

    2013-12-01

    To change a school into a health-promoting organization, organizational learning is required. The evaluation of an Austrian regional health-promoting schools network provides qualitative data on the views of the different stakeholders on learning in this network (steering group, network coordinator and representatives of the network schools; n = 26). Through thematic analysis and deep-structure analyses, the following three forms of learning in the network were identified: (A) individual learning through input offered by the network coordination, (B) individual learning between the network schools, i.e. through exchange between the representatives of different schools and (C) learning within the participating schools, i.e. organizational learning. Learning between (B) or within the participating schools (C) seems to be rare in the network; concepts of individual teacher learning are prevalent. Difficulties detected relating to the transfer of information from the network to the member schools included barriers to organizational learning such as the lack of collaboration, coordination and communication in the network schools, which might be effects of the school system in which the observed network is located. To ensure connectivity of the information offered by the network, more emphasis should be put on linking health promotion to school development and the core processes of schools.

  8. Dynamic Learner Profiling and Automatic Learner Classification for Adaptive E-Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Premlatha, K. R.; Dharani, B.; Geetha, T. V.

    2016-01-01

    E-learning allows learners individually to learn "anywhere, anytime" and offers immediate access to specific information. However, learners have different behaviors, learning styles, attitudes, and aptitudes, which affect their learning process, and therefore learning environments need to adapt according to these differences, so as to…

  9. A Note on DeCaro, Thomas, and Beilock (2008): Further Data Demonstrate Complexities in the Assessment of Information-Integration Category Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tharp, Ian J.; Pickering, Alan D.

    2009-01-01

    DeCaro et al. [DeCaro, M. S., Thomas, R. D., & Beilock, S. L. (2008). "Individual differences in category learning: Sometimes less working memory capacity is better than more." "Cognition, 107"(1), 284-294] explored how individual differences in working memory capacity differentially mediate the learning of distinct category structures.…

  10. Individual Differences in the Acquisition of a Complex L2 Phonology: A Training Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanulikova, Adriana; Dediu, Dan; Fang, Zhou; Basnakova, Jana; Huettig, Falk

    2012-01-01

    Many learners of a foreign language (L2) struggle to correctly pronounce newly learned speech sounds, yet many others achieve this with apparent ease. Here we explored how a training study of learning complex consonant clusters at the very onset of L2 acquisition can inform us about L2 learning in general and individual differences in particular.…

  11. The effect of learning on feedback-related potentials in adolescents with dyslexia: an EEG-ERP study.

    PubMed

    Kraus, Dror; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi

    2014-01-01

    Individuals with dyslexia exhibit associated learning deficits and impaired executive functions. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a learning-based task that relies heavily on executive functioning, in particular, attention shift and working memory. Performance during early and late phases of a series within the task represents learning and implementation of a newly learned rule. Here, we aimed to examine two event-related potentials associated with learning, feedback-related negativity (FRN)-P300 complex, in individuals with dyslexia performing the WCST. Adolescents with dyslexia and age-matched typical readers performed the Madrid card sorting test (MCST), a computerized version of the WCST. Task performance, reading measures, and cognitive measures were collected. FRN and the P300 complex were acquired using the event-related potentials methodology and were compared in early vs late errors within a series. While performing the MCST, both groups showed a significant reduction in average reaction times and a trend toward decreased error rates. Typical readers performed consistently better than individuals with dyslexia. FRN amplitudes in early phases were significantly smaller in dyslexic readers, but were essentially equivalent to typical readers in the late phase. P300 amplitudes were initially smaller among readers with dyslexia and tended to decrease further in late phases. Differences in FRN amplitudes for early vs late phases were positively correlated with those of P300 amplitudes in the entire sample. Individuals with dyslexia demonstrate a behavioral and electrophysiological change within single series of the MCST. However, learning patterns seem to differ between individuals with dyslexia and typical readers. We attribute these differences to the lower baseline performance of individuals with dyslexia. We suggest that these changes represent a fast compensatory mechanism, demonstrating the importance of learning strategies on reading among individuals with dyslexia.

  12. Learning Efficiency: Identifying Individual Differences in Learning Rate and Retention in Healthy Adults.

    PubMed

    Zerr, Christopher L; Berg, Jeffrey J; Nelson, Steven M; Fishell, Andrew K; Savalia, Neil K; McDermott, Kathleen B

    2018-06-01

    People differ in how quickly they learn information and how long they remember it, yet individual differences in learning abilities within healthy adults have been relatively neglected. In two studies, we examined the relation between learning rate and subsequent retention using a new foreign-language paired-associates task (the learning-efficiency task), which was designed to eliminate ceiling effects that often accompany standardized tests of learning and memory in healthy adults. A key finding was that quicker learners were also more durable learners (i.e., exhibited better retention across a delay), despite studying the material for less time. Additionally, measures of learning and memory from this task were reliable in Study 1 ( N = 281) across 30 hr and Study 2 ( N = 92; follow-up n = 46) across 3 years. We conclude that people vary in how efficiently they learn, and we describe a reliable and valid method for assessing learning efficiency within healthy adults.

  13. Functional connectivity between somatosensory and motor brain areas predicts individual differences in motor learning by observing.

    PubMed

    McGregor, Heather R; Gribble, Paul L

    2017-08-01

    Action observation can facilitate the acquisition of novel motor skills; however, there is considerable individual variability in the extent to which observation promotes motor learning. Here we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in brain function or structure can predict subsequent observation-related gains in motor learning. Subjects underwent an anatomical MRI scan and resting-state fMRI scans to assess preobservation gray matter volume and preobservation resting-state functional connectivity (FC), respectively. On the following day, subjects observed a video of a tutor adapting her reaches to a novel force field. After observation, subjects performed reaches in a force field as a behavioral assessment of gains in motor learning resulting from observation. We found that individual differences in resting-state FC, but not gray matter volume, predicted postobservation gains in motor learning. Preobservation resting-state FC between left primary somatosensory cortex and bilateral dorsal premotor cortex, primary motor cortex, and primary somatosensory cortex and left superior parietal lobule was positively correlated with behavioral measures of postobservation motor learning. Sensory-motor resting-state FC can thus predict the extent to which observation will promote subsequent motor learning. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that individual differences in preobservation brain function can predict subsequent observation-related gains in motor learning. Preobservation resting-state functional connectivity within a sensory-motor network may be used as a biomarker for the extent to which observation promotes motor learning. This kind of information may be useful if observation is to be used as a way to boost neuroplasticity and sensory-motor recovery for patients undergoing rehabilitation for diseases that impair movement such as stroke. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  14. Learning Object Names at Different Hierarchical Levels Using Cross-Situational Statistics.

    PubMed

    Chen, Chi-Hsin; Zhang, Yayun; Yu, Chen

    2018-05-01

    Objects in the world usually have names at different hierarchical levels (e.g., beagle, dog, animal). This research investigates adults' ability to use cross-situational statistics to simultaneously learn object labels at individual and category levels. The results revealed that adults were able to use co-occurrence information to learn hierarchical labels in contexts where the labels for individual objects and labels for categories were presented in completely separated blocks, in interleaved blocks, or mixed in the same trial. Temporal presentation schedules significantly affected the learning of individual object labels, but not the learning of category labels. Learners' subsequent generalization of category labels indicated sensitivity to the structure of statistical input. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  15. Pre-trauma individual differences in extinction learning predict posttraumatic stress.

    PubMed

    Lommen, Miriam J J; Engelhard, Iris M; Sijbrandij, Marit; van den Hout, Marcel A; Hermans, Dirk

    2013-02-01

    In the aftermath of a traumatic event, many people suffer from psychological distress, but only a minority develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pre-trauma individual differences in fear conditioning, most notably reduced extinction learning, have been proposed as playing an important role in the etiology of PTSD. However, prospective data are lacking. In this study, we prospectively tested whether reduced extinction was a predictor for later posttraumatic stress. Dutch soldiers (N = 249) were administered a conditioning task before their four-month deployment to Afghanistan to asses individual differences in extinction learning. After returning home, posttraumatic stress was measured. Results showed that reduced extinction learning before deployment predicted subsequent PTSD symptom severity, over and beyond degree of pre-deployment stress symptoms, neuroticism, and exposure to stressors on deployment. The findings suggest that reduced extinction learning may play a role in the development of PTSD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

    PubMed Central

    Sauce, Bruno; Matzel, Louis D.

    2013-01-01

    In a seminal paper written five decades ago, Cronbach discussed the two highly distinct approaches to scientific psychology: experimental and correlational. Today, although these two approaches are fruitfully implemented and embraced across some fields of psychology, this synergy is largely absent from other areas, such as in the study of learning and behavior. Both Tolman and Hull, in a rare case of agreement, stated that the correlational approach held little promise for the understanding of behavior. Interestingly, this dismissal of the study of individual differences was absent in the biologically oriented branches of behavior analysis, namely, behavioral genetics and ethology. Here we propose that the distinction between “causation” and “causes of variation” (with its origins in the field of genetics) reveals the potential value of the correlational approach in understanding the full complexity of learning and behavior. Although the experimental approach can illuminate the causal variables that modulate learning, the analysis of individual differences can elucidate how much and in which way variables interact to support variations in learning in complex natural environments. For example, understanding that a past experience with a stimulus influences its “associability” provides little insight into how individual predispositions interact to modulate this influence on associability. In this “new” light, we discuss examples from studies of individual differences in animals’ performance in the Morris water maze and from our own work on individual differences in general intelligence in mice. These studies illustrate that, opposed to what Underwood famously suggested, studies of individual differences can do much more to psychology than merely providing preliminary indications of cause-effect relationships. PMID:23847569

  17. Individual Differences in Learning and Cognitive Abilities

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-09-15

    conducted by Sir Francis Galton . Galton’s view of intelligence was that it distinguished those individuals who had genius (e.g., demonstrated by making...genius must have more refined sensory and motor faculties. Thus, Galton argued, intelligence could be measured by assessing constructs such as visual...block number) FIELD GROUP SUB-GROUP Learning, individual differences, cognitive abilities, 05 09 intelligence , skill acquisition, perceptual speed, - i

  18. A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture.

    PubMed

    Kane, Michael J; Smeekens, Bridget A; von Bastian, Claudia C; Lurquin, John H; Carruth, Nicholas P; Miyake, Akira

    2017-11-01

    A combined experimental-correlational study with a diverse sample (N = 182) from 2 research sites tested a set of 5 a priori hypotheses about mind wandering and learning, using a realistic video lecture on introductory statistics. Specifically, the study examined whether students' vulnerability to mind wandering during the lecture would predict learning from, and situational interest in, the video and also whether longhand note-taking would help reduce mind wandering, at least for some students. One half of the participants took notes during the video, and all were subsequently tested on lecture content without notes. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that (a) several individual-differences variables (e.g., pretest score, prior math interest, classroom media multitasking habits) uniquely predicted in-lecture mind wandering frequency; (b) although the note-taking manipulation did not reduce mind wandering at the group level, note-taking still reduced mind wandering for some individuals (i.e., those with lower prior knowledge and those who took notes of high quality and quantity); (c) mind wandering uniquely predicted both learning (posttest) and situational interest outcomes above and beyond all other individual-differences variables; (d) moreover, mind wandering significantly mediated the effects of several individual differences; and, finally, (e) not all types of mind wandering were problematic-in fact, off-task reflections about lecture-related topics positively predicted learning. These results, which were generally robust across the 2 sites, suggest that educationally focused cognitive research may benefit from considering attentional processes during learning as well as cognitive and noncognitive individual differences that affect attention and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Individual Differences, Intelligence, and Behavior Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Williams, Ben; Myerson, Joel; Hale, Sandra

    2008-01-01

    Despite its avowed goal of understanding individual behavior, the field of behavior analysis has largely ignored the determinants of consistent differences in level of performance among individuals. The present article discusses major findings in the study of individual differences in intelligence from the conceptual framework of a functional analysis of behavior. In addition to general intelligence, we discuss three other major aspects of behavior in which individuals differ: speed of processing, working memory, and the learning of three-term contingencies. Despite recent progress in our understanding of the relations among these aspects of behavior, numerous issues remain unresolved. Researchers need to determine which learning tasks predict individual differences in intelligence and which do not, and then identify the specific characteristics of these tasks that make such prediction possible. PMID:18831127

  20. Resting-state low-frequency fluctuations reflect individual differences in spoken language learning.

    PubMed

    Deng, Zhizhou; Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Wang, Suiping; Wong, Patrick C M

    2016-03-01

    A major challenge in language learning studies is to identify objective, pre-training predictors of success. Variation in the low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of spontaneous brain activity measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) has been found to reflect individual differences in cognitive measures. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the extent to which initial spontaneous brain activity is related to individual differences in spoken language learning. We acquired RS-fMRI data and subsequently trained participants on a sound-to-word learning paradigm in which they learned to use foreign pitch patterns (from Mandarin Chinese) to signal word meaning. We performed amplitude of spontaneous low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis, graph theory-based analysis, and independent component analysis (ICA) to identify functional components of the LFFs in the resting-state. First, we examined the ALFF as a regional measure and showed that regional ALFFs in the left superior temporal gyrus were positively correlated with learning performance, whereas ALFFs in the default mode network (DMN) regions were negatively correlated with learning performance. Furthermore, the graph theory-based analysis indicated that the degree and local efficiency of the left superior temporal gyrus were positively correlated with learning performance. Finally, the default mode network and several task-positive resting-state networks (RSNs) were identified via the ICA. The "competition" (i.e., negative correlation) between the DMN and the dorsal attention network was negatively correlated with learning performance. Our results demonstrate that a) spontaneous brain activity can predict future language learning outcome without prior hypotheses (e.g., selection of regions of interest--ROIs) and b) both regional dynamics and network-level interactions in the resting brain can account for individual differences in future spoken language learning success. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Resting-state low-frequency fluctuations reflect individual differences in spoken language learning

    PubMed Central

    Deng, Zhizhou; Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Wang, Suiping; Wong, Patrick C.M.

    2016-01-01

    A major challenge in language learning studies is to identify objective, pre-training predictors of success. Variation in the low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of spontaneous brain activity measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) has been found to reflect individual differences in cognitive measures. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the extent to which initial spontaneous brain activity is related to individual differences in spoken language learning. We acquired RS-fMRI data and subsequently trained participants on a sound-to-word learning paradigm in which they learned to use foreign pitch patterns (from Mandarin Chinese) to signal word meaning. We performed amplitude of spontaneous low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis, graph theory-based analysis, and independent component analysis (ICA) to identify functional components of the LFFs in the resting-state. First, we examined the ALFF as a regional measure and showed that regional ALFFs in the left superior temporal gyrus were positively correlated with learning performance, whereas ALFFs in the default mode network (DMN) regions were negatively correlated with learning performance. Furthermore, the graph theory-based analysis indicated that the degree and local efficiency of the left superior temporal gyrus were positively correlated with learning performance. Finally, the default mode network and several task-positive resting-state networks (RSNs) were identified via the ICA. The “competition” (i.e., negative correlation) between the DMN and the dorsal attention network was negatively correlated with learning performance. Our results demonstrate that a) spontaneous brain activity can predict future language learning outcome without prior hypotheses (e.g., selection of regions of interest – ROIs) and b) both regional dynamics and network-level interactions in the resting brain can account for individual differences in future spoken language learning success. PMID:26866283

  2. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING--INTERFERENCE FACTOR.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    JENSEN, ARTHUR R.

    AN INVESTIGATION WAS CONDUCTED (1) TO DEVISE A NUMBER OF LABORATORY MEASURES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INTERFERENCE EFFECTS IN LEARNING AND (2) TO DETERMINE THEIR DIMENSIONALITY IN A VARIETY OF INTERFERENCE EFFECTS. SUBJECTS WERE 530 STUDENTS IN INTRODUCTORY COURSES IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,…

  3. Declarative and Procedural Memory as Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morgan-Short, Kara; Faretta-Stutenberg, Mandy; Brill-Schuetz, Katherine A.; Carpenter, Helen; Wong, Patrick C. M.

    2014-01-01

    This study examined how individual differences in cognitive abilities account for variance in the attainment level of adult second language (L2) syntactic development. Participants completed assessments of declarative and procedural learning abilities. They subsequently learned an artificial L2 under implicit training conditions and received…

  4. Neurobiological and Endocrine Correlates of Individual Differences in Spatial Learning Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sandi, Carmen; Cordero, M. Isabel; Merino, Jose J.; Kruyt, Nyika D.; Regan, Ciaran M.; Murphy, Keith J.

    2004-01-01

    The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) has been implicated in activity-dependent synaptic remodeling and memory formation. Here, we questioned whether training-induced modulation of PSA-NCAM expression might be related to individual differences in spatial learning abilities. At 12 h posttraining, immunohistochemical analyses…

  5. Emotional Responses to Service Learning: An Exploratory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Priesmeyer, H. Richard; Mudge, Suzanne D.; Ward, Stephanie G.

    2016-01-01

    This study measured the emotional responses of students to common service learning activities. Two hypotheses focused on (1) expected changes in the mean emotion scores and (2) expected differences in individual responses. Results showed significant increases in Surprise, Anxiety and Distress and individual differences in Contempt, Disgust and…

  6. What Can Lexical Tone Training Studies in Adults Tell Us about Tone Processing in Children?

    PubMed Central

    Antoniou, Mark; Chin, Jessica L. L.

    2018-01-01

    A growing number of studies on the acquisition of lexical tone by adult learners have revealed that factors such as language background, musical experience, cognitive abilities, and neuroanatomy all play a role in determining tone learning success. On the basis of these findings, it has been argued that the effectiveness of tone learning in adulthood depends on individual differences in these factors. However, it is not clear whether similar individual differences play an analogous role in tone learning in childhood. Indeed, relatively few studies have made comparisons between how adults and children learn lexical tones. Here, we review recent developments for tone learning in both adults and children. The review covers tone training in a range of contexts, including in naive listeners, in native speakers of other tone languages, in listeners with varying levels of musical experience, and in individuals with speech and hearing disorders. Finally, we discuss the parallels between adult and child tone learning, and provide recommendations concerning how findings in adult tone training can provide insights into tone learning for children by accommodating the needs of individual learners. PMID:29410639

  7. Social learning improves survivorship at a life-history transition.

    PubMed

    Manassa, R P; McCormick, M I

    2013-04-01

    During settlement, one of the main threats faced by individuals relates to their ability to detect and avoid predators. Information on predator identities can be gained either through direct experience or from the observation and/or interaction with others, a process known as social learning. In this form of predator recognition, less experienced individuals learn from experienced members within the social group, without having to directly interact with a predator. In this study, we examined the role of social learning in predator recognition in relation to the survival benefits for the damselfish, Pomacentrus wardi, during their settlement transition. Specifically, our experiments aimed to determine if P. wardi are capable of transmitting the recognition of the odour of a predator, Pseudochromis fuscus, to conspecifics. The experiment also examined whether there was a difference in the rate of survival between individuals that directly learnt the predator odour and those which acquired the information through social learning compared to naïve individuals. Results show that naïve P. wardi are able to learn a predator's identity from experienced individuals via social learning. Furthermore, survival between individuals that directly learnt the predator's identity and those that learnt through social learning did not significantly differ, with fish from both treatments surviving at least five times better than controls. These results demonstrate that experience may play a vital role in determining the outcome of predator-prey interactions, highlighting that social learning improves the ability of prey to avoid and/or escape predation at a life-history transition.

  8. Toward a Science of Cooperation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newbern, Dianna; And Others

    Scripted cooperative learning and individual learning of descriptive information were compared in a 2-x-2 factorial design with 104 undergraduates. Influenced by models of individual learning and cognition, differences were assessed in (1) information acquisition and retrieval, (2) the quality and quantity of recalled information, and (3) the…

  9. Learning, climate and the evolution of cultural capacity.

    PubMed

    Whitehead, Hal

    2007-03-21

    Patterns of environmental variation influence the utility, and thus evolution, of different learning strategies. I use stochastic, individual-based evolutionary models to assess the relative advantages of 15 different learning strategies (genetic determination, individual learning, vertical social learning, horizontal/oblique social learning, and contingent combinations of these) when competing in variable environments described by 1/f noise. When environmental variation has little effect on fitness, then genetic determinism persists. When environmental variation is large and equal over all time-scales ("white noise") then individual learning is adaptive. Social learning is advantageous in "red noise" environments when variation over long time-scales is large. Climatic variability increases with time-scale, so that short-lived organisms should be able to rely largely on genetic determination. Thermal climates usually are insufficiently red for social learning to be advantageous for species whose fitness is very determined by temperature. In contrast, population trajectories of many species, especially large mammals and aquatic carnivores, are sufficiently red to promote social learning in their predators. The ocean environment is generally redder than that on land. Thus, while individual learning should be adaptive for many longer-lived organisms, social learning will often be found in those dependent on the populations of other species, especially if they are marine. This provides a potential explanation for the evolution of a prevalence of social learning, and culture, in humans and cetaceans.

  10. Social learning and human mate preferences: a potential mechanism for generating and maintaining between-population diversity in attraction

    PubMed Central

    Little, Anthony C.; Jones, Benedict C.; DeBruine, Lisa M.; Caldwell, Christine A.

    2011-01-01

    Inspired by studies demonstrating mate-choice copying effects in non-human species, recent studies of attractiveness judgements suggest that social learning also influences human preferences. In the first part of our article, we review evidence for social learning effects on preferences in humans and other animals. In the second part, we present new empirical evidence that social learning not only influences the attractiveness of specific individuals, but can also generalize to judgements of previously unseen individuals possessing similar physical traits. The different conditions represent different populations and, once a preference arises in a population, social learning can lead to the spread of preferences within that population. In the final part of our article, we discuss the theoretical basis for, and possible impact of, biases in social learning whereby individuals may preferentially copy the choices of those with high status or better access to critical information about potential mates. Such biases could mean that the choices of a select few individuals carry the greatest weight, rapidly generating agreement in preferences within a population. Collectively, these issues suggest that social learning mechanisms encourage the spread of preferences for certain traits once they arise within a population and so may explain certain cross-cultural differences. PMID:21199841

  11. Focus on the success of others leads to selfish behavior

    PubMed Central

    van den Berg, Pieter; Molleman, Lucas; Weissing, Franz J.

    2015-01-01

    It has often been argued that the spectacular cognitive capacities of humans are the result of selection for the ability to gather, process, and use information about other people. Recent studies show that humans strongly and consistently differ in what type of social information they are interested in. Although some individuals mainly attend to what the majority is doing (frequency-based learning), others focus on the success that their peers achieve with their behavior (success-based learning). Here, we show that such differences in social learning have important consequences for the outcome of social interactions. We report on a decision-making experiment in which individuals were first classified as frequency- and success-based learners and subsequently grouped according to their learning strategy. When confronted with a social dilemma situation, groups of frequency-based learners cooperated considerably more than groups of success-based learners. A detailed analysis of the decision-making process reveals that these differences in cooperation are a direct result of the differences in information use. Our results show that individual differences in social learning strategies are crucial for understanding social behavior. PMID:25730855

  12. Individual differences and predictors of forgetting in old age: the role of processing speed and working memory.

    PubMed

    Zimprich, Daniel; Kurtz, Tanja

    2013-01-01

    The goal of the present study was to examine whether individual differences in basic cognitive abilities, processing speed, and working memory, are reliable predictors of individual differences in forgetting rates in old age. The sample for the present study comprised 364 participants aged between 65 and 80 years from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. The impact of basic cognitive abilities on forgetting was analyzed by modeling working memory and processing speed as predictors of the amount of forgetting of 27 words, which had been learned across five trials. Forgetting was measured over a 30-minute interval by using parceling and a latent change model, in which the latent difference between recall performance after five learning trials and a delayed recall was modeled. Results implied reliable individual differences in forgetting. These individual differences in forgetting were strongly related to processing speed and working memory. Moreover, an age-related effect, which was significantly stronger for forgetting than for learning, emerged even after controlling effects of processing speed and working memory.

  13. Problem-based Learning Behavior: The Impact of Differences in Problem-Based Learning Style and Activity on Students' Achievement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Til, Cita T.; And Others

    Problem-based learning (PBL) as a new instructional method is becoming increasingly popular. PBL is hypothesized to have a number of advantages for learning because it applies insights from cognitive learning theory and it fosters a lifelong learning strategy. As in all learning programs there are individual differences between students. This…

  14. Learning Styles.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Missouri Univ., Columbia. Coll. of Education.

    Information is provided regarding major learning styles and other factors important to student learning. Several typically asked questions are presented regarding different learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic, and multisensory learning), associated considerations, determining individuals' learning styles, and appropriate…

  15. Sensitivity to value-driven attention is predicted by how we learn from value.

    PubMed

    Jahfari, Sara; Theeuwes, Jan

    2017-04-01

    Reward learning is known to influence the automatic capture of attention. This study examined how the rate of learning, after high- or low-value reward outcomes, can influence future transfers into value-driven attentional capture. Participants performed an instrumental learning task that was directly followed by an attentional capture task. A hierarchical Bayesian reinforcement model was used to infer individual differences in learning from high or low reward. Results showed a strong relationship between high-reward learning rates (or the weight that is put on learning after a high reward) and the magnitude of attentional capture with high-reward colors. Individual differences in learning from high or low rewards were further related to performance differences when high- or low-value distractors were present. These findings provide novel insight into the development of value-driven attentional capture by showing how information updating after desired or undesired outcomes can influence future deployments of automatic attention.

  16. Rapid learning dynamics in individual honeybees during classical conditioning.

    PubMed

    Pamir, Evren; Szyszka, Paul; Scheiner, Ricarda; Nawrot, Martin P

    2014-01-01

    Associative learning in insects has been studied extensively by a multitude of classical conditioning protocols. However, so far little emphasis has been put on the dynamics of learning in individuals. The honeybee is a well-established animal model for learning and memory. We here studied associative learning as expressed in individual behavior based on a large collection of data on olfactory classical conditioning (25 datasets, 3298 animals). We show that the group-averaged learning curve and memory retention score confound three attributes of individual learning: the ability or inability to learn a given task, the generally fast acquisition of a conditioned response (CR) in learners, and the high stability of the CR during consecutive training and memory retention trials. We reassessed the prevailing view that more training results in better memory performance and found that 24 h memory retention can be indistinguishable after single-trial and multiple-trial conditioning in individuals. We explain how inter-individual differences in learning can be accommodated within the Rescorla-Wagner theory of associative learning. In both data-analysis and modeling we demonstrate how the conflict between population-level and single-animal perspectives on learning and memory can be disentangled.

  17. Rapid learning dynamics in individual honeybees during classical conditioning

    PubMed Central

    Pamir, Evren; Szyszka, Paul; Scheiner, Ricarda; Nawrot, Martin P.

    2014-01-01

    Associative learning in insects has been studied extensively by a multitude of classical conditioning protocols. However, so far little emphasis has been put on the dynamics of learning in individuals. The honeybee is a well-established animal model for learning and memory. We here studied associative learning as expressed in individual behavior based on a large collection of data on olfactory classical conditioning (25 datasets, 3298 animals). We show that the group-averaged learning curve and memory retention score confound three attributes of individual learning: the ability or inability to learn a given task, the generally fast acquisition of a conditioned response (CR) in learners, and the high stability of the CR during consecutive training and memory retention trials. We reassessed the prevailing view that more training results in better memory performance and found that 24 h memory retention can be indistinguishable after single-trial and multiple-trial conditioning in individuals. We explain how inter-individual differences in learning can be accommodated within the Rescorla–Wagner theory of associative learning. In both data-analysis and modeling we demonstrate how the conflict between population-level and single-animal perspectives on learning and memory can be disentangled. PMID:25309366

  18. The Effect of the 4MAT Learning Model on the Achievement and Motivation of 7th Grade Students on the Subject of Particulate Nature of Matter and an Examination of Student Opinions on the Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aktas, Idris; Bilgin, Ibrahim

    2015-01-01

    Background: Many researchers agree that students, especially primary students, have learning difficulties on the "Particulate Nature of Matter" unit. One reason for this difficulty is not considering individual differences for teaching science. In 4MAT model learning, environment is arranged according to individual differences. Purpose:…

  19. "Scaffolding" through Talk in Groupwork Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Panselinas, Giorgos; Komis, Vassilis

    2009-01-01

    In the present study, we develop and deploy a conceptual framework of "scaffolding" in groupwork learning, through the analysis of the pursuit of a learning goal over time. The analysis follows individuals' different experiences of an interaction as well as collective experiences, considering individual attainment as a result of a bi-directional…

  20. Intelligent tutoring systems as tools for investigating individual differences in learning

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shute, Valerie J.

    1987-01-01

    The ultimate goal of this research is to build an improved model-based selection and classification system for the United States Air Force. Researchers are developing innovative approaches to ability testing. The Learning Abilities Measurement Program (LAMP) examines individual differences in learning abilities, seeking answers to the questions of why some people learn more and better than others and whether there are basic cognitive processes applicable across tasks and domains that are predictive of successful performance (or whether there are more complex problem solving behaviors involved).

  1. Acquisition of neural learning in cerebellum and cerebral cortex for smooth pursuit eye movements

    PubMed Central

    Li, Jennifer X.; Medina, Javier F.; Frank, Loren M.; Lisberger, Stephen G.

    2011-01-01

    We have evaluated the emergence of neural learning in the frontal eye fields (FEFSEM) and the floccular complex of the cerebellum while monkeys learned a precisely-timed change in the direction of pursuit eye movement. For each neuron, we measured the time course of changes in neural response across a learning session that comprised at least 100 repetitions of an instructive change in target direction. In both areas, the average population learning curves tracked the behavioral changes with high fidelity, consistent with possible roles in driving learning. However, the learning curves of individual neurons sometimes bore little relation to the smooth, monotonic progression of behavioral learning. In the FEFSEM, neural learning was episodic. For individual neurons, learning appeared at different times during the learning session and sometimes disappeared by the end of the session. Different FEFSEM neurons expressed maximal learning at different times relative to the acquisition of behavioral learning. In the floccular complex, many Purkinje cells acquired learned simple-spike responses according to the same time course as behavioral learning and retained their learned responses throughout the learning session. A minority of Purkinje cells acquired learned responses late in the learning session, after behavioral learning had reached an asymptote. We conclude that learning in single neurons can follow a very different time course from behavioral learning. Both the FEFSEM and the floccular complex contain representations of multiple temporal components of learning, with different neurons contributing to learning at different times during the acquisition of a learned movement. PMID:21900551

  2. College Students' Motivation and Learning Strategies Profiles and Academic Achievement: A Self-Determination Theory Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Woon Chia; Wang, Chee Keng John; Kee, Ying Hwa; Koh, Caroline; Lim, Boon San Coral; Chua, Lilian

    2014-01-01

    The development of effective self-regulated learning strategies is of interest to educationalists. In this paper, we examine inherent individual difference in self-regulated learning based on Motivated Learning for Learning Questionnaire (MLSQ) using the cluster analytic approach and examine cluster difference in terms of self-determination theory…

  3. Incorporating Learning Style and Personality Preferences into an Oral Communication Course Syllabus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hadas, Michael

    2011-01-01

    Individual difference factors of personality typology and learning style preference and their effect on second language acquisition have been the focus of several prominent SLA theorists over the past twenty-five years. However, few articles have demonstrated how individual learner difference research can be applied within a classroom by second…

  4. Doctoral Candidates as Learners: A Study of Individual Differences in Responses to Learning and Its Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cantwell, Robert H.; Bourke, Sid F.; Scevak, Jill J.; Holbrook, Allyson P.; Budd, Janene

    2017-01-01

    A national cohort of doctoral students (n = 1390) completed a suite of metacognitive questionnaires indicating management of affective, intellectual and contingency demands in learning. Responses to the questionnaires were analysed for evidence of individual differences in reported metacognitive behaviours. Three patterns of metacognitive response…

  5. Individual Differences in Sibling Teaching in Early and Middle Childhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howe, Nina; Recchia, Holly

    2009-01-01

    Research Findings: Sibling teaching and learning behaviors were investigated in 2 studies of children in early and middle childhood. Study 1 addressed individual differences in teaching/learning and associations with dyadic age, age gap, gender, birth order, and relationship quality in 71 middle-class dyads (firstborns M age = 81.54 months;…

  6. Individual Differences in Statistical Learning Predict Children's Comprehension of Syntax

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kidd, Evan; Arciuli, Joanne

    2016-01-01

    Variability in children's language acquisition is likely due to a number of cognitive and social variables. The current study investigated whether individual differences in statistical learning (SL), which has been implicated in language acquisition, independently predicted 6- to 8-year-old's comprehension of syntax. Sixty-eight (N = 68)…

  7. Language Experience Interviews: What Can They Tell Us about Individual Differences?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Polat, Brittany

    2013-01-01

    While language learners and teachers have long known that individual differences (IDs) among students result in differential learning, we still do not know how traditional ID variables interact or the specific impact each one has on language learning. The present study proposes that instead of looking at isolated variables, researchers should…

  8. Different Perspectives: Spatial Ability Influences Where Individuals Look on a Timed Spatial Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roach, Victoria A.; Fraser, Graham M.; Kryklywy, James H.; Mitchell, Derek G. V.; Wilson, Timothy D.

    2017-01-01

    Learning in anatomy can be both spatially and visually complex. Pedagogical investigations have begun exploration as to how spatial ability may mitigate learning. Emerging hypotheses suggests individuals with higher spatial reasoning may attend to images differently than those who are lacking. To elucidate attentional patterns associated with…

  9. Language Learning Disability and Individual Differences: Can We See between the Lines?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silliman, Elaine R.

    2010-01-01

    In honor of Dr. Katherine Butler's extraordinary leadership of "Topics in Language Disorders," this article takes up her 1982 challenge to reach toward greater understanding of individual differences in the use of oral and written language by children with language learning disability. The article focuses on 3 interconnected dimensions of learning…

  10. Learning and Individual Differences: Process, Trait, and Content Determinants.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ackerman, Phillip L.; Kyllonen, Patrick C.; Roberts, Richard D.

    In preparation for a conference on learning and individual differences, the invited authors prepared chapters, which were distributed in draft form. Presentations were followed by discussions, which were recorded, and then edited for this volume, so that the discussion transcript follows each paper. The chapters in part 1, General Background and…

  11. The other-race effect in face learning: Using naturalistic images to investigate face ethnicity effects in a learning paradigm.

    PubMed

    Hayward, William G; Favelle, Simone K; Oxner, Matt; Chu, Ming Hon; Lam, Sze Man

    2017-05-01

    The other-race effect in face identification has been reported in many situations and by many different ethnicities, yet it remains poorly understood. One reason for this lack of clarity may be a limitation in the methodologies that have been used to test it. Experiments typically use an old-new recognition task to demonstrate the existence of the other-race effect, but such tasks are susceptible to different social and perceptual influences, particularly in terms of the extent to which all faces are equally individuated at study. In this paper we report an experiment in which we used a face learning methodology to measure the other-race effect. We obtained naturalistic photographs of Chinese and Caucasian individuals, which allowed us to test the ability of participants to generalize their learning to new ecologically valid exemplars of a face identity. We show a strong own-race advantage in face learning, such that participants required many fewer trials to learn names of own-race individuals than those of other-race individuals and were better able to identify learned own-race individuals in novel naturalistic stimuli. Since our methodology requires individuation of all faces, and generalization over large image changes, our finding of an other-race effect can be attributed to a specific deficit in the sensitivity of perceptual and memory processes to other-race faces.

  12. Attentional Control and Fear Extinction in Subclinical Fear: An Exploratory Study

    PubMed Central

    Forcadell, Eduard; Torrents-Rodas, David; Treen, Devi; Fullana, Miquel A.; Tortella-Feliu, Miquel

    2017-01-01

    Attentional control (AC) and fear extinction learning are known to be involved in pathological anxiety. In this study we explored whether individual differences in non-emotional AC were associated with individual differences in the magnitude and gradient of fear extinction (learning and recall). In 50 individuals with fear of spiders, we collected measures of non-emotional AC by means of self-report and by assessing the functioning of the major attention networks (executive control, orienting, and alerting). The participants then underwent a paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and extinction recall. The two components of the orienting network functioning (costs and benefits) were significantly associated with fear extinction gradient over and above the effects of trait anxiety. Specifically, participants with enhanced orienting costs (i.e., difficulties in disengaging attention from cues not relevant for the task) showed faster extinction learning, while those with enhanced orienting benefits (i.e., attention facilitated by valid cues) exhibited faster extinction recall as measured by fear-potentiated startle and Unconditioned Stimulus expectancies, respectively. Our findings suggest that, in non-emotional conditions, the orienting component of attention may be predictive of fear extinction. They also show that the use of fear extinction gradients and the exploration of individual differences in non-emotional AC (using performance-based measures of attentional network functioning) can provide a better understanding of individual differences in fear learning. Our findings also may help to understand differences in exposure therapy outcomes. PMID:29018384

  13. Constraints on decision making: implications from genetics, personality, and addiction.

    PubMed

    Baker, Travis E; Stockwell, Tim; Holroyd, Clay B

    2013-09-01

    An influential neurocomputational theory of the biological mechanisms of decision making, the "basal ganglia go/no-go model," holds that individual variability in decision making is determined by differences in the makeup of a striatal system for approach and avoidance learning. The model has been tested empirically with the probabilistic selection task (PST), which determines whether individuals learn better from positive or negative feedback. In accordance with the model, in the present study we examined whether an individual's ability to learn from positive and negative reinforcement can be predicted by genetic factors related to the midbrain dopamine system. We also asked whether psychiatric and personality factors related to substance dependence and dopamine affect PST performance. Although we found characteristics that predicted individual differences in approach versus avoidance learning, these observations were qualified by additional findings that appear inconsistent with the predictions of the go/no-go model. These results highlight a need for future research to validate the PST as a measure of basal ganglia reward learning.

  14. Different Modes of Digital Learning Object Use in School Settings: Do We Design for Individual or Collaborative Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akpinar, Yavuz

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the studies reported in this paper is to gain classroom based empirical evidence on the learning effectiveness of learning objects used in two types of study settings: Collaborative and individual. A total of 127 seventh and ninth grade students participated in the experiments. They were assigned into one of the study modes and worked…

  15. The Scientific Status of Learning Styles Theories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willingham, Daniel T.; Hughes, Elizabeth M.; Dobolyi, David G.

    2015-01-01

    Theories of learning styles suggest that individuals think and learn best in different ways. These are not differences of ability but rather preferences for processing certain types of information or for processing information in certain types of way. If accurate, learning styles theories could have important implications for instruction because…

  16. Crosscultural Differences in Learning Styles of Secondary English Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Clara C.

    2002-01-01

    Learning styles were investigated for 857 English-learners of Armenian, Hmong, Korean, Mexican, and Vietnamese origin in 20 California high schools. All ethnic groups indicated major or minor preferences for kinesthetic/tactile and visual learning styles. Groups differed in preferences for group versus individual learning. Some preferences were…

  17. Personality predicts the propensity for social learning in a wild primate

    PubMed Central

    Marshall, Harry H.; Heinsohn, Robert; Cowlishaw, Guy

    2014-01-01

    Social learning can play a critical role in the reproduction and survival of social animals. Individual differences in the propensity for social learning are therefore likely to have important fitness consequences. We asked whether personality might underpin such individual variation in a wild population of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). We used two field experiments in which individuals had the opportunity to learn how to solve a task from an experienced conspecific demonstrator: exploitation of a novel food and a hidden item of known food. We investigated whether the (1) time spent watching a demonstrator and (2) changes in task-solving behaviour after watching a demonstrator were related to personality. We found that both boldness and anxiety influenced individual performance in social learning. Specifically, bolder and more anxious animals were more likely to show a greater improvement in task solving after watching a demonstrator. In addition, there was also evidence that the acquisition of social information was not always correlated with its use. These findings present new insights into the costs and benefits of different personality types, and have important implications for the evolution of social learning. PMID:24688861

  18. Does Feedback-Related Brain Response during Reinforcement Learning Predict Socio-motivational (In-)dependence in Adolescence?

    PubMed Central

    Raufelder, Diana; Boehme, Rebecca; Romund, Lydia; Golde, Sabrina; Lorenz, Robert C.; Gleich, Tobias; Beck, Anne

    2016-01-01

    This multi-methodological study applied functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural activation in a group of adolescent students (N = 88) during a probabilistic reinforcement learning task. We related patterns of emerging brain activity and individual learning rates to socio-motivational (in-)dependence manifested in four different motivation types (MTs): (1) peer-dependent MT, (2) teacher-dependent MT, (3) peer-and-teacher-dependent MT, (4) peer-and-teacher-independent MT. A multinomial regression analysis revealed that the individual learning rate predicts students’ membership to the independent MT, or the peer-and-teacher-dependent MT. Additionally, the striatum, a brain region associated with behavioral adaptation and flexibility, showed increased learning-related activation in students with motivational independence. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in behavioral control, was more active in students of the peer-and-teacher-dependent MT. Overall, this study offers new insights into the interplay of motivation and learning with (1) a focus on inter-individual differences in the role of peers and teachers as source of students’ individual motivation and (2) its potential neurobiological basis. PMID:27199873

  19. Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions.

    PubMed

    Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Tse, Peter U

    2015-04-15

    Useful information in the visual environment is often contained in specific conjunctions of visual features (e.g., color and shape). The ability to quickly and accurately process such conjunctions can be learned. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for such learning remain largely unknown. It has been suggested that some forms of visual learning might involve the dopaminergic neuromodulatory system (Roelfsema et al., 2010; Seitz and Watanabe, 2005), but this hypothesis has not yet been directly tested. Here we test the hypothesis that learning visual feature conjunctions involves the dopaminergic system, using functional neuroimaging, genetic assays, and behavioral testing techniques. We use a correlative approach to evaluate potential associations between individual differences in visual feature conjunction learning rate and individual differences in dopaminergic function as indexed by neuroimaging and genetic markers. We find a significant correlation between activity in the caudate nucleus (a component of the dopaminergic system connected to visual areas of the brain) and visual feature conjunction learning rate. Specifically, individuals who showed a larger difference in activity between positive and negative feedback on an unrelated cognitive task, indicative of a more reactive dopaminergic system, learned visual feature conjunctions more quickly than those who showed a smaller activity difference. This finding supports the hypothesis that the dopaminergic system is involved in visual learning, and suggests that visual feature conjunction learning could be closely related to associative learning. However, no significant, reliable correlations were found between feature conjunction learning and genotype or dopaminergic activity in any other regions of interest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Medical students' learning orientation regarding interracial interactions affects preparedness to care for minority patients: a report from Medical Student CHANGES.

    PubMed

    Burgess, Diana J; Burke, Sara E; Cunningham, Brooke A; Dovidio, John F; Hardeman, Rachel R; Hou, Yuefeng; Nelson, David B; Perry, Sylvia P; Phelan, Sean M; Yeazel, Mark W; van Ryn, Michelle

    2016-09-29

    There is a paucity of evidence on how to train medical students to provide equitable, high quality care to racial and ethnic minority patients. We test the hypothesis that medical schools' ability to foster a learning orientation toward interracial interactions (i.e., that students can improve their ability to successfully interact with people of another race and learn from their mistakes), will contribute to white medical students' readiness to care for racial minority patients. We then test the hypothesis that white medical students who perceive their medical school environment as supporting a learning orientation will benefit more from disparities training. Prospective observational study involving web-based questionnaires administered during first (2010) and last (2014) semesters of medical school to 2394 white medical students from a stratified, random sample of 49 U.S. medical schools. Analysis used data from students' last semester to build mixed effects hierarchical models in order to assess the effects of medical school interracial learning orientation, calculated at both the school and individual (student) level, on key dependent measures. School differences in learning orientation explained part of the school difference in readiness to care for minority patients. However, individual differences in learning orientation accounted for individual differences in readiness, even after controlling for school-level learning orientation. Individual differences in learning orientation significantly moderated the effect of disparities training on white students' readiness to care for minority patients. Specifically, white medical students who perceived a high level of learning orientation in their medical schools regarding interracial interactions benefited more from training to address disparities. Coursework aimed at reducing healthcare disparities and improving the care of racial minority patients was only effective when white medical students perceived their school as having a learning orientation toward interracial interactions. Results suggest that medical school faculty should present interracial encounters as opportunities to practice skills shown to reduce bias, and faculty and students should be encouraged to learn from one another about mistakes in interracial encounters. Future research should explore aspects of the medical school environment that contribute to an interracial learning orientation.

  1. Individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment and neural activity during reward and avoidance learning

    PubMed Central

    Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Hackjin; Hamann, Stephan

    2015-01-01

    In this functional neuroimaging study, we investigated neural activations during the process of learning to gain monetary rewards and to avoid monetary loss, and how these activations are modulated by individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity. Healthy young volunteers performed a reinforcement learning task where they chose one of two fractal stimuli associated with monetary gain (reward trials) or avoidance of monetary loss (avoidance trials). Trait sensitivity to reward and punishment was assessed using the behavioral inhibition/activation scales (BIS/BAS). Functional neuroimaging results showed activation of the striatum during the anticipation and reception periods of reward trials. During avoidance trials, activation of the dorsal striatum and prefrontal regions was found. As expected, individual differences in reward sensitivity were positively associated with activation in the left and right ventral striatum during reward reception. Individual differences in sensitivity to punishment were negatively associated with activation in the left dorsal striatum during avoidance anticipation and also with activation in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex during receiving monetary loss. These results suggest that learning to attain reward and learning to avoid loss are dependent on separable sets of neural regions whose activity is modulated by trait sensitivity to reward or punishment. PMID:25680989

  2. The New Approaches to Organization of Students' Individual Work in Foreign Language Learning in Ukraine and Abroad

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lysak, Halyna; Martynyuk, Olena

    2017-01-01

    Different approaches to organization of students' individual work using information technologies in Ukraine and abroad have been presented in the paper. The authors have analyzed the concept and role of students' individual work in the language learning process. It has been revealed that students' individual work is a rather flexible process and…

  3. Measuring Noncommissioned Officer Knowledge and Experience to Enable Tailored Training

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-11-01

    both that learning related individual differences exist (Jensen, 1998; Thorndike , 1985) and that these individual differences interact with learning...robustly predictive of broad psychological constructs (Goska & Ackerman, 1996; Gottfredson, 1998; Jensen, 1998; Thorndike , 1985). However, general...Aptitude theory: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Educational Psychologist, 27 (1), 5-32. Thorndike , R. L. (1985). The central role of general

  4. Multimedia Learning and Individual Differences: Mediating the Effects of Working Memory Capacity with Segmentation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lusk, Danielle L.; Evans, Amber D.; Jeffrey, Thomas R.; Palmer, Keith R.; Wikstrom, Chris S.; Doolittle, Peter E.

    2009-01-01

    Research in multimedia learning lacks an emphasis on individual difference variables, such as working memory capacity (WMC). The effects of WMC and the segmentation of multimedia instruction were examined by assessing the recall and application of low (n = 66) and high (n = 67) working memory capacity students randomly assigned to either a…

  5. Probabilistic Reinforcement Learning in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    PubMed Central

    Solomon, Marjorie; Smith, Anne C.; Frank, Michael J.; Ly, Stanford; Carter, Cameron S.

    2017-01-01

    Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) can be conceptualized as disorders of learning, however there have been few experimental studies taking this perspective. Methods We examined the probabilistic reinforcement learning performance of 28 adults with ASDs and 30 typically developing adults on a task requiring learning relationships between three stimulus pairs consisting of Japanese characters with feedback that was valid with different probabilities (80%, 70%, and 60%). Both univariate and Bayesian state–space data analytic methods were employed. Hypotheses were based on the extant literature as well as on neurobiological and computational models of reinforcement learning. Results Both groups learned the task after training. However, there were group differences in early learning in the first task block where individuals with ASDs acquired the most frequently accurately reinforced stimulus pair (80%) comparably to typically developing individuals; exhibited poorer acquisition of the less frequently reinforced 70% pair as assessed by state–space learning curves; and outperformed typically developing individuals on the near chance (60%) pair. Individuals with ASDs also demonstrated deficits in using positive feedback to exploit rewarded choices. Conclusions Results support the contention that individuals with ASDs are slower learners. Based on neurobiology and on the results of computational modeling, one interpretation of this pattern of findings is that impairments are related to deficits in flexible updating of reinforcement history as mediated by the orbito-frontal cortex, with spared functioning of the basal ganglia. This hypothesis about the pathophysiology of learning in ASDs can be tested using functional magnetic resonance imaging. PMID:21425243

  6. Hemispheric Asymmetries in Striatal Reward Responses Relate to Approach-Avoidance Learning and Encoding of Positive-Negative Prediction Errors in Dopaminergic Midbrain Regions.

    PubMed

    Aberg, Kristoffer Carl; Doell, Kimberly C; Schwartz, Sophie

    2015-10-28

    Some individuals are better at learning about rewarding situations, whereas others are inclined to avoid punishments (i.e., enhanced approach or avoidance learning, respectively). In reinforcement learning, action values are increased when outcomes are better than predicted (positive prediction errors [PEs]) and decreased for worse than predicted outcomes (negative PEs). Because actions with high and low values are approached and avoided, respectively, individual differences in the neural encoding of PEs may influence the balance between approach-avoidance learning. Recent correlational approaches also indicate that biases in approach-avoidance learning involve hemispheric asymmetries in dopamine function. However, the computational and neural mechanisms underpinning such learning biases remain unknown. Here we assessed hemispheric reward asymmetry in striatal activity in 34 human participants who performed a task involving rewards and punishments. We show that the relative difference in reward response between hemispheres relates to individual biases in approach-avoidance learning. Moreover, using a computational modeling approach, we demonstrate that better encoding of positive (vs negative) PEs in dopaminergic midbrain regions is associated with better approach (vs avoidance) learning, specifically in participants with larger reward responses in the left (vs right) ventral striatum. Thus, individual dispositions or traits may be determined by neural processes acting to constrain learning about specific aspects of the world. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3514491-10$15.00/0.

  7. Predicting Individuals' Learning Success from Patterns of Pre-Learning MRI Activity

    PubMed Central

    Vo, Loan T. K.; Walther, Dirk B.; Kramer, Arthur F.; Erickson, Kirk I.; Boot, Walter R.; Voss, Michelle W.; Prakash, Ruchika S.; Lee, Hyunkyu; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele; Simons, Daniel J.; Sutton, Bradley P.; Wang, Michelle Y.

    2011-01-01

    Performance in most complex cognitive and psychomotor tasks improves with training, yet the extent of improvement varies among individuals. Is it possible to forecast the benefit that a person might reap from training? Several behavioral measures have been used to predict individual differences in task improvement, but their predictive power is limited. Here we show that individual differences in patterns of time-averaged T2*-weighted MRI images in the dorsal striatum recorded at the initial stage of training predict subsequent learning success in a complex video game with high accuracy. These predictions explained more than half of the variance in learning success among individuals, suggesting that individual differences in neuroanatomy or persistent physiology predict whether and to what extent people will benefit from training in a complex task. Surprisingly, predictions from white matter were highly accurate, while voxels in the gray matter of the dorsal striatum did not contain any information about future training success. Prediction accuracy was higher in the anterior than the posterior half of the dorsal striatum. The link between trainability and the time-averaged T2*-weighted signal in the dorsal striatum reaffirms the role of this part of the basal ganglia in learning and executive functions, such as task-switching and task coordination processes. The ability to predict who will benefit from training by using neuroimaging data collected in the early training phase may have far-reaching implications for the assessment of candidates for specific training programs as well as the study of populations that show deficiencies in learning new skills. PMID:21264257

  8. The Effects of Cooperative and Individual Goal Structures on Learning Disabled and Nondisabled Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cosden, Merith; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Elementary children (N=138) in LD-NLD or NLD-LD (learning disabled - nonlearning disabled) dyads were individually tested on reading comprehension after study periods which emphasized either cooperative or individual study behaviors and goal incentives. There were sex differences in the impact of cooperative goal structures on attitudes,…

  9. Technology, Learning, and Individual Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bear, Anne A. Ghost

    2012-01-01

    The learning needs for adults that result from the constant increase in technology are rooted in the adult learning concepts of (a) andragogy, (b) self-directed learning, (c) learning-how-to-learn, (d) real-life learning, and (e) learning strategies. This study described the learning strategies that adults use in learning to engage in an online…

  10. Racial bias shapes social reinforcement learning.

    PubMed

    Lindström, Björn; Selbing, Ida; Molapour, Tanaz; Olsson, Andreas

    2014-03-01

    Both emotional facial expressions and markers of racial-group belonging are ubiquitous signals in social interaction, but little is known about how these signals together affect future behavior through learning. To address this issue, we investigated how emotional (threatening or friendly) in-group and out-group faces reinforced behavior in a reinforcement-learning task. We asked whether reinforcement learning would be modulated by intergroup attitudes (i.e., racial bias). The results showed that individual differences in racial bias critically modulated reinforcement learning. As predicted, racial bias was associated with more efficiently learned avoidance of threatening out-group individuals. We used computational modeling analysis to quantitatively delimit the underlying processes affected by social reinforcement. These analyses showed that racial bias modulates the rate at which exposure to threatening out-group individuals is transformed into future avoidance behavior. In concert, these results shed new light on the learning processes underlying social interaction with racial-in-group and out-group individuals.

  11. Learning Theory and the Typewriter Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wakin, B. Bertha

    1974-01-01

    Eight basic principles of learning are described and discussed in terms of practical learning strategies for typewriting. Described are goal setting, preassessment, active participation, individual differences, reinforcement, practice, transfer of learning, and evaluation. (SC)

  12. More than one way to see it: Individual heuristics in avian visual computation

    PubMed Central

    Ravignani, Andrea; Westphal-Fitch, Gesche; Aust, Ulrike; Schlumpp, Martin M.; Fitch, W. Tecumseh

    2015-01-01

    Comparative pattern learning experiments investigate how different species find regularities in sensory input, providing insights into cognitive processing in humans and other animals. Past research has focused either on one species’ ability to process pattern classes or different species’ performance in recognizing the same pattern, with little attention to individual and species-specific heuristics and decision strategies. We trained and tested two bird species, pigeons (Columba livia) and kea (Nestor notabilis, a parrot species), on visual patterns using touch-screen technology. Patterns were composed of several abstract elements and had varying degrees of structural complexity. We developed a model selection paradigm, based on regular expressions, that allowed us to reconstruct the specific decision strategies and cognitive heuristics adopted by a given individual in our task. Individual birds showed considerable differences in the number, type and heterogeneity of heuristic strategies adopted. Birds’ choices also exhibited consistent species-level differences. Kea adopted effective heuristic strategies, based on matching learned bigrams to stimulus edges. Individual pigeons, in contrast, adopted an idiosyncratic mix of strategies that included local transition probabilities and global string similarity. Although performance was above chance and quite high for kea, no individual of either species provided clear evidence of learning exactly the rule used to generate the training stimuli. Our results show that similar behavioral outcomes can be achieved using dramatically different strategies and highlight the dangers of combining multiple individuals in a group analysis. These findings, and our general approach, have implications for the design of future pattern learning experiments, and the interpretation of comparative cognition research more generally. PMID:26113444

  13. Implicit learning in children and adults with Williams syndrome.

    PubMed

    Don, Audrey J; Schellenberg, E Glenn; Reber, Arthur S; DiGirolamo, Kristen M; Wang, Paul P

    2003-01-01

    In comparison to explicit learning, implicit learning is hypothesized to be a phylogenetically older form of learning that is important in early developmental processes (e.g., natural language acquisition, socialization)and relatively impervious to individual differences in age and IQ. We examined implicit learning in a group of children and adults (9.49 years of age)with Williams syndrome (WS)and in a comparison group of typically developing individuals matched for chronological age. Participants were tested in an artificial-grammar learning paradigm and in a rotor-pursuit task. For both groups, implicit learning was largely independent of age. Both groups showed evidence of implicit learning but the comparison group outperformed the WS group on both tasks. Performance advantages for the comparison group were no longer significant when group differences in working memory or nonverbal intelligence were held constant.

  14. Finding the Key to Successful L2 Learning in Groups and Individuals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lowie, Wander; van Dijk, Marijn; Chan, Huiping; Verspoor, Marjolijn

    2017-01-01

    A large body studies into individual differences in second language learning has shown that success in second language learning is strongly affected by a set of relevant learner characteristics ranging from the age of onset to motivation, aptitude, and personality. Most studies have concentrated on a limited number of learner characteristics and…

  15. Technology Counts 2011: K-12 Seeks Custom Fit--Schools Test Individualized Digital Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Education Week, 2011

    2011-01-01

    A growing number of educators around the country are turning to technology and different teaching and learning approaches to give students personalized learning experiences that mirror the customized experiences they take for granted outside of school. To meet students' individual needs, they are putting in place 1-to-1 computing programs and…

  16. A possible structural correlate of learning performance on a colour discrimination task in the brain of the bumblebee

    PubMed Central

    Li, Li; MaBouDi, HaDi; Egertová, Michaela; Elphick, Maurice R.

    2017-01-01

    Synaptic plasticity is considered to be a basis for learning and memory. However, the relationship between synaptic arrangements and individual differences in learning and memory is poorly understood. Here, we explored how the density of microglomeruli (synaptic complexes) within specific regions of the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) brain relates to both visual learning and inter-individual differences in learning and memory performance on a visual discrimination task. Using whole-brain immunolabelling, we measured the density of microglomeruli in the collar region (visual association areas) of the mushroom bodies of the bumblebee brain. We found that bumblebees which made fewer errors during training in a visual discrimination task had higher microglomerular density. Similarly, bumblebees that had better retention of the learned colour-reward associations two days after training had higher microglomerular density. Further experiments indicated experience-dependent changes in neural circuitry: learning a colour-reward contingency with 10 colours (but not two colours) does result, and exposure to many different colours may result, in changes to microglomerular density in the collar region of the mushroom bodies. These results reveal the varying roles that visual experience, visual learning and foraging activity have on neural structure. Although our study does not provide a causal link between microglomerular density and performance, the observed positive correlations provide new insights for future studies into how neural structure may relate to inter-individual differences in learning and memory. PMID:28978727

  17. A possible structural correlate of learning performance on a colour discrimination task in the brain of the bumblebee.

    PubMed

    Li, Li; MaBouDi, HaDi; Egertová, Michaela; Elphick, Maurice R; Chittka, Lars; Perry, Clint J

    2017-10-11

    Synaptic plasticity is considered to be a basis for learning and memory. However, the relationship between synaptic arrangements and individual differences in learning and memory is poorly understood. Here, we explored how the density of microglomeruli (synaptic complexes) within specific regions of the bumblebee ( Bombus terrestris ) brain relates to both visual learning and inter-individual differences in learning and memory performance on a visual discrimination task. Using whole-brain immunolabelling, we measured the density of microglomeruli in the collar region (visual association areas) of the mushroom bodies of the bumblebee brain. We found that bumblebees which made fewer errors during training in a visual discrimination task had higher microglomerular density. Similarly, bumblebees that had better retention of the learned colour-reward associations two days after training had higher microglomerular density. Further experiments indicated experience-dependent changes in neural circuitry: learning a colour-reward contingency with 10 colours (but not two colours) does result, and exposure to many different colours may result, in changes to microglomerular density in the collar region of the mushroom bodies. These results reveal the varying roles that visual experience, visual learning and foraging activity have on neural structure. Although our study does not provide a causal link between microglomerular density and performance, the observed positive correlations provide new insights for future studies into how neural structure may relate to inter-individual differences in learning and memory. © 2017 The Authors.

  18. Enhancing Language Teaching and Learning by Keeping Individual Differences in Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sulaiman, Suriati; Sulaiman, Tajularipin

    2010-01-01

    Learners differ from each other in many ways particularly in cognitive abilities. These factors eventually affect their learning abilities. Thus teachers should look into learner differences in intelligence before designing a teaching and learning program for them. Gardner proposed a much broader view of the definition of intelligence than a…

  19. Frequent Participation in Service Learning: Examining Institutional Differences and Individual Benefits

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bureau, Daniel A.; Cole, James S.; McCormick, Alexander C.

    2014-01-01

    This chapter examines the differences between institutions with high and low levels of involvement in service learning as well as the differences between students with high and low levels of involvement. The study shows a correlation between institutional organization and service-learning emphasis and describes, at the student level, correlations…

  20. Guiding Learners through Technology-Based Instruction: The Effects of Adaptive Guidance Design and Individual Differences on Learning over Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kanar, Adam M.; Bell, Bradford S.

    2013-01-01

    Adaptive guidance is an instructional intervention that helps learners to make use of the control inherent in technology-based instruction. The present research investigated the interactive effects of guidance design (i.e., framing of guidance information) and individual differences (i.e., pretraining motivation and ability) on learning basic and…

  1. Teaching for Different Learning Styles.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cropper, Carolyn

    1994-01-01

    This study examined learning styles in 137 high ability fourth-grade students. All students were administered two learning styles inventories. Characteristics of students with the following learning styles are summarized: auditory language, visual language, auditory numerical, visual numerical, tactile concrete, individual learning, group…

  2. Effect of Ability Grouping in Reciprocal Teaching Technique of Collaborative Learning on Individual Achievements and Social Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sumadi; Degeng, I Nyoman S.; Sulthon; Waras

    2017-01-01

    This research focused on effects of ability grouping in reciprocal teaching technique of collaborative learning on individual achievements dan social skills. The results research showed that (1) there are differences in individual achievement significantly between high group of homogeneous, middle group of homogeneous, low group of homogeneous,…

  3. Group social rank is associated with performance on a spatial learning task.

    PubMed

    Langley, Ellis J G; van Horik, Jayden O; Whiteside, Mark A; Madden, Joah R

    2018-02-01

    Dominant individuals differ from subordinates in their performances on cognitive tasks across a suite of taxa. Previous studies often only consider dyadic relationships, rather than the more ecologically relevant social hierarchies or networks, hence failing to account for how dyadic relationships may be adjusted within larger social groups. We used a novel statistical method: randomized Elo-ratings, to infer the social hierarchy of 18 male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus , while in a captive, mixed-sex group with a linear hierarchy. We assayed individual learning performance of these males on a binary spatial discrimination task to investigate whether inter-individual variation in performance is associated with group social rank. Task performance improved with increasing trial number and was positively related to social rank, with higher ranking males showing greater levels of success. Motivation to participate in the task was not related to social rank or task performance, thus indicating that these rank-related differences are not a consequence of differences in motivation to complete the task. Our results provide important information about how variation in cognitive performance relates to an individual's social rank within a group. Whether the social environment causes differences in learning performance or instead, inherent differences in learning ability predetermine rank remains to be tested.

  4. Do individual differences in children's curiosity relate to their inquiry-based learning?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Schijndel, Tessa J. P.; Jansen, Brenda R. J.; Raijmakers, Maartje E. J.

    2018-06-01

    This study investigates how individual differences in 7- to 9-year-olds' curiosity relate to the inquiry-learning process and outcomes in environments differing in structure. The focus on curiosity as individual differences variable was motivated by the importance of curiosity in science education, and uncertainty being central to both the definition of curiosity and the inquiry-learning environment. Curiosity was assessed with the Underwater Exploration game (Jirout, J., & Klahr, D. (2012). Children's scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review, 32, 125-160. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.04.002), and inquiry-based learning with the newly developed Scientific Discovery task, which focuses on the principle of designing informative experiments. Structure of the inquiry-learning environment was manipulated by explaining this principle or not. As intelligence relates to learning and possibly curiosity, it was taken into account. Results showed that children's curiosity was positively related to their knowledge acquisition, but not to their quality of exploration. For low intelligent children, environment structure positively affected their quality of exploration, but not their knowledge acquisition. There was no interaction between curiosity and environment structure. These results support the existence of two distinct inquiry-based learning processes - the designing of experiments, on the one hand, and the reflection on performed experiments, on the other - and link children's curiosity to the latter process.

  5. Marking Machinima: A Case Study in Assessing Student Use of a Web 2.0 Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barwell, Graham; Moore, Chris; Walker, Ruth

    2011-01-01

    The model of learning best suited to the future may be one which sees learning as the process of managing the different kinds of participation an individual might have in complex social systems. Learning capability and engagement is thus dependent on the relationship between an individual identity and social systems. We report on the incorporation…

  6. Individual Differences in Dopamine Efflux in Nucleus Accumbens Shell and Core during Instrumental Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Jingjun; Feenstra, Matthijs G. P.

    2006-01-01

    Combined activation of dopamine D1- and NMDA-glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens has been strongly implicated in instrumental learning, the process in which an individual learns that a specific action has a wanted outcome. To assess dopaminergic activity, we presented rats with two sessions (30 trials each) of a one-lever appetitive…

  7. Sensorimotor Learning: Neurocognitive Mechanisms and Individual Differences.

    PubMed

    Seidler, R D; Carson, R G

    2017-07-13

    Here we provide an overview of findings and viewpoints on the mechanisms of sensorimotor learning presented at the 2016 Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement (BANCOM) conference in Deer Creek, OH. This field has shown substantial growth in the past couple of decades. For example it is now well accepted that neural systems outside of primary motor pathways play a role in learning. Frontoparietal and anterior cingulate networks contribute to sensorimotor adaptation, reflecting strategic aspects of exploration and learning. Longer term training results in functional and morphological changes in primary motor and somatosensory cortices. Interestingly, re-engagement of strategic processes once a skill has become well learned may disrupt performance. Efforts to predict individual differences in learning rate have enhanced our understanding of the neural, behavioral, and genetic factors underlying skilled human performance. Access to genomic analyses has dramatically increased over the past several years. This has enhanced our understanding of cellular processes underlying the expression of human behavior, including involvement of various neurotransmitters, receptors, and enzymes. Surprisingly our field has been slow to adopt such approaches in studying neural control, although this work does require much larger sample sizes than are typically used to investigate skill learning. We advocate that individual differences approaches can lead to new insights into human sensorimotor performance. Moreover, a greater understanding of the factors underlying the wide range of performance capabilities seen across individuals can promote personalized medicine and refinement of rehabilitation strategies, which stand to be more effective than "one size fits all" treatments.

  8. Wage differentials between college graduates with and without learning disabilities.

    PubMed

    Dickinson, David L; Verbeek, Roelant L

    2002-01-01

    Wage differential studies examining legally protected groups typically focus on gender or racial differences. Legislation also fully protects individuals with learning disabilities (LD). This article is the first to decompose wage differentials between adults with and without LD. An original data set of college graduates with documented LD was constructed, and these individuals were compared to a control group from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Our results show that much of the observed lower wages for individuals with LD is due to differences in productivity characteristics. However, there is an unexplained portion of the wage gap that could possibly be considered wage discrimination against individuals with LD. This possibility seems smaller due to the fact that the subsample of the employers who knew of the employee's learning disabilities did not appear to pay significantly lower wages to these individuals. Alternative hypotheses are discussed, as are sample-specific issues.

  9. Shaping Learning Cultures: A Strategic Challenge for Universities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Euler, Dieter

    While there are strong stakeholders at universities arguing for increasing efforts to improve the research record, innovative actions for a corresponding commitment on teaching and learning are less frequent. In many cases, this issue is left to the discretion of individual teachers. In order to improve teaching and learning at universities, this approach does not seem to be appropriate. Rather, actions on different dimensions have to be organized, ranging from the individual, interactional, and institutional level of a university. The different perspectives on analysis and action are assembled in a construct called "learning cultures." This term covers the various dimensions impacting on student learning. The article provides a definition of "learning cultures," which will then be explained. Based on the explicated notion, a conceptual frame is put forward covering the key features of "learning cultures." Finally, some ideas are given providing some preliminary answers on how to shape learning cultures at the strategic level at universities.

  10. Individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment and neural activity during reward and avoidance learning.

    PubMed

    Kim, Sang Hee; Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Hackjin; Hamann, Stephan

    2015-09-01

    In this functional neuroimaging study, we investigated neural activations during the process of learning to gain monetary rewards and to avoid monetary loss, and how these activations are modulated by individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity. Healthy young volunteers performed a reinforcement learning task where they chose one of two fractal stimuli associated with monetary gain (reward trials) or avoidance of monetary loss (avoidance trials). Trait sensitivity to reward and punishment was assessed using the behavioral inhibition/activation scales (BIS/BAS). Functional neuroimaging results showed activation of the striatum during the anticipation and reception periods of reward trials. During avoidance trials, activation of the dorsal striatum and prefrontal regions was found. As expected, individual differences in reward sensitivity were positively associated with activation in the left and right ventral striatum during reward reception. Individual differences in sensitivity to punishment were negatively associated with activation in the left dorsal striatum during avoidance anticipation and also with activation in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex during receiving monetary loss. These results suggest that learning to attain reward and learning to avoid loss are dependent on separable sets of neural regions whose activity is modulated by trait sensitivity to reward or punishment. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. Nursing students' perceptions of learning in practice environments: a review.

    PubMed

    Henderson, Amanda; Cooke, Marie; Creedy, Debra K; Walker, Rachel

    2012-04-01

    Effective clinical learning requires integration of nursing students into ward activities, staff engagement to address individual student learning needs, and innovative teaching approaches. Assessing characteristics of practice environments can provide useful insights for development. This study identified predominant features of clinical learning environments from nursing students' perspectives across studies using the same measure in different countries over the last decade. Six studies, from three different countries, using the Clinical Leaning Environment Inventory (CLEI) were reviewed. Studies explored consistent trends about learning environment. Students rated sense of task accomplishment high. Affiliation also rated highly though was influenced by models of care. Feedback measuring whether students' individual needs and views were accommodated consistently rated lower. Across different countries students report similar perceptions about learning environments. Clinical learning environments are most effective in promoting safe practice and are inclusive of student learners, but not readily open to innovation and challenges to routine practices. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Nature vs Nurture: Effects of Learning on Evolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagrani, Nagina

    In the field of Evolutionary Robotics, the design, development and application of artificial neural networks as controllers have derived their inspiration from biology. Biologists and artificial intelligence researchers are trying to understand the effects of neural network learning during the lifetime of the individuals on evolution of these individuals by qualitative and quantitative analyses. The conclusion of these analyses can help develop optimized artificial neural networks to perform any given task. The purpose of this thesis is to study the effects of learning on evolution. This has been done by applying Temporal Difference Reinforcement Learning methods to the evolution of Artificial Neural Tissue controller. The controller has been assigned the task to collect resources in a designated area in a simulated environment. The performance of the individuals is measured by the amount of resources collected. A comparison has been made between the results obtained by incorporating learning in evolution and evolution alone. The effects of learning parameters: learning rate, training period, discount rate, and policy on evolution have also been studied. It was observed that learning delays the performance of the evolving individuals over the generations. However, the non zero learning rate throughout the evolution process signifies natural selection preferring individuals possessing plasticity.

  13. Personalized Learning: From Neurogenetics of Behaviors to Designing Optimal Language Training

    PubMed Central

    Wong, Patrick C. M.; Vuong, Loan; Liu, Kevin

    2016-01-01

    Variability in drug responsivity has prompted the development of Personalized Medicine, which has shown great promise in utilizing genotypic information to develop safer and more effective drug regimens for patients. Similarly, individual variability in learning outcomes has puzzled researchers who seek to create optimal learning environments for students. “Personalized Learning” seeks to identify genetic, neural and behavioral predictors of individual differences in learning and aims to use predictors to help create optimal teaching paradigms. Evidence for Personalized Learning can be observed by connecting research in pharmacogenomics, cognitive genetics and behavioral experiments across domains of learning, which provides a framework for conducting empirical studies from the laboratory to the classroom and holds promise for addressing learning effectiveness in the individual learners. Evidence can also be seen in the subdomain of speech learning, thus providing initial support for the applicability of Personalized Learning to language. PMID:27720749

  14. High School Male and Female Learning-Style Similarities and Differences in Diverse Nations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Honigsfeld, Andrea; Dunn, Rita

    2003-01-01

    Investigated gender differences in the learning styles of high school boys and girls from Bermuda, Brunei, Hungary, Sweden, and New Zealand. Data from student surveys indicated that although boys' and girls' learning styles differed in numerous ways, individuals within each group were more unique then either group as a whole. Country-specific…

  15. Statistical learning as an individual ability: Theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence

    PubMed Central

    Siegelman, Noam; Frost, Ram

    2015-01-01

    Although the power of statistical learning (SL) in explaining a wide range of linguistic functions is gaining increasing support, relatively little research has focused on this theoretical construct from the perspective of individual differences. However, to be able to reliably link individual differences in a given ability such as language learning to individual differences in SL, three critical theoretical questions should be posed: Is SL a componential or unified ability? Is it nested within other general cognitive abilities? Is it a stable capacity of an individual? Following an initial mapping sentence outlining the possible dimensions of SL, we employed a battery of SL tasks in the visual and auditory modalities, using verbal and non-verbal stimuli, with adjacent and non-adjacent contingencies. SL tasks were administered along with general cognitive tasks in a within-subject design at two time points to explore our theoretical questions. We found that SL, as measured by some tasks, is a stable and reliable capacity of an individual. Moreover, we found SL to be independent of general cognitive abilities such as intelligence or working memory. However, SL is not a unified capacity, so that individual sensitivity to conditional probabilities is not uniform across modalities and stimuli. PMID:25821343

  16. Intact implicit learning in autism spectrum conditions.

    PubMed

    Brown, Jamie; Aczel, Balazs; Jiménez, Luis; Kaufman, Scott Barry; Grant, Kate Plaisted

    2010-09-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum condition (ASC) have diagnostic impairments in skills that are associated with an implicit acquisition; however, it is not clear whether ASC individuals show specific implicit learning deficits. We compared ASC and typically developing (TD) individuals matched for IQ on five learning tasks: four implicit learning tasks--contextual cueing, serial reaction time, artificial grammar learning, and probabilistic classification learning tasks--that used procedures expressly designed to minimize the use of explicit strategies, and one comparison explicit learning task, paired associates learning. We found implicit learning to be intact in ASC. Beyond no evidence of differences, there was evidence of statistical equivalence between the groups on all the implicit learning tasks. This was not a consequence of compensation by explicit learning ability or IQ. Furthermore, there was no evidence to relate implicit learning to ASC symptomatology. We conclude that implicit mechanisms are preserved in ASC and propose that it is disruption by other atypical processes that impact negatively on the development of skills associated with an implicit acquisition.

  17. Inter-individual differences in the initial 80 minutes of motor learning of handrim wheelchair propulsion.

    PubMed

    Vegter, Riemer J K; Lamoth, Claudine J; de Groot, Sonja; Veeger, Dirkjan H E J; van der Woude, Lucas H V

    2014-01-01

    Handrim wheelchair propulsion is a cyclic skill that needs to be learned during rehabilitation. Yet it is unclear how inter-individual differences in motor learning impact wheelchair propulsion practice. Therefore we studied how early-identified motor learning styles in novice able-bodied participants impact the outcome of a low-intensity wheelchair-practice intervention. Over a 12-minute pre-test, 39 participants were split in two groups based on a relative 10% increase in mechanical efficiency. Following the pretest the participants continued one of four different low-intensity wheelchair practice interventions, yet all performed in the same trial-setup with a total 80-minute dose at 1.11 m/s at 0.20 W/kg. Instead of focusing on the effect of the different interventions, we focused on differences in motor learning between participants over the intervention. Twenty-six participants started the pretest with a lower mechanical efficiency and a less optimal propulsion technique, but showed a fast improvement during the first 12 minutes and this effect continued over the 80 minutes of practice. Eventually these initially fast improvers benefitted more from the given practice indicated by a better propulsion technique (like reduced frequency and increased stroke angle) and a higher mechanical efficiency. The initially fast improvers also had a higher intra-individual variability in the pre and posttest, which possibly relates to the increased motor learning of the initially fast improvers. Further exploration of the common characteristics of different types of learners will help to better tailor rehabilitation to the needs of wheelchair-dependent persons and improve our understanding of cyclic motor learning processes.

  18. More than one way to see it: Individual heuristics in avian visual computation.

    PubMed

    Ravignani, Andrea; Westphal-Fitch, Gesche; Aust, Ulrike; Schlumpp, Martin M; Fitch, W Tecumseh

    2015-10-01

    Comparative pattern learning experiments investigate how different species find regularities in sensory input, providing insights into cognitive processing in humans and other animals. Past research has focused either on one species' ability to process pattern classes or different species' performance in recognizing the same pattern, with little attention to individual and species-specific heuristics and decision strategies. We trained and tested two bird species, pigeons (Columba livia) and kea (Nestor notabilis, a parrot species), on visual patterns using touch-screen technology. Patterns were composed of several abstract elements and had varying degrees of structural complexity. We developed a model selection paradigm, based on regular expressions, that allowed us to reconstruct the specific decision strategies and cognitive heuristics adopted by a given individual in our task. Individual birds showed considerable differences in the number, type and heterogeneity of heuristic strategies adopted. Birds' choices also exhibited consistent species-level differences. Kea adopted effective heuristic strategies, based on matching learned bigrams to stimulus edges. Individual pigeons, in contrast, adopted an idiosyncratic mix of strategies that included local transition probabilities and global string similarity. Although performance was above chance and quite high for kea, no individual of either species provided clear evidence of learning exactly the rule used to generate the training stimuli. Our results show that similar behavioral outcomes can be achieved using dramatically different strategies and highlight the dangers of combining multiple individuals in a group analysis. These findings, and our general approach, have implications for the design of future pattern learning experiments, and the interpretation of comparative cognition research more generally. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. The Development of a Comprehensive and Coherent Theory of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Illeris, Knud

    2015-01-01

    This article is an account of how the author developed a comprehensive understanding of human learning over a period of almost 50 years. The learning theory includes the structure of learning, different types of learning, barriers of learning as well as how individual dispositions, age, the learning environment and general social and societal…

  20. Aberrant Learning Achievement Detection Based on Person-Fit Statistics in Personalized e-Learning Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Ming-Tsung; Yu, Pao-Ta

    2011-01-01

    A personalized e-learning service provides learning content to fit learners' individual differences. Learning achievements are influenced by cognitive as well as non-cognitive factors such as mood, motivation, interest, and personal styles. This paper proposes the Learning Caution Indexes (LCI) to detect aberrant learning patterns. The philosophy…

  1. Chimpanzees demonstrate individual differences in social information use.

    PubMed

    Watson, Stuart K; Vale, Gillian L; Hopper, Lydia M; Dean, Lewis G; Kendal, Rachel L; Price, Elizabeth E; Wood, Lara A; Davis, Sarah J; Schapiro, Steven J; Lambeth, Susan P; Whiten, Andrew

    2018-06-19

    Studies of transmission biases in social learning have greatly informed our understanding of how behaviour patterns may diffuse through animal populations, yet within-species inter-individual variation in social information use has received little attention and remains poorly understood. We have addressed this question by examining individual performances across multiple experiments with the same population of primates. We compiled a dataset spanning 16 social learning studies (26 experimental conditions) carried out at the same study site over a 12-year period, incorporating a total of 167 chimpanzees. We applied a binary scoring system to code each participant's performance in each study according to whether they demonstrated evidence of using social information from conspecifics to solve the experimental task or not (Social Information Score-'SIS'). Bayesian binomial mixed effects models were then used to estimate the extent to which individual differences influenced SIS, together with any effects of sex, rearing history, age, prior involvement in research and task type on SIS. An estimate of repeatability found that approximately half of the variance in SIS was accounted for by individual identity, indicating that individual differences play a critical role in the social learning behaviour of chimpanzees. According to the model that best fit the data, females were, depending on their rearing history, 15-24% more likely to use social information to solve experimental tasks than males. However, there was no strong evidence of an effect of age or research experience, and pedigree records indicated that SIS was not a strongly heritable trait. Our study offers a novel, transferable method for the study of individual differences in social learning.

  2. Competency-Based Accounting Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, John E.

    1977-01-01

    Shows how the proposed model (an individualized competency based learning system) can be used effectively to produce a course in accounting principles which adapts to different entering competencies and to different rates and styles of learning. (TA)

  3. Students' Attitudes to Classroom English Learning: A Cross-Cultural Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Littlewood, William

    2001-01-01

    Examines learner attitudes toward classroom learning of English, with particular focus on collectivism versus individualism, attitudes towards authority, and types of achievement motivation. Data are collected from eight Asian and three European countries. Although many attitudinal differences occur between individual countries, striking…

  4. Working memory and reward association learning impairments in obesity.

    PubMed

    Coppin, Géraldine; Nolan-Poupart, Sarah; Jones-Gotman, Marilyn; Small, Dana M

    2014-12-01

    Obesity has been associated with impaired executive functions including working memory. Less explored is the influence of obesity on learning and memory. In the current study we assessed stimulus reward association learning, explicit learning and memory and working memory in healthy weight, overweight and obese individuals. Explicit learning and memory did not differ as a function of group. In contrast, working memory was significantly and similarly impaired in both overweight and obese individuals compared to the healthy weight group. In the first reward association learning task the obese, but not healthy weight or overweight participants consistently formed paradoxical preferences for a pattern associated with a negative outcome (fewer food rewards). To determine if the deficit was specific to food reward a second experiment was conducted using money. Consistent with Experiment 1, obese individuals selected the pattern associated with a negative outcome (fewer monetary rewards) more frequently than healthy weight individuals and thus failed to develop a significant preference for the most rewarded patterns as was observed in the healthy weight group. Finally, on a probabilistic learning task, obese compared to healthy weight individuals showed deficits in negative, but not positive outcome learning. Taken together, our results demonstrate deficits in working memory and stimulus reward learning in obesity and suggest that obese individuals are impaired in learning to avoid negative outcomes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability.

    PubMed

    Wu, Howard G; Miyamoto, Yohsuke R; Gonzalez Castro, Luis Nicolas; Ölveczky, Bence P; Smith, Maurice A

    2014-02-01

    Individual differences in motor learning ability are widely acknowledged, yet little is known about the factors that underlie them. Here we explore whether movement-to-movement variability in motor output, a ubiquitous if often unwanted characteristic of motor performance, predicts motor learning ability. Surprisingly, we found that higher levels of task-relevant motor variability predicted faster learning both across individuals and across tasks in two different paradigms, one relying on reward-based learning to shape specific arm movement trajectories and the other relying on error-based learning to adapt movements in novel physical environments. We proceeded to show that training can reshape the temporal structure of motor variability, aligning it with the trained task to improve learning. These results provide experimental support for the importance of action exploration, a key idea from reinforcement learning theory, showing that motor variability facilitates motor learning in humans and that our nervous systems actively regulate it to improve learning.

  6. Temporal structure of motor variability is dynamically regulated and predicts motor learning ability

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Howard G; Miyamoto, Yohsuke R; Castro, Luis Nicolas Gonzalez; Ölveczky, Bence P; Smith, Maurice A

    2015-01-01

    Individual differences in motor learning ability are widely acknowledged, yet little is known about the factors that underlie them. Here we explore whether movement-to-movement variability in motor output, a ubiquitous if often unwanted characteristic of motor performance, predicts motor learning ability. Surprisingly, we found that higher levels of task-relevant motor variability predicted faster learning both across individuals and across tasks in two different paradigms, one relying on reward-based learning to shape specific arm movement trajectories and the other relying on error-based learning to adapt movements in novel physical environments. We proceeded to show that training can reshape the temporal structure of motor variability, aligning it with the trained task to improve learning. These results provide experimental support for the importance of action exploration, a key idea from reinforcement learning theory, showing that motor variability facilitates motor learning in humans and that our nervous systems actively regulate it to improve learning. PMID:24413700

  7. Identifying Learning Preferences in Vocational Education and Training Classroom Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Peter J.

    2006-01-01

    This research was designed to assess whether teachers and trainers of vocational learners noted and valued differences in individual learning preferences and, if so, how those differences were observed in natural classroom, workshop or other formal learning settings. Data were collected from six vocational education and training (VET) learning…

  8. Learned Helplessness in High School Students Following Experience of Noncontingent Rewards.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buys, Nicholas J.; Winefield, Anthony H.

    1982-01-01

    Compared high-school students differing in achievement motivation in a learned helplessness experiment. A strong helplessness effect was observed in both high- and low-achievement motivation groups. Results show a strong learned helplessness effect unrelated to individual differences in achievement motivation and refute claims that helplessness…

  9. On the number of independent cultural traits carried by individuals and populations.

    PubMed

    Lehmann, Laurent; Aoki, Kenichi; Feldman, Marcus W

    2011-02-12

    In species subject to individual and social learning, each individual is likely to express a certain number of different cultural traits acquired during its lifetime. If the process of trait innovation and transmission reaches a steady state in the population, the number of different cultural traits carried by an individual converges to some stationary distribution. We call this the trait-number distribution. In this paper, we derive the trait-number distributions for both individuals and populations when cultural traits are independent of each other. Our results suggest that as the number of cultural traits becomes large, the trait-number distributions approach Poisson distributions so that their means characterize cultural diversity in the population. We then analyse how the mean trait number varies at both the individual and population levels as a function of various demographic features, such as population size and subdivision, and social learning rules, such as conformism and anti-conformism. Diversity at the individual and population levels, as well as at the level of cultural homogeneity within groups, depends critically on the details of population demography and the individual and social learning rules.

  10. The Preferences of In-Service ELT Teachers' Language Learning Strategies in Their Own Language Learning Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koç, Hatice Kübra

    2017-01-01

    As a still popular research area, Language Learning Strategies (LLS) researches need to be enhanced, since it consists of different phenomenon such as age, gender, individual differences and learning environment. At a glance, previous studies in the literature state that most of LLS researches are conducted in just learner-contexts in schools or…

  11. Who Reaps the Benefits of Social Change? Exploration and Its Socioecological Boundaries.

    PubMed

    Lechner, Clemens M; Obschonka, Martin; Silbereisen, Rainer K

    2017-04-01

    We investigated the interplay between the personality trait exploration and objective socioecological conditions in shaping individual differences in the experience of two individual-level benefits of current social change: new lifestyle options, which arise from the societal trend toward individualization, and new learning opportunities, which accrue from the societal trend toward lifelong learning. We hypothesized that people with higher trait exploration experience a greater increase in lifestyle options and learning opportunities--but more so in social ecologies in which individualization and lifelong learning are stronger, thus offering greater latitude for exploring the benefits of these trends. We employed structural equation modeling in two parallel adult samples from Germany (N = 2,448) and Poland (N = 2,571), using regional divorce rates as a proxy for individualization and Internet domain registration rates as a proxy for lifelong learning. Higher exploration was related to a greater perceived increase in lifestyle options and in learning opportunities over the past 5 years. These associations were stronger in regions in which the trends toward individualization and lifelong learning, respectively, were more prominent. Individuals higher in exploration are better equipped to reap the benefits of current social change--but the effects of exploration are bounded by the conditions in the social ecology. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. EEG Beta Power but Not Background Music Predicts the Recall Scores in a Foreign-Vocabulary Learning Task.

    PubMed

    Küssner, Mats B; de Groot, Annette M B; Hofman, Winni F; Hillen, Marij A

    2016-01-01

    As tantalizing as the idea that background music beneficially affects foreign vocabulary learning may seem, there is-partly due to a lack of theory-driven research-no consistent evidence to support this notion. We investigated inter-individual differences in the effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. Based on Eysenck's theory of personality we predicted that individuals with a high level of cortical arousal should perform worse when learning with background music compared to silence, whereas individuals with a low level of cortical arousal should be unaffected by background music or benefit from it. Participants were tested in a paired-associate learning paradigm consisting of three immediate word recall tasks, as well as a delayed recall task one week later. Baseline cortical arousal assessed with spontaneous EEG measurement in silence prior to the learning rounds was used for the analyses. Results revealed no interaction between cortical arousal and the learning condition (background music vs. silence). Instead, we found an unexpected main effect of cortical arousal in the beta band on recall, indicating that individuals with high beta power learned more vocabulary than those with low beta power. To substantiate this finding we conducted an exact replication of the experiment. Whereas the main effect of cortical arousal was only present in a subsample of participants, a beneficial main effect of background music appeared. A combined analysis of both experiments suggests that beta power predicts the performance in the word recall task, but that there is no effect of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. In light of these findings, we discuss whether searching for effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning, independent of factors such as inter-individual differences and task complexity, might be a red herring. Importantly, our findings emphasize the need for sufficiently powered research designs and exact replications of theory-driven experiments when investigating effects of background music and inter-individual variation on task performance.

  13. EEG Beta Power but Not Background Music Predicts the Recall Scores in a Foreign-Vocabulary Learning Task

    PubMed Central

    de Groot, Annette M. B.; Hofman, Winni F.; Hillen, Marij A.

    2016-01-01

    As tantalizing as the idea that background music beneficially affects foreign vocabulary learning may seem, there is—partly due to a lack of theory-driven research—no consistent evidence to support this notion. We investigated inter-individual differences in the effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. Based on Eysenck’s theory of personality we predicted that individuals with a high level of cortical arousal should perform worse when learning with background music compared to silence, whereas individuals with a low level of cortical arousal should be unaffected by background music or benefit from it. Participants were tested in a paired-associate learning paradigm consisting of three immediate word recall tasks, as well as a delayed recall task one week later. Baseline cortical arousal assessed with spontaneous EEG measurement in silence prior to the learning rounds was used for the analyses. Results revealed no interaction between cortical arousal and the learning condition (background music vs. silence). Instead, we found an unexpected main effect of cortical arousal in the beta band on recall, indicating that individuals with high beta power learned more vocabulary than those with low beta power. To substantiate this finding we conducted an exact replication of the experiment. Whereas the main effect of cortical arousal was only present in a subsample of participants, a beneficial main effect of background music appeared. A combined analysis of both experiments suggests that beta power predicts the performance in the word recall task, but that there is no effect of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. In light of these findings, we discuss whether searching for effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning, independent of factors such as inter-individual differences and task complexity, might be a red herring. Importantly, our findings emphasize the need for sufficiently powered research designs and exact replications of theory-driven experiments when investigating effects of background music and inter-individual variation on task performance. PMID:27537520

  14. Pay-off-biased social learning underlies the diffusion of novel extractive foraging traditions in a wild primate

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    The type and variety of learning strategies used by individuals to acquire behaviours in the wild are poorly understood, despite the presence of behavioural traditions in diverse taxa. Social learning strategies such as conformity can be broadly adaptive, but may also retard the spread of adaptive innovations. Strategies like pay-off-biased learning, by contrast, are effective at diffusing new behaviour but may perform poorly when adaptive behaviour is common. We present a field experiment in a wild primate, Cebus capucinus, that introduced a novel food item and documented the innovation and diffusion of successful extraction techniques. We develop a multilevel, Bayesian statistical analysis that allows us to quantify individual-level evidence for different social and individual learning strategies. We find that pay-off-biased and age-biased social learning are primarily responsible for the diffusion of new techniques. We find no evidence of conformity; instead rare techniques receive slightly increased attention. We also find substantial and important variation in individual learning strategies that is patterned by age, with younger individuals being more influenced by both social information and their own individual experience. The aggregate cultural dynamics in turn depend upon the variation in learning strategies and the age structure of the wild population. PMID:28592681

  15. "A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture": Correction to Kane et al. (2017).

    PubMed

    2018-04-01

    Reports an error in "A combined experimental and individual-differences investigation into mind wandering during a video lecture" by Michael J. Kane, Bridget A. Smeekens, Claudia C. von Bastian, John H. Lurquin, Nicholas P. Carruth and Akira Miyake ( Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 2017[Nov], Vol 146[11], 1649-1674). In the article, the legends for Figure 2 and Figure 4 were erroneous. The correct figures are included in the errata. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2017-48585-001.) A combined experimental-correlational study with a diverse sample (N = 182) from 2 research sites tested a set of 5 a priori hypotheses about mind wandering and learning, using a realistic video lecture on introductory statistics. Specifically, the study examined whether students' vulnerability to mind wandering during the lecture would predict learning from, and situational interest in, the video and also whether longhand note-taking would help reduce mind wandering, at least for some students. One half of the participants took notes during the video, and all were subsequently tested on lecture content without notes. Regression and mediation analyses indicated that (a) several individual-differences variables (e.g., pretest score, prior math interest, classroom media multitasking habits) uniquely predicted in-lecture mind wandering frequency; (b) although the note-taking manipulation did not reduce mind wandering at the group level, note-taking still reduced mind wandering for some individuals (i.e., those with lower prior knowledge and those who took notes of high quality and quantity); (c) mind wandering uniquely predicted both learning (posttest) and situational interest outcomes above and beyond all other individual-differences variables; (d) moreover, mind wandering significantly mediated the effects of several individual differences; and, finally, (e) not all types of mind wandering were problematic-in fact, off-task reflections about lecture-related topics positively predicted learning. These results, which were generally robust across the 2 sites, suggest that educationally focused cognitive research may benefit from considering attentional processes during learning as well as cognitive and noncognitive individual differences that affect attention and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in the Adult Brain and Success in Second-Language Learning.

    PubMed

    Chai, Xiaoqian J; Berken, Jonathan A; Barbeau, Elise B; Soles, Jennika; Callahan, Megan; Chen, Jen-Kai; Klein, Denise

    2016-01-20

    There is considerable variability in an individual's ability to acquire a second language (L2) during adulthood. Using resting-state fMRI data acquired before training in English speakers who underwent a 12 week intensive French immersion training course, we investigated whether individual differences in intrinsic resting-state functional connectivity relate to a person's ability to acquire an L2. We focused on two key aspects of language processing--lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech and reading speed--and computed whole-brain functional connectivity from two regions of interest in the language network, namely the left anterior insula/frontal operculum (AI/FO) and the visual word form area (VWFA). Connectivity between the left AI/FO and left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and between the left AI/FO and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex correlated positively with improvement in L2 lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech. Connectivity between the VWFA and left mid-STG correlated positively with improvement in L2 reading speed. These findings are consistent with the different language functions subserved by subcomponents of the language network and suggest that the human capacity to learn an L2 can be predicted by an individual's intrinsic functional connectivity within the language network. Significance statement: There is considerable variability in second-language learning abilities during adulthood. We investigated whether individual differences in intrinsic functional connectivity in the adult brain relate to success in second-language learning, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in English speakers who underwent a 12 week intensive French immersion training course. We found that pretraining functional connectivity within two different language subnetworks correlated strongly with learning outcome in two different language skills: lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech and reading speed. Our results suggest that the human capacity to learn a second language can be predicted by an individual's intrinsic functional connectivity within the language network. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/360755-07$15.00/0.

  17. Learning Style Preferences: An Examination of Differences amongst Students with Different Disciplinary Backgrounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Frances; Tomkinson, Bland; Hiley, Anna; Dobson, Helen

    2016-01-01

    The context of this study is of students with backgrounds in a variety of engineering and social science disciplines, and from first degrees in different countries, coming together to study Project Management. Tailoring teaching to all individuals' learning styles is not possible, but, in an attempt to learn how to teach better in ways that fit…

  18. Intraspecific Variation in Learning: Worker Wasps Are Less Able to Learn and Remember Individual Conspecific Faces than Queen Wasps.

    PubMed

    Tibbetts, Elizabeth A; Injaian, Allison; Sheehan, Michael J; Desjardins, Nicole

    2018-05-01

    Research on individual recognition often focuses on species-typical recognition abilities rather than assessing intraspecific variation in recognition. As individual recognition is cognitively costly, the capacity for recognition may vary within species. We test how individual face recognition differs between nest-founding queens (foundresses) and workers in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps. Individual recognition mediates dominance interactions among foundresses. Three previously published experiments have shown that foundresses (1) benefit by advertising their identity with distinctive facial patterns that facilitate recognition, (2) have robust memories of individuals, and (3) rapidly learn to distinguish between face images. Like foundresses, workers have variable facial patterns and are capable of individual recognition. However, worker dominance interactions are muted. Therefore, individual recognition may be less important for workers than for foundresses. We find that (1) workers with unique faces receive amounts of aggression similar to those of workers with common faces, indicating that wasps do not benefit from advertising their individual identity with a unique appearance; (2) workers lack robust memories for individuals, as they cannot remember unique conspecifics after a 6-day separation; and (3) workers learn to distinguish between facial images more slowly than foundresses during training. The recognition differences between foundresses and workers are notable because Polistes lack discrete castes; foundresses and workers are morphologically similar, and workers can take over as queens. Overall, social benefits and receiver capacity for individual recognition are surprisingly plastic.

  19. Predicting future learning from baseline network architecture.

    PubMed

    Mattar, Marcelo G; Wymbs, Nicholas F; Bock, Andrew S; Aguirre, Geoffrey K; Grafton, Scott T; Bassett, Danielle S

    2018-05-15

    Human behavior and cognition result from a complex pattern of interactions between brain regions. The flexible reconfiguration of these patterns enables behavioral adaptation, such as the acquisition of a new motor skill. Yet, the degree to which these reconfigurations depend on the brain's baseline sensorimotor integration is far from understood. Here, we asked whether spontaneous fluctuations in sensorimotor networks at baseline were predictive of individual differences in future learning. We analyzed functional MRI data from 19 participants prior to six weeks of training on a new motor skill. We found that visual-motor connectivity was inversely related to learning rate: sensorimotor autonomy at baseline corresponded to faster learning in the future. Using three additional scans, we found that visual-motor connectivity at baseline is a relatively stable individual trait. These results suggest that individual differences in motor skill learning can be predicted from sensorimotor autonomy at baseline prior to task execution. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Children's Learning in Scientific Thinking: Instructional Approaches and Roles of Variable Identification and Executive Function

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blums, Angela

    The present study examines instructional approaches and cognitive factors involved in elementary school children's thinking and learning the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), a critical aspect of scientific reasoning. Previous research has identified several features related to effective instruction of CVS, including using a guided learning approach, the use of self-reflective questions, and learning in individual and group contexts. The current study examined the roles of procedural and conceptual instruction in learning CVS and investigated the role of executive function in the learning process. Additionally, this study examined how learning to identify variables is a part of the CVS process. In two studies (individual and classroom experiments), 139 third, fourth, and fifth grade students participated in hands-on and paper and pencil CVS learning activities and, in each study, were assigned to either a procedural instruction, conceptual instruction, or control (no instruction) group. Participants also completed a series of executive function tasks. The study was carried out with two parts--Study 1 used an individual context and Study 2 was carried out in a group setting. Results indicated that procedural and conceptual instruction were more effective than no instruction, and the ability to identify variables was identified as a key piece to the CVS process. Executive function predicted ability to identify variables and predicted success on CVS tasks. Developmental differences were present, in that older children outperformed younger children on CVS tasks, and that conceptual instruction was slightly more effective for older children. Some differences between individual and group instruction were found, with those in the individual context showing some advantage over the those in the group setting in learning CVS concepts. Conceptual implications about scientific thinking and practical implications in science education are discussed.

  1. A Two Hundred Year History of Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carlson, Shirley

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this paper was to track the history of learning disabilities and collect intervention theories which might be helpful for adult college students suffering from any number of learning disabilities (LD). There is a vast difference between a learning difficulty and a learning disability; an individual with learning difficulty can learn…

  2. Investigating the Determinants and Age and Gender Differences in the Acceptance of Mobile Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Yi-Shun; Wu, Ming-Cheng; Wang, Hsiu-Yuan

    2009-01-01

    With the proliferation of mobile computing technology, mobile learning (m-learning) will play a vital role in the rapidly growing electronic learning market. M-learning is the delivery of learning to students anytime and anywhere through the use of wireless Internet and mobile devices. However, acceptance of m-learning by individuals is critical…

  3. Frontostriatal anatomical connections predict age- and difficulty-related differences in reinforcement learning.

    PubMed

    van de Vijver, Irene; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Harsay, Helga; Reneman, Liesbeth; Cavanagh, James F; Buitenweg, Jessika I V; Cohen, Michael X

    2016-10-01

    Reinforcement learning (RL) is supported by a network of striatal and frontal cortical structures that are connected through white-matter fiber bundles. With age, the integrity of these white-matter connections declines. The role of structural frontostriatal connectivity in individual and age-related differences in RL is unclear, although local white-matter density and diffusivity have been linked to individual differences in RL. Here we show that frontostriatal tract counts in young human adults (aged 18-28), as assessed noninvasively with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography, positively predicted individual differences in RL when learning was difficult (70% valid feedback). In older adults (aged 63-87), in contrast, learning under both easy (90% valid feedback) and difficult conditions was predicted by tract counts in the same frontostriatal network. Furthermore, network-level analyses showed a double dissociation between the task-relevant networks in young and older adults, suggesting that older adults relied on different frontostriatal networks than young adults to obtain the same task performance. These results highlight the importance of successful information integration across striatal and frontal regions during RL, especially with variable outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Conceptual Analysis and Implications of Students' Individual Differences to Curriculum Implementation in Technical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akpan, Godwin A.; Essien, Emmanuel O.; Okure, Okure S.

    2013-01-01

    Individual differences refer to the unique ways each human being differs from another human being as expressed in behaviour or perceived in the physical appearance. Three factors of individual differences identified to be closely related to learning/acquisition of skills and performance of tasks. These are personality dimensions, self-efficacy and…

  5. The relationship between intelligence and training gains is moderated by training strategy.

    PubMed

    Lee, Hyunkyu; Boot, Walter R; Baniqued, Pauline L; Voss, Michelle W; Prakash, Ruchika Shaurya; Basak, Chandramallika; Kramer, Arthur F

    2015-01-01

    We examined the relationship between training regimen and fluid intelligence in the learning of a complex video game. Fifty non-game-playing young adults were trained on a game called Space Fortress for 30 hours with one of two training regimens: (1) Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), with part-task training and a focus on improving specific skills and managing task priorities, and (2) Full Emphasis Training (FET) in which participants practiced the whole game to obtain the highest overall score. Fluid intelligence was measured with the Raven's Progressive Matrix task before training. With FET, fluid intelligence was positively associated with learning, suggesting that intellectual ability played a substantial role in determining individual differences in training success. In contrast, with HVT, fluid intelligence was not associated with learning, suggesting that individual differences in fluid intelligence do not factor into training success in a regimen that emphasizes component tasks and flexible task coordination. By analyzing training effects in terms of individual differences and training regimens, the current study offers a training approach that minimizes the potentially limiting effect of individual differences.

  6. Relationships between Learning Approach, Procrastination and Academic Achievement amongst First-Year University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saele, Rannveig Grøm; Dahl, Tove Irene; Sørlie, Tore; Friborg, Oddgeir

    2017-01-01

    Individual differences in student learning influence academic performance, and two aspects influencing the learning process are the particular learning approach the students use and procrastination behaviour. We examined the relationships between learning approaches, procrastination and academic achievement (measured 1 year later as the grade…

  7. Examining Hypermedia Learning: The Role of Cognitive Load and Self-Regulated Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moos, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Distinct theoretical perspectives, Cognitive Load Theory and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) theory, have been used to examine individual differences the challenges faced with hypermedia learning. However, research has tended to use these theories independently, resulting in less robust explanations of hypermedia learning. This study examined the…

  8. The Importance of Learning Styles: Understanding the Implications for Learning, Course Design, and Education. Contributions to the Study of Education, No. 64.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sims, Ronald R., Ed.; Sims, Serbrenia J., Ed.

    This volume contains 12 papers on models of different learning styles, instruments to evaluate learning styles, and techniques for assessing individual learning characteristics as well as the future of learning style research and its implications for enhancing learning in higher education institutions. The papers are: "Learning Enhancement in…

  9. Children's Early Approaches to Learning and Academic Trajectories through Fifth Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li-Grining, Christine P.; Votruba-Drzal, Elizabeth; Maldonado-Carreno, Carolina; Haas, Kelly

    2010-01-01

    Children's early approaches to learning (ATL) enhance their adaptation to the demands they experience with the start of formal schooling. The current study uses individual growth modeling to investigate whether children's early ATL, which includes persistence, emotion regulation, and attentiveness, explain individual differences in their academic…

  10. Individual Differences in Learning from an Intelligent Discovery World: Smithtown.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shute, Valerie J.

    "Smithtown" is an intelligent computer program designed to enhance an individual's scientific inquiry skills as well as to provide an environment for learning principles of basic microeconomics. It was hypothesized that intelligent computer instruction on applying effective interrogative skills (e.g., changing one variable at a time…

  11. Children Monitor Individuals' Expertise for Word Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sobel, David M.; Corriveau, Kathleen H.

    2010-01-01

    Two experiments examined preschoolers' ability to learn novel words using others' expertise about objects' nonobvious properties. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds (n = 24) endorsed individuals' labels for objects based on their differing causal knowledge about those objects. Experiment 2 examined the robustness of this inference and its development.…

  12. Advanced Instruction: Facilitation of Individual Learning Processes in Large Groups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Putz, Claus; Intveen, Geesche

    2009-01-01

    By supplying various combinations of advanced instructions and different forms of exercises individual learning processes within the impartation of basic knowledge can be activated and supported at best. The fundamentals of our class "Introduction to spatial-geometric cognition using CAD" are constructional inputs, which systematically induce the…

  13. Student Learning: Education's Field of Dreams.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blackwell, Peggy L.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses seven research-based benchmarks providing a framework for the student-learning-focused reform of teacher education: knowledge and understanding based on previous experience, usable content knowledge, transfer of learning/the learning context, strategic thinking, motivation and affect, development and individual differences, and standards…

  14. Learning Style Preferences of Southeast Asian Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Clara C.

    2000-01-01

    Investigated the perceptual learning style preferences (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile) and preferences for group and individual learning of Southeast Asian students compared to white students. Surveys indicated significant differences in learning style preferences between Southeast Asian and white students and between the diverse…

  15. Does fear extinction in the laboratory predict outcomes of exposure therapy? A treatment analog study.

    PubMed

    Forcadell, Eduard; Torrents-Rodas, David; Vervliet, Bram; Leiva, David; Tortella-Feliu, Miquel; Fullana, Miquel A

    2017-11-01

    Fear extinction models have a key role in our understanding of anxiety disorders and their treatment with exposure therapy. Here, we tested whether individual differences in fear extinction learning and fear extinction recall in the laboratory were associated with the outcomes of an exposure therapy analog (ETA). Fifty adults with fear of spiders participated in a two-day fear-learning paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and fear extinction recall, and then underwent a brief ETA. Correlational analyses indicated that enhanced extinction learning was associated with better ETA outcome. Our results partially support the idea that individual differences in fear extinction learning may be associated with exposure therapy outcome, but suggest that further research in this area is needed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Are individuals with Parkinson's disease capable of speech-motor learning? - A preliminary evaluation.

    PubMed

    Kaipa, Ramesh; Jones, Richard D; Robb, Michael P

    2016-07-01

    The benefits of different practice conditions in limb-based rehabilitation of motor disorders are well documented. Conversely, the role of practice structure in the treatment of motor-based speech disorders has only been minimally investigated. Considering this limitation, the current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of selected practice conditions in spatial and temporal learning of novel speech utterances in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Participants included 16 individuals with PD who were randomly and equally assigned to constant, variable, random, and blocked practice conditions. Participants in all four groups practiced a speech phrase for two consecutive days, and reproduced the speech phrase on the third day without further practice or feedback. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between participants across the four practice conditions with respect to either spatial or temporal learning of the speech phrase. Overall, PD participants demonstrated diminished spatial and temporal learning in comparison to healthy controls. Tests of strength of association between participants' demographic/clinical characteristics and speech-motor learning outcomes did not reveal any significant correlations. The findings from the current study suggest that repeated practice facilitates speech-motor learning in individuals with PD irrespective of the type of practice. Clinicians need to be cautious in applying practice conditions to treat speech deficits associated with PD based on the findings of non-speech-motor learning tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Inter-Individual Differences in the Initial 80 Minutes of Motor Learning of Handrim Wheelchair Propulsion

    PubMed Central

    Vegter, Riemer J. K.; Lamoth, Claudine J.; de Groot, Sonja; Veeger, Dirkjan H. E. J.; van der Woude, Lucas H. V.

    2014-01-01

    Handrim wheelchair propulsion is a cyclic skill that needs to be learned during rehabilitation. Yet it is unclear how inter-individual differences in motor learning impact wheelchair propulsion practice. Therefore we studied how early-identified motor learning styles in novice able-bodied participants impact the outcome of a low-intensity wheelchair-practice intervention. Over a 12-minute pre-test, 39 participants were split in two groups based on a relative 10% increase in mechanical efficiency. Following the pretest the participants continued one of four different low-intensity wheelchair practice interventions, yet all performed in the same trial-setup with a total 80-minute dose at 1.11 m/s at 0.20 W/kg. Instead of focusing on the effect of the different interventions, we focused on differences in motor learning between participants over the intervention. Twenty-six participants started the pretest with a lower mechanical efficiency and a less optimal propulsion technique, but showed a fast improvement during the first 12 minutes and this effect continued over the 80 minutes of practice. Eventually these initially fast improvers benefitted more from the given practice indicated by a better propulsion technique (like reduced frequency and increased stroke angle) and a higher mechanical efficiency. The initially fast improvers also had a higher intra-individual variability in the pre and posttest, which possibly relates to the increased motor learning of the initially fast improvers. Further exploration of the common characteristics of different types of learners will help to better tailor rehabilitation to the needs of wheelchair-dependent persons and improve our understanding of cyclic motor learning processes. PMID:24586992

  18. The Role of Age and Executive Function in Auditory Category Learning

    PubMed Central

    Reetzke, Rachel; Maddox, W. Todd; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

    2015-01-01

    Auditory categorization is a natural and adaptive process that allows for the organization of high-dimensional, continuous acoustic information into discrete representations. Studies in the visual domain have identified a rule-based learning system that learns and reasons via a hypothesis-testing process that requires working memory and executive attention. The rule-based learning system in vision shows a protracted development, reflecting the influence of maturing prefrontal function on visual categorization. The aim of the current study is two-fold: (a) to examine the developmental trajectory of rule-based auditory category learning from childhood through adolescence, into early adulthood; and (b) to examine the extent to which individual differences in rule-based category learning relate to individual differences in executive function. Sixty participants with normal hearing, 20 children (age range, 7–12), 21 adolescents (age range, 13–19), and 19 young adults (age range, 20–23), learned to categorize novel dynamic ripple sounds using trial-by-trial feedback. The spectrotemporally modulated ripple sounds are considered the auditory equivalent of the well-studied Gabor patches in the visual domain. Results revealed that auditory categorization accuracy improved with age, with young adults outperforming children and adolescents. Computational modeling analyses indicated that the use of the task-optimal strategy (i.e. a conjunctive rule-based learning strategy) improved with age. Notably, individual differences in executive flexibility significantly predicted auditory category learning success. The current findings demonstrate a protracted development of rule-based auditory categorization. The results further suggest that executive flexibility coupled with perceptual processes play important roles in successful rule-based auditory category learning. PMID:26491987

  19. Overcoming the obstacles: Life stories of scientists with learning disabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Force, Crista Marie

    Scientific discovery is at the heart of solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Scientists are retiring at rates that exceed the numbers of new scientists. Unfortunately, scientific careers still appear to be outside the reach of most individuals with learning disabilities. The purpose of this research was to better understand the methods by which successful learning disabled scientists have overcome the barriers and challenges associated with their learning disabilities in their preparation and performance as scientists. This narrative inquiry involved the researcher writing the life stories of four scientists. These life stories were generated from extensive interviews in which each of the scientists recounted their life histories. The researcher used narrative analysis to "make sense" of these learning disabled scientists' life stories. The narrative analysis required the researcher to identify and describe emergent themes characterizing each scientist's life. A cross-case analysis was then performed to uncover commonalities and differences in the lives of these four individuals. Results of the cross-case analysis revealed that all four scientists had a passion for science that emerged at an early age, which, with strong drive and determination, drove these individuals to succeed in spite of the many obstacles arising from their learning disabilities. The analysis also revealed that these scientists chose careers based on their strengths; they actively sought mentors to guide them in their preparation as scientists; and they developed coping techniques to overcome difficulties and succeed. The cross-case analysis also revealed differences in the degree to which each scientist accepted his or her learning disability. While some demonstrated inferior feelings about their successes as scientists, still other individuals revealed feelings of having superior abilities in areas such as visualization and working with people. These individuals revealed beliefs that they developed these special abilities as a result of their learning differences, which made them better than their non-learning disabled peers in certain areas. Finally, the researcher discusses implications of these findings in the light of special accommodations that can be made by teachers, school counselors, and parents to encourage learning disabled children who demonstrate interest in becoming scientists.

  20. No Trade-Off between Learning Speed and Associative Flexibility in Bumblebees: A Reversal Learning Test with Multiple Colonies

    PubMed Central

    Raine, Nigel E.; Chittka, Lars

    2012-01-01

    Potential trade-offs between learning speed and memory-related performance could be important factors in the evolution of learning. Here, we test whether rapid learning interferes with the acquisition of new information using a reversal learning paradigm. Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) were trained to associate yellow with a floral reward. Subsequently the association between colour and reward was reversed, meaning bees then had to learn to visit blue flowers. We demonstrate that individuals that were fast to learn yellow as a predictor of reward were also quick to reverse this association. Furthermore, overnight memory retention tests suggest that faster learning individuals are also better at retaining previously learned information. There is also an effect of relatedness: colonies whose workers were fast to learn the association between yellow and reward also reversed this association rapidly. These results are inconsistent with a trade-off between learning speed and the reversal of a previously made association. On the contrary, they suggest that differences in learning performance and cognitive (behavioural) flexibility could reflect more general differences in colony learning ability. Hence, this study provides additional evidence to support the idea that rapid learning and behavioural flexibility have adaptive value. PMID:23028779

  1. The left hemisphere learns what is right: Hemispatial reward learning depends on reinforcement learning processes in the contralateral hemisphere.

    PubMed

    Aberg, Kristoffer Carl; Doell, Kimberly Crystal; Schwartz, Sophie

    2016-08-01

    Orienting biases refer to consistent, trait-like direction of attention or locomotion toward one side of space. Recent studies suggest that such hemispatial biases may determine how well people memorize information presented in the left or right hemifield. Moreover, lesion studies indicate that learning rewarded stimuli in one hemispace depends on the integrity of the contralateral striatum. However, the exact neural and computational mechanisms underlying the influence of individual orienting biases on reward learning remain unclear. Because reward-based behavioural adaptation depends on the dopaminergic system and prediction error (PE) encoding in the ventral striatum, we hypothesized that hemispheric asymmetries in dopamine (DA) function may determine individual spatial biases in reward learning. To test this prediction, we acquired fMRI in 33 healthy human participants while they performed a lateralized reward task. Learning differences between hemispaces were assessed by presenting stimuli, assigned to different reward probabilities, to the left or right of central fixation, i.e. presented in the left or right visual hemifield. Hemispheric differences in DA function were estimated through differential fMRI responses to positive vs. negative feedback in the left vs. right ventral striatum, and a computational approach was used to identify the neural correlates of PEs. Our results show that spatial biases favoring reward learning in the right (vs. left) hemifield were associated with increased reward responses in the left hemisphere and relatively better neural encoding of PEs for stimuli presented in the right (vs. left) hemifield. These findings demonstrate that trait-like spatial biases implicate hemisphere-specific learning mechanisms, with individual differences between hemispheres contributing to reinforcing spatial biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Assessing the effect of cognitive styles with different learning modes on learning outcome.

    PubMed

    Liao, Chechen; Chuang, Shu-Hui

    2007-08-01

    In this study, similarities and differences in learning outcome associated with individual differences in cognitive styles are examined using the traditional (face-to-face) and web-based learning modes. 140 undergraduate students were categorized as having analytic or holistic cognitive styles by their scores on the Style of Learning and Thinking questionnaire. Four different conditions were studies; students with analytic cognitive style in a traditional learning mode, analytic cognitive style in a web-based learning mode, holistic cognitive style in a traditional learning mode, and holistic cognitive style in a web-based learning mode. Analysis of the data show that analytic style in traditional mode lead to significantly higher performance and perceived satisfaction than in other conditions. Satisfaction did not differ significantly between students with analytic style in web-based learning and those with holistic style in traditional learning. This suggest that integrating different learning modes into the learning environment may be insufficient to improve learners' satisfaction.

  3. Integrated Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gnanakan, Ken

    2012-01-01

    This book upholds the idea of learning and education as a means to individual development and social empowerment. It presents a holistic picture, looking at learning as an integral part of one's social and physical life. Strongly differing from existing classroom perspectives, the book analyses integrated learning at its broadest possible…

  4. Movement rehabilitation: are the principles of re-learning in the recovery of function the same as those of original learning?

    PubMed

    Newell, Karl M; Verhoeven, F Martijn

    2017-01-01

    This paper addresses the change in movement dynamics in rehabilitation through discussing issues that pertain to the question as to whether the principles of re-learning in functional recovery are the same as those of original learning. The many varieties of disease and injury states lead to significant differences in the constraints to action and these impairments in turn influence the pathway of change in re-learning and/or recovery of function. These altered constraints channel the effectiveness of many conditions and strategies of practice that influence learning and performance. Nevertheless, it is proposed that there is a small set of principles for the change in dynamics of motor learning, which drive the continuously evolving stability and instability of movement forms through the lifespan. However, this common set of dynamical principles is realized in individual pathways of change in the movement dynamics of learning, re-learning and recovery of function. The inherent individual differences of humans and environments insure that the coordination, control and skill of movement rehabilitation are challenged in distinct ways by the changing constraints arising from the many manifestations of disease and injury. Implications for rehabilitation The many varieties of disease and injury states lead to significant differences in the constraints to action that in turn influence the pathway of change in re-learning and/or recovery of function, and the effectiveness of the many conditions/strategies of practice to influence learning and performance. There are a small set of principles for the change in dynamics of motor learning that drive the continuously evolving ebb and flow of stability and instability of movement forms through the lifespan. The inherent individual differences of humans and environments insure that the coordination, control and skill of movement rehabilitation are uniquely challenged by the changing constraints arising from the many manifestations of disease and injury.

  5. Auditory and Visual Working Memory Functioning in College Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and/or Learning Disabilities.

    PubMed

    Liebel, Spencer W; Nelson, Jason M

    2017-12-01

    We investigated the auditory and visual working memory functioning in college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and clinical controls. We examined the role attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subtype status played in working memory functioning. The unique influence that both domains of working memory have on reading and math abilities was investigated. A sample of 268 individuals seeking postsecondary education comprise four groups of the present study: 110 had an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis only, 72 had a learning disability diagnosis only, 35 had comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disability diagnoses, and 60 individuals without either of these disorders comprise a clinical control group. Participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation, and licensed psychologists employed a multi-informant, multi-method approach in obtaining diagnoses. In the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder only group, there was no difference between auditory and visual working memory functioning, t(100) = -1.57, p = .12. In the learning disability group, however, auditory working memory functioning was significantly weaker compared with visual working memory, t(71) = -6.19, p < .001, d = -0.85. Within the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder only group, there were no auditory or visual working memory functioning differences between participants with either a predominantly inattentive type or a combined type diagnosis. Visual working memory did not incrementally contribute to the prediction of academic achievement skills. Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder did not demonstrate significant working memory differences compared with clinical controls. Individuals with a learning disability demonstrated weaker auditory working memory than individuals in either the attention-deficit/hyperactivity or clinical control groups. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  6. Learning Styles: Humpty Dumpty Revisited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ivie, Stan D.

    2009-01-01

    What is a learning style? No one seems to know for sure. The language used by learning style theorists is filled with ambiguities. Price (2004) maintains that "learning style is often used as a metaphor for considering the range of individual differences in learning" (p. 681). Is learning style merely a fanciful metaphor or is it the wave of the…

  7. Learning to echolocate in sighted people: a correlational study on attention, working memory and spatial abilities.

    PubMed

    Ekkel, M R; van Lier, R; Steenbergen, B

    2017-03-01

    Echolocation can be beneficial for the orientation and mobility of visually impaired people. Research has shown considerable individual differences for acquiring this skill. However, individual characteristics that affect the learning of echolocation are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined individual factors that are likely to affect learning to echolocate: sustained and divided attention, working memory, and spatial abilities. To that aim, sighted participants with normal hearing performed an echolocation task that was adapted from a previously reported size-discrimination task. In line with existing studies, we found large individual differences in echolocation ability. We also found indications that participants were able to improve their echolocation ability. Furthermore, we found a significant positive correlation between improvement in echolocation and sustained and divided attention, as measured in the PASAT. No significant correlations were found with our tests regarding working memory and spatial abilities. These findings may have implications for the development of guidelines for training echolocation that are tailored to the individual with a visual impairment.

  8. Differences of Learning Achievement between Bidikmisi Scholarship Students and the Paying Students in Islamic Courses at Indonesia University of Education Campus Purwakarta Academic Year 2014-2015

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    TR, Burhanuddin; Ruswan, Acep; Kasmad, Mamad

    2016-01-01

    Learning is an effort or activities that are intentional and are based on an issue. Learning is a process of change in behavior and a way of fulfilling individual needs. People who have learned to be in the habit that is displayed in his behavior. In the study Differences of Learning Achievement Between Bidikmisi Scholarship Students and The…

  9. Rethinking the learning space at work and beyond: The achievement of agency across the boundaries of work-related spaces and environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kersh, Natasha

    2015-12-01

    This paper focuses on the notion of the learning space at work and discusses the extent to which its different configurations allow employees to exercise personal agency within a range of learning spaces. Although the learning space at work is already the subject of extensive research, the continuous development of the learning society and the development of new types of working spaces calls for further research to advance our knowledge and understanding of the ways that individuals exercise agency and learn in the workplace. Research findings suggest that the current perception of workplace learning is strongly related to the notion of the learning space, in which individuals and teams work, learn and develop their skills. The perception of the workplace as a site only for work-specific training is gradually changing, as workplaces are now acknowledged as sites for learning in various configurations, and as contributing to the personal development and social engagement of employees. This paper argues that personal agency is constructed in the workplace, and this process involves active interrelations between agency and three dimensions of the workplace (individual, spatial and organisational), identified through both empirical and theoretical research. The discussion is supported by data from two research projects on workplace learning in the United Kingdom. This paper thus considers how different configurations of the learning space and the boundaries between a range of work-related spaces facilitate the achievement of personal agency.

  10. A Guide to the Use of Non-Projected Displays. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 13.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellington, Henry

    A sequel to the booklet "A Review of the Different Types of Instructional Materials Available to Teachers and Lecturers," this booklet begins by looking at the potential role of non-projected displays in different instruction situations, i.e., mass instruction, individualized learning, and group learning. Four main classes of non-projected…

  11. Action Learning: The Possibility of Differing Hierarchies in Learning Sets

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeadon-Lee, Annie

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the proposition that a variety of differing hierarchies exist in an action learning set at any one time, and each hierarchy has the potential to affect an individual's behaviour within the set. An interpretivist philosophy underpins the research framework adopted in this paper. Data were captured by means of 11 in-depth…

  12. Self-Regulation of Learning and Academic Delay of Gratification: Gender and Ethnic Differences among College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bembenutty, Hefer

    2007-01-01

    Self-regulated learners engage in self-generated thoughts, actions, and feelings while pursuing academic goals. The most successful learners use appropriate learning strategies and maintain high levels of motivation. Few studies on the self-regulation of learning have examined individual differences such as gender and ethnicity among college…

  13. Evolution of social versus individual learning in a subdivided population revisited: comparative analysis of three coexistence mechanisms using the inclusive-fitness method.

    PubMed

    Kobayashi, Yutaka; Ohtsuki, Hisashi

    2014-03-01

    Learning abilities are categorized into social (learning from others) and individual learning (learning on one's own). Despite the typically higher cost of individual learning, there are mechanisms that allow stable coexistence of both learning modes in a single population. In this paper, we investigate by means of mathematical modeling how the effect of spatial structure on evolutionary outcomes of pure social and individual learning strategies depends on the mechanisms for coexistence. We model a spatially structured population based on the infinite-island framework and consider three scenarios that differ in coexistence mechanisms. Using the inclusive-fitness method, we derive the equilibrium frequency of social learners and the genetic load of social learning (defined as average fecundity reduction caused by the presence of social learning) in terms of some summary statistics, such as relatedness, for each of the three scenarios and compare the results. This comparative analysis not only reconciles previous models that made contradictory predictions as to the effect of spatial structure on the equilibrium frequency of social learners but also derives a simple mathematical rule that determines the sign of the genetic load (i.e. whether or not social learning contributes to the mean fecundity of the population). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Wiki-Based Rapid Prototyping for Teaching-Material Design in E-Learning Grids

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shih, Wen-Chung; Tseng, Shian-Shyong; Yang, Chao-Tung

    2008-01-01

    Grid computing environments with abundant resources can support innovative e-Learning applications, and are promising platforms for e-Learning. To support individualized and adaptive learning, teachers are encouraged to develop various teaching materials according to different requirements. However, traditional methodologies for designing teaching…

  15. A Path Model of Effective Technology-Intensive Inquiry-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Avsec, Stanislav; Kocijancic, Slavko

    2016-01-01

    Individual aptitude, attitudes, and behavior in inquiry-based learning (IBL) settings may affect work and learning performance outcomes during activities using different technologies. To encourage multifaceted learning, factors in IBL settings must be statistically significant and effective, and not cognitively or psychomotor intensive. We…

  16. Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Collaborative Learning: Enhancements to Authoring Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olsen, Jennifer K.; Belenky, Daniel M.; Aleven, Vincent; Rummel, Nikol

    2013-01-01

    Collaborative and individual instruction may support different types of knowledge. Optimal instruction for a subject domain may therefore need to combine these two modes of instruction. There has not been much research, however, on combining individual and collaborative learning with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). A first step is to expand…

  17. Does Constructivist Approach Applicable through Concept Maps to Achieve Meaningful Learning in Science?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jena, Ananta Kumar

    2012-01-01

    This study deals with the application of constructivist approach through individual and cooperative modes of spider and hierarchical concept maps to achieve meaningful learning on science concepts (e.g. acids, bases & salts, physical and chemical changes). The main research questions were: Q (1): is there any difference in individual and…

  18. Communication Skills and Learning in Impaired Individuals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eliöz, Murat

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to compare the communication skills of individuals with different disabilities with athletes and sedentary people and to examine their learning abilities which influence the development of communication. A total of 159 male subjects 31 sedentary, 30 visually impaired, 27 hearing impaired, 40 physically impaired and 31…

  19. A survey of specific individualized instruction strategies in elementary science methods courses in Tennessee teacher education institutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hazari, Alan A.

    The purpose of the study was to determine the status of individualized science instruction in Tennessee teacher education institutions. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the extent of teaching about and/or use of 31 strategies for individualizing instruction in elementary science teaching methods courses. The individualized instruction frameworks, with strategies for individualizing instruction, were developed by Rowell, et al. in the College of Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A review of the literature on the preparation of preservice elementary science teachers for individualized instruction in K-8 classrooms revealed very limited research. This investigation sought to identify how the elementary science teacher educators prepared their preservice elementary science teachers to (1) learn about the children they will teach, (2) determine differences among learners, (3) plan for individualized science instruction in the elementary school classroom, and (4) help attend to individual student differences. The researcher prepared and used a 31-item survey to poll elementary science teacher educators in Tennessee. The participants included K-8 educators from 40 state-approved teacher education institutions. The high teacher education institution response rate (72.5%) brought input from institutions of varying sizes, operated privately or publicly across the state of Tennessee. In general, Tennessee elementary science teacher educators reported that they tended to teach about and/or use a fair number of the 31 individualized instruction strategies that involve both learning about K-8 students and their differences. On the other hand, many of these educators provided preservice teachers with quite a bit of the strategies that lead to planning for individualized science instruction and to attending to individual student differences. The two strategies that were the most taught about and/or used in elementary science methods by Tennessee educators were planning for and maintaining an interactive classroom and implementing cooperative learning groups. The two strategies with the lowest rating were using a computer-tracking system to keep student profiles and using commercial tests to determine student placement. Almost 42% of the strategies in the survey were rated high to very high. This indicated that Tennessee educators do regularly include many of these 31 strategies in their elementary science methods courses. Examples include hands-on approach, cooperative learning, thematic and project teaching, learning centers, and the use of the Tennessee Instructional Model. The study also showed that Tennessee science teacher educators in church-related institutions appeared to utilize more of the 31 strategies for individualizing instruction in K-8 classrooms than do the educators in non-church-related institutions. Tennessee K-8 teachers could be better prepared if exposed to as many different and effective pedagogical tools and practices as possible during their education and preparation. A strong science program rich in content and a variety of instructional strategies (including individualized instruction) is needed to help maximize the science learning opportunities for all Tennessee students.

  20. A connectionist model of category learning by individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

    PubMed

    Dovgopoly, Alexander; Mercado, Eduardo

    2013-06-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show atypical patterns of learning and generalization. We explored the possible impacts of autism-related neural abnormalities on perceptual category learning using a neural network model of visual cortical processing. When applied to experiments in which children or adults were trained to classify complex two-dimensional images, the model can account for atypical patterns of perceptual generalization. This is only possible, however, when individual differences in learning are taken into account. In particular, analyses performed with a self-organizing map suggested that individuals with high-functioning ASD show two distinct generalization patterns: one that is comparable to typical patterns, and a second in which there is almost no generalization. The model leads to novel predictions about how individuals will generalize when trained with simplified input sets and can explain why some researchers have failed to detect learning or generalization deficits in prior studies of category learning by individuals with autism. On the basis of these simulations, we propose that deficits in basic neural plasticity mechanisms may be sufficient to account for the atypical patterns of perceptual category learning and generalization associated with autism, but they do not account for why only a subset of individuals with autism would show such deficits. If variations in performance across subgroups reflect heterogeneous neural abnormalities, then future behavioral and neuroimaging studies of individuals with ASD will need to account for such disparities.

  1. The face you recognize may not be the one you saw: memory conjunction errors in individuals with or without learning disability.

    PubMed

    Danielsson, Henrik; Rönnberg, Jerker; Leven, Anna; Andersson, Jan; Andersson, Karin; Lyxell, Björn

    2006-06-01

    Memory conjunction errors, that is, when a combination of two previously presented stimuli is erroneously recognized as previously having been seen, were investigated in a face recognition task with drawings and photographs in 23 individuals with learning disability, and 18 chronologically age-matched controls without learning disability. Compared to the controls, individuals with learning disability committed significantly more conjunction errors, feature errors (one old and one new component), but had lower correct recognition, when the results were adjusted for different guessing levels. A dual-processing approach gained more support than a binding approach. However, neither of the approaches could explain all of the results. The results of the learning disability group were only partly related to non-verbal intelligence.

  2. Ethnicity and Individual Differences in Achievement Goals in Kindergarten Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Billings, Barbara L.

    This study examined the effect of ethnicity on individual differences in achievement goals in a replication of the paradigm used by P. Smiley and C. Dweck (1994) to explore individual differences in achievement goals held by young children. The emphasis was on learning goals, which focus effort on mastering new tasks, and performance goals, which…

  3. Impact of visual learning on facial expressions of physical distress: a study on voluntary and evoked expressions of pain in congenitally blind and sighted individuals.

    PubMed

    Kunz, Miriam; Faltermeier, Nicole; Lautenbacher, Stefan

    2012-02-01

    The ability to facially communicate physical distress (e.g. pain) can be essential to ensure help, support and clinical treatment for the individual experiencing physical distress. So far, it is not known to which degree this ability represents innate and biologically prepared programs or whether it requires visual learning. Here, we address this question by studying evoked and voluntary facial expressions of pain in congenitally blind (N=21) and sighted (N=42) individuals. The repertoire of evoked facial expressions was comparable in congenitally blind and sighted individuals; however, blind individuals were less capable of facially encoding different intensities of experimental pain. Moreover, blind individuals were less capable of voluntarily modulating their pain expression. We conclude that the repertoire of facial muscles being activated during pain is biologically prepared. However, visual learning is a prerequisite in order to encode different intensities of physical distress as well as for up- and down-regulation of one's facial expression. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. When Learning Disturbs Memory – Temporal Profile of Retroactive Interference of Learning on Memory Formation

    PubMed Central

    Sosic-Vasic, Zrinka; Hille, Katrin; Kröner, Julia; Spitzer, Manfred; Kornmeier, Jürgen

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: Consolidation is defined as the time necessary for memory stabilization after learning. In the present study we focused on effects of interference during the first 12 consolidation minutes after learning. Participants had to learn a set of German – Japanese word pairs in an initial learning task and a different set of German – Japanese word pairs in a subsequent interference task. The interference task started in different experimental conditions at different time points (0, 3, 6, and 9 min) after the learning task and was followed by subsequent cued recall tests. In a control experiment the interference periods were replaced by rest periods without any interference. Results: The interference task decreased memory performance by up to 20%, with negative effects at all interference time points and large variability between participants concerning both the time point and the size of maximal interference. Further, fast learners seem to be more affected by interference than slow learners. Discussion: Our results indicate that the first 12 min after learning are highly important for memory consolidation, without a general pattern concerning the precise time point of maximal interference across individuals. This finding raises doubts about the generalized learning recipes and calls for individuality of learning schedules. PMID:29503621

  5. Masking Level Difference Response Norms from Learning Disabled Individuals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waryas, Paul A.; Battin, R. Ray

    1985-01-01

    The study presents normative data on Masking Level Difference (an improvement of the auditory processing of interaural time/intensity differences between signals and masking noises) for 90 learning disabled persons (4-35 years old). It was concluded that the MLD may quickly screen for auditory processing problems. (CL)

  6. Low Cognitive Impulsivity Is Associated with Better Gain and Loss Learning in a Probabilistic Decision-Making Task

    PubMed Central

    Cáceres, Pablo; San Martín, René

    2017-01-01

    Many advances have been made over the last decades in describing, on the one hand, the link between reward-based learning and decision-making, and on the other hand, the link between impulsivity and decision-making. However, the association between reward-based learning and impulsivity remains poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the association between individual differences in loss-minimizing and gain-maximizing behavior in a learning-based probabilistic decision-making task and individual differences in cognitive impulsivity. We found that low cognitive impulsivity was associated both with a better performance minimizing losses and maximizing gains during the task. These associations remained significant after controlling for mathematical skills and gender as potential confounders. We discuss potential mechanisms through which cognitive impulsivity might interact with reward-based learning and decision-making. PMID:28261137

  7. Low Cognitive Impulsivity Is Associated with Better Gain and Loss Learning in a Probabilistic Decision-Making Task.

    PubMed

    Cáceres, Pablo; San Martín, René

    2017-01-01

    Many advances have been made over the last decades in describing, on the one hand, the link between reward-based learning and decision-making, and on the other hand, the link between impulsivity and decision-making. However, the association between reward-based learning and impulsivity remains poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the association between individual differences in loss-minimizing and gain-maximizing behavior in a learning-based probabilistic decision-making task and individual differences in cognitive impulsivity. We found that low cognitive impulsivity was associated both with a better performance minimizing losses and maximizing gains during the task. These associations remained significant after controlling for mathematical skills and gender as potential confounders. We discuss potential mechanisms through which cognitive impulsivity might interact with reward-based learning and decision-making.

  8. Comparison of individual answer and group answer with and without structured peer assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kablan, Zeynel

    2014-09-01

    Background:Cooperative learning activities provide active participation of students leading to better learning. The literature suggests that cooperative learning activities need to be structured for a more effective and productive interaction. Purpose: This study aimed to test the differences among three instructional conditions in terms of science achievement. Sample:A total of 79 fifth-grade students, 42 males (53%) and 37 females (47%), participated in the study. Design and Methods:In the first condition, students answered the teacher's questions individually by raising hands. In the second condition, students discussed the answer in groups and came up with a single group answer. In this condition, the teacher provided only verbal directions to the groups without using any strategy or material. In the third condition, students used a 'peer assessment form' before giving the group answer. A pre-/post-test experimental design was used. Multiple-choice and open-ended tests were used for data collection. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test the differences in the test scores between the three groups (individual answer, unstructured group answer and structured group answer). Results:Results showed that there were no significant differences among the three learning conditions in terms of their multiple-choice test scores. In terms of the open-ended test scores, students in the structured group answer condition scored significantly higher than the students in the individual answer condition. Conclusions:Structuring the group work through peer assessment helped to monitor the group discussion, provided a better learning compared to the individual answer condition, and helped students to participate in the activity equally.

  9. Reversal learning deficits in criminal offenders: Effects of psychopathy, substance use, and childhood maltreatment history.

    PubMed

    Dargis, Monika; Wolf, Richard C; Koenigs, Michael

    2017-06-01

    Deficits in reinforcement learning are presumed to underlie the impulsive and incorrigible behavior exhibited by psychopathic criminals. However, previous studies documenting reversal learning impairments in psychopathic individuals have not investigated this relationship across a continuous range of psychopathy severity, nor have they examined how reversal learning impairments relate to different psychopathic traits, such as the interpersonal-affective and lifestyle-antisocial dimensions. Furthermore, previous studies have not considered the role that childhood maltreatment and substance use may have in this specific cognitive deficit. Using a standard reversal learning task in a sample of N = 114 incarcerated male offenders, we demonstrate a significant relationship between psychopathy severity and reversal learning errors. Furthermore, we show a significant interaction between psychopathy and childhood maltreatment, but not substance use, such that individuals high in psychopathy with an extensive history of maltreatment committed the greatest number of reversal learning errors. These findings extend the current understanding of reversal learning performance among psychopathic individuals, and highlight the importance of considering childhood maltreatment when studying psychopathy.

  10. Individual Differences in L2 Acquisition of Japanese Particles "WA" and "GA"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Sachiho

    2008-01-01

    Although the L2 acquisition studies of Japanese particles "WA" and "GA" were investigated by many researchers (Sakamoto, 2000), they completely ignored learners' individual differences. Indeed, learners' individualities are important factors for the L2 learning (Lightbrown & Spada, 1999). Thus, this research explored whether learners' individual…

  11. Do collaborative practical tests encourage student-centered active learning of gross anatomy?

    PubMed

    Green, Rodney A; Cates, Tanya; White, Lloyd; Farchione, Davide

    2016-05-06

    Benefits of collaborative testing have been identified in many disciplines. This study sought to determine whether collaborative practical tests encouraged active learning of anatomy. A gross anatomy course included a collaborative component in four practical tests. Two hundred and seven students initially completed the test as individuals and then worked as a team to complete the same test again immediately afterwards. The relationship between mean individual, team, and difference (between team and individual) test scores to overall performance on the final examination (representing overall learning in the course) was examined using regression analysis. The overall mark in the course increased by 9% with a decreased failure rate. There was a strong relationship between individual score and final examination mark (P < 0.001) but no relationship for team score (P = 0.095). A longitudinal analysis showed that the test difference scores increased after Test 1 which may be indicative of social loafing and this was confirmed by a significant negative relationship between difference score on Test 4 (indicating a weaker student) and final examination mark (P < 0.001). It appeared that for this cohort, there was little peer-to-peer learning occurring during the collaborative testing and that weaker students gained the benefit from team marks without significant active learning taking place. This negative outcome may be due to insufficient encouragement of the active learning strategies that were expected to occur during the collaborative testing process. An improved understanding of the efficacy of collaborative assessment could be achieved through the inclusion of questionnaire based data to allow a better interpretation of learning outcomes. Anat Sci Educ 9: 231-237. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

  12. Punishment sensitivity modulates the processing of negative feedback but not error-induced learning.

    PubMed

    Unger, Kerstin; Heintz, Sonja; Kray, Jutta

    2012-01-01

    Accumulating evidence suggests that individual differences in punishment and reward sensitivity are associated with functional alterations in neural systems underlying error and feedback processing. In particular, individuals highly sensitive to punishment have been found to be characterized by larger mediofrontal error signals as reflected in the error negativity/error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) and the feedback-related negativity (FRN). By contrast, reward sensitivity has been shown to relate to the error positivity (Pe). Given that Ne/ERN, FRN, and Pe have been functionally linked to flexible behavioral adaptation, the aim of the present research was to examine how these electrophysiological reflections of error and feedback processing vary as a function of punishment and reward sensitivity during reinforcement learning. We applied a probabilistic learning task that involved three different conditions of feedback validity (100%, 80%, and 50%). In contrast to prior studies using response competition tasks, we did not find reliable correlations between punishment sensitivity and the Ne/ERN. Instead, higher punishment sensitivity predicted larger FRN amplitudes, irrespective of feedback validity. Moreover, higher reward sensitivity was associated with a larger Pe. However, only reward sensitivity was related to better overall learning performance and higher post-error accuracy, whereas highly punishment sensitive participants showed impaired learning performance, suggesting that larger negative feedback-related error signals were not beneficial for learning or even reflected maladaptive information processing in these individuals. Thus, although our findings indicate that individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity are related to electrophysiological correlates of error and feedback processing, we found less evidence for influences of these personality characteristics on the relation between performance monitoring and feedback-based learning.

  13. Collective learning and optimal consensus decisions in social animal groups.

    PubMed

    Kao, Albert B; Miller, Noam; Torney, Colin; Hartnett, Andrew; Couzin, Iain D

    2014-08-01

    Learning has been studied extensively in the context of isolated individuals. However, many organisms are social and consequently make decisions both individually and as part of a collective. Reaching consensus necessarily means that a single option is chosen by the group, even when there are dissenting opinions. This decision-making process decouples the otherwise direct relationship between animals' preferences and their experiences (the outcomes of decisions). Instead, because an individual's learned preferences influence what others experience, and therefore learn about, collective decisions couple the learning processes between social organisms. This introduces a new, and previously unexplored, dynamical relationship between preference, action, experience and learning. Here we model collective learning within animal groups that make consensus decisions. We reveal how learning as part of a collective results in behavior that is fundamentally different from that learned in isolation, allowing grouping organisms to spontaneously (and indirectly) detect correlations between group members' observations of environmental cues, adjust strategy as a function of changing group size (even if that group size is not known to the individual), and achieve a decision accuracy that is very close to that which is provably optimal, regardless of environmental contingencies. Because these properties make minimal cognitive demands on individuals, collective learning, and the capabilities it affords, may be widespread among group-living organisms. Our work emphasizes the importance and need for theoretical and experimental work that considers the mechanism and consequences of learning in a social context.

  14. Collective Learning and Optimal Consensus Decisions in Social Animal Groups

    PubMed Central

    Kao, Albert B.; Miller, Noam; Torney, Colin; Hartnett, Andrew; Couzin, Iain D.

    2014-01-01

    Learning has been studied extensively in the context of isolated individuals. However, many organisms are social and consequently make decisions both individually and as part of a collective. Reaching consensus necessarily means that a single option is chosen by the group, even when there are dissenting opinions. This decision-making process decouples the otherwise direct relationship between animals' preferences and their experiences (the outcomes of decisions). Instead, because an individual's learned preferences influence what others experience, and therefore learn about, collective decisions couple the learning processes between social organisms. This introduces a new, and previously unexplored, dynamical relationship between preference, action, experience and learning. Here we model collective learning within animal groups that make consensus decisions. We reveal how learning as part of a collective results in behavior that is fundamentally different from that learned in isolation, allowing grouping organisms to spontaneously (and indirectly) detect correlations between group members' observations of environmental cues, adjust strategy as a function of changing group size (even if that group size is not known to the individual), and achieve a decision accuracy that is very close to that which is provably optimal, regardless of environmental contingencies. Because these properties make minimal cognitive demands on individuals, collective learning, and the capabilities it affords, may be widespread among group-living organisms. Our work emphasizes the importance and need for theoretical and experimental work that considers the mechanism and consequences of learning in a social context. PMID:25101642

  15. Cooperative Learning at a Distance: An Experiment with Wikis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campbell, Katherine; Ellingson, Dee Ann

    2010-01-01

    The merits of incorporating group work into learning environments are well established. Online classes and other distance learning settings, however, can make it challenging to introduce traditional group projects. Wikis use technology to facilitate group work in distance learning settings. Wikis allow individuals in different locations to…

  16. Ambiguity Tolerance and Perceptual Learning Styles of Chinese EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Haishan; He, Qingshun

    2016-01-01

    Ambiguity tolerance and perceptual learning styles are the two influential elements showing individual differences in EFL learning. This research is intended to explore the relationship between Chinese EFL learners' ambiguity tolerance and their preferred perceptual learning styles. The findings include (1) the learners are sensitive to English…

  17. The Relationship of Learning and Performance Diagnosis at Different System Levels.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lubega, Khalid

    2003-01-01

    Examines learning and performance diagnosis, separately and in relation to each other, as they function in organization systems; explains the relationship between learning and performance diagnosis at the individual, process, and organizational levels using a three-level performance model; and discusses types of learning, including nonlearning,…

  18. Managers' Informal Learning: A Trait Activation Theory Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noe, Raymond A.; Tews, Michael J.; Michel, John W.

    2017-01-01

    Research focusing on how individual differences and the work context influence informal learning is growing but incomplete. This study contributes to our understanding of the antecedents of informal learning by examining the relationships of goal orientation, job autonomy and training climate with informal learning. Based on trait activation…

  19. School Leadership for Learning: Insights from TALIS 2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    OECD Publishing, 2016

    2016-01-01

    The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest international survey of teachers and school leaders. Using the TALIS database, this report looks at different approaches to school leadership and the impact of school leadership on professional learning communities and on the learning climate in individual schools. It looks…

  20. Distributional Effects and Individual Differences in L2 Morphology Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Patricia J.; Kwoka, Nicole; Kempe, Vera

    2017-01-01

    Second language (L2) learning outcomes may depend on the structure of the input and learners' cognitive abilities. This study tested whether less predictable input might facilitate learning and generalization of L2 morphology while evaluating contributions of statistical learning ability, nonverbal intelligence, phonological short-term memory, and…

  1. Auditory working memory predicts individual differences in absolute pitch learning.

    PubMed

    Van Hedger, Stephen C; Heald, Shannon L M; Koch, Rachelle; Nusbaum, Howard C

    2015-07-01

    Absolute pitch (AP) is typically defined as the ability to label an isolated tone as a musical note in the absence of a reference tone. At first glance the acquisition of AP note categories seems like a perceptual learning task, since individuals must assign a category label to a stimulus based on a single perceptual dimension (pitch) while ignoring other perceptual dimensions (e.g., loudness, octave, instrument). AP, however, is rarely discussed in terms of domain-general perceptual learning mechanisms. This is because AP is typically assumed to depend on a critical period of development, in which early exposure to pitches and musical labels is thought to be necessary for the development of AP precluding the possibility of adult acquisition of AP. Despite this view of AP, several previous studies have found evidence that absolute pitch category learning is, to an extent, trainable in a post-critical period adult population, even if the performance typically achieved by this population is below the performance of a "true" AP possessor. The current studies attempt to understand the individual differences in learning to categorize notes using absolute pitch cues by testing a specific prediction regarding cognitive capacity related to categorization - to what extent does an individual's general auditory working memory capacity (WMC) predict the success of absolute pitch category acquisition. Since WMC has been shown to predict performance on a wide variety of other perceptual and category learning tasks, we predict that individuals with higher WMC should be better at learning absolute pitch note categories than individuals with lower WMC. Across two studies, we demonstrate that auditory WMC predicts the efficacy of learning absolute pitch note categories. These results suggest that a higher general auditory WMC might underlie the formation of absolute pitch categories for post-critical period adults. Implications for understanding the mechanisms that underlie the phenomenon of AP are also discussed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  2. Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity Predicts Responsiveness to Memory Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury.

    PubMed

    Sandry, Joshua; Chiou, Kathy S; DeLuca, John; Chiaravalloti, Nancy D

    2016-06-01

    To explore how individual differences affect rehabilitation outcomes by specifically investigating whether working memory capacity (WMC) can be used as a cognitive marker to identify who will and will not improve from memory rehabilitation. Post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled clinical trial designed to treat learning and memory impairment after traumatic brain injury (TBI): 2 × 2 between-subjects quasiexperimental design (2 [group: treatment vs control] × 2 [WMC: high vs low]). Nonprofit medical rehabilitation research center. Participants (N=65) with moderate to severe TBI with pre- and posttreatment data. The treatment group completed 10 cognitive rehabilitation sessions in which subjects were taught a memory strategy focusing on learning to use context and imagery to remember information. The placebo control group engaged in active therapy sessions that did not involve learning the memory strategy. Long-term memory percent retention change scores for an unorganized list of words from the California Verbal Learning Test-II. Group and WMC interacted (P=.008, ηp(2)=.12). High WMC participants showed a benefit from treatment compared with low WMC participants. Individual differences in WMC accounted for 45% of the variance in whether participants with TBI in the treatment group benefited from applying the compensatory treatment strategy to learn unorganized information. Individuals with higher WMC showed a significantly greater rehabilitation benefit when applying the compensatory strategy to learn unorganized information. WMC is a useful cognitive marker for identifying participants with TBI who respond to memory rehabilitation with the modified Story Memory Technique. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. [Therapeutic education didactic techniques].

    PubMed

    Valverde, Maite; Vidal, Mercè; Jansa, Margarida

    2012-10-01

    This article includes an introduction to the role of Therapeutic Education for Diabetes treatment according to the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the Diabetes Education Study Group (DESG) of the "European Association for Study of Diabetes (EASD) and the clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) of the Spanish Ministry of Health. We analyze theoretical models and the differences between teaching vs. learning as well as current trends (including Internet), that can facilitate meaningful learning of people with diabetes and their families and relatives. We analyze the differences, similarities, advantages and disadvantages of individual and group education. Finally, we describe different educational techniques (metaplan, case method, brainstorming, role playing, games, seminars, autobiography, forums, chats,..) applicable to individual, group or virtual education and its application depending on the learning objective.

  4. Use of a Simulation Game in Delivering Blended Lifelong Learning in the Construction Industry--Opportunities and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wall, John; Ahmed, Vian

    2008-01-01

    Continuing professional development (CPD) and life-long learning are vital to both individual and organisational success. For higher education, the intensive resource requirements requisite in the development of e-learning content and the challenges in accommodating different learning styles, developing an e-learning program can be a resource…

  5. Understanding Learner Acceptance of Learning Objects: The Roles of Learning Object Characteristics and Individual Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lau, Siong-Hoe; Woods, Peter C.

    2009-01-01

    Many organisations and institutions have integrated learning objects into their e-learning systems to make the instructional resources more efficient. Like any other information systems, this trend has made user acceptance of learning objects an increasingly critical issue as a high level of learner satisfaction and acceptance reflects that the…

  6. Understanding Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Policy in Estonia: Tendencies and Contradictions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jogi, Larissa

    2012-01-01

    There have been many theoretical and empirical analyses of lifelong learning policies and how to implement, develop, measure and facilitate lifelong learning and lifelong learning policy in order to cater for the needs and requirements of individuals as well as society in general. The particular slant on lifelong learning in different countries…

  7. The Effects of Different Computer-Supported Collaboration Scripts on Students' Learning Processes and Outcome in a Simulation-Based Collaborative Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wieland, Kristina

    2010-01-01

    Students benefit from collaborative learning activities, but they do not automatically reach desired learning outcomes when working together (Fischer, Kollar, Mandl, & Haake, 2007; King, 2007). Learners need instructional support to increase the quality of collaborative processes and individual learning outcomes. The core challenge is to find…

  8. Individual differences in working memory capacity and search efficiency.

    PubMed

    Miller, Ashley L; Unsworth, Nash

    2018-05-29

    In two experiments, we examined how various learning conditions impact the relation between working memory capacity (WMC) and memory search abilities. Experiment 1 employed a delayed free recall task with semantically related words to induce the buildup of proactive interference (PI) and revealed that the buildup of PI differentially impacted recall accuracy and recall latency for low-WMC and high-WMC individuals. Namely, the buildup of PI impaired recall accuracy and slowed recall latency for low-WMC individuals to a greater extent than what was observed for high-WMC individuals. To provide a circumstance in which previously learned information remains relevant over the course of learning, Experiment 2 required participants to complete a multitrial delayed free recall task with unrelated words. Results revealed that with increased practice with the same word list, WMC-related differences were eventually eliminated in interresponse times (IRTs) and recall accuracy, but not recall latency. Thus, despite still accumulating larger search sets, low-WMC individuals searched LTM as efficiently as high-WMC individuals. Collectively, these results are consistent with the notion that under normal free recall conditions, low-WMC individuals search LTM less efficiently than do high-WMC individuals because of their reliance on noisy temporal-contextual cues at retrieval. However, it appears that under conditions in which previously learned items remain relevant at recall, this tendency to rely on vague self-generated retrieval cues can actually facilitate the ability to accurately and quickly recall information.

  9. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and Socioemotional Functioning: A Review of Recent Literature.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Little, Sara S.

    1993-01-01

    This article presents an overview of literature relating to a nonverbal learning disabilities subtype. The article addresses the relationship between nonverbal learning disabilities and socioemotional functioning, generalizability of research outcomes, individual differences, and treatment validity. (Author/JDD)

  10. How To Produce Linked Audio and Still Visual Materials. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 16.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellington, Henry

    A sequel to the booklet "A Review of the Different Types of Instructional Materials Available to Teachers and Lecturers," this booklet begins by looking at the various ways in which linked audio and still visual materials can be used in different instructional situations, i.e., mass instruction, individualized learning, and group learning. Some of…

  11. Interactions between Individual Differences, Treatments, and Structures in SLA

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeKeyser, Robert

    2012-01-01

    For decades educational psychologists have bemoaned the black box approach of much research on learning, that is, the focus on product rather than process, and the absence of fine-grained analysis of the learning process in the individual. One way that progress has been made on this point in the last couple of decades is through cognitive…

  12. A Neurophysiological examination of quality of learning in a feedback-based learning task.

    PubMed

    Arbel, Yael; Wu, Hao

    2016-12-01

    The efficiency with which one processes external feedback contributes to the speed and quality of one's learning. Previous findings that the feedback related negativity (FRN) event related potential (ERP) is modulated by learning outcomes suggested that this ERP reflects the extent to which feedback is used by the learner to improve performance. To further test this suggestion, we measured whether the FRN and the fronto-central positivity (FCP) that follows it are modulated by learning slopes, and as a function of individual differences in learning outcomes. Participants were tasked with learning names (non-words) of 42 novel objects in a two-choice feedback-based visual learning task. The items were divided into three sets of 14 items, each presented in five learning blocks and a sixth test block. Individual learning slopes based on performance on the task, as well as FRN and FCP slopes based on positive and negative feedback related activation in each block were created for 53 participants. Our data pointed to an interaction between slopes of the FRN elicited by negative feedback and learning slopes, such that a sharper decrease in the amplitude of the FRN to negative feedback was associated with sharper learning slopes. We further examined the predictive power of the FRN and FCP elicited in the training blocks on the learning outcomes as measured by performance on the test blocks. We found that small FRN to negative feedback, large FRN to positive feedback, and large FCP to negative feedback in the first training block predicted better learning outcomes. These results add to the growing evidence that the processes giving rise to the FRN and FCP are sensitive to individual differences in the extent to which feedback is used for learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Autoshaped head poking in the mouse: a quantitative analysis of the learning curve.

    PubMed

    Papachristos, Efstathios B; Gallistel, C R

    2006-05-01

    In autoshaping experiments, we quantified the acquisition of anticipatory head poking in individual mice, using an algorithm that finds changes in the slope of a cumulative record. In most mice, upward changes in the amount of anticipatory poking per trial were abrupt, and tended to occur at session boundaries, suggesting that the session is as significant a unit of experience as the trial. There were large individual differences in the latency to the onset of vigorous responding. "Asymptotic" performance was unstable; large, bidirectional, and relatively enduring changes were common. Given the characteristics of the individual learning curves, it is unlikely that physiologically meaningful estimates of rate of learning can be extracted from group-average learning curves.

  14. Autoshaped Head Poking in the Mouse: A Quantitative Analysis of the Learning Curve

    PubMed Central

    Papachristos, Efstathios B; Gallistel, C.R

    2006-01-01

    In autoshaping experiments, we quantified the acquisition of anticipatory head poking in individual mice, using an algorithm that finds changes in the slope of a cumulative record. In most mice, upward changes in the amount of anticipatory poking per trial were abrupt, and tended to occur at session boundaries, suggesting that the session is as significant a unit of experience as the trial. There were large individual differences in the latency to the onset of vigorous responding. “Asymptotic” performance was unstable; large, bidirectional, and relatively enduring changes were common. Given the characteristics of the individual learning curves, it is unlikely that physiologically meaningful estimates of rate of learning can be extracted from group-average learning curves. PMID:16776053

  15. Individual differences in heart rate variability are associated with the avoidance of negative emotional events.

    PubMed

    Katahira, Kentaro; Fujimura, Tomomi; Matsuda, Yoshi-Taka; Okanoya, Kazuo; Okada, Masato

    2014-12-01

    Although the emotional outcome of a choice generally affects subsequent decisions, humans can inhibit the influence of emotion. Heart rate variability (HRV) has emerged as an objective measure of individual differences in the capacity for inhibitory control. In the present study, we investigated how individual differences in HRV at rest are associated with the emotional effects of the outcome of a choice on subsequent decision making using a decision-making task in which emotional pictures appeared as decision outcomes. We used a reinforcement learning model to characterize the observed behaviors according to several parameters, namely, the learning rate and the motivational value of positive and negative pictures. Consequently, we found that individuals with a lower resting HRV exhibited a greater negative motivational value in response to negative pictures, suggesting that these individuals tend to avoid negative pictures compared with individuals with a higher resting HRV. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Variation across individuals and items determine learning outcomes from fast mapping.

    PubMed

    Coutanche, Marc N; Koch, Griffin E

    2017-11-01

    An approach to learning words known as "fast mapping" has been linked to unique neurobiological and behavioral markers in adult humans, including rapid lexical integration. However, the mechanisms supporting fast mapping are still not known. In this study, we sought to help change this by examining factors that modulate learning outcomes. In 90 subjects, we systematically manipulated the typicality of the items used to support fast mapping (foils), and quantified learners' inclination to employ semantic, episodic, and spatial memory through the Survey of Autobiographical Memory (SAM). We asked how these factors affect lexical competition and recognition performance, and then asked how foil typicality and lexical competition are related in an independent dataset. We find that both the typicality of fast mapping foils, and individual differences in how different memory systems are employed, influence lexical competition effects after fast mapping, but not after other learning approaches. Specifically, learning a word through fast mapping with an atypical foil led to lexical competition, while a typical foil led to lexical facilitation. This effect was particularly evident in individuals with a strong tendency to employ semantic memory. We further replicated the relationship between continuous foil atypicality and lexical competition in an independent dataset. These findings suggest that semantic properties of the foils that support fast mapping can influence the degree and nature of subsequent lexical integration. Further, the effects of foils differ based on an individual's tendency to draw-on the semantic memory system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Learning methods and strategies of anatomy among medical students in two different Institutions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    PubMed

    Al-Mohrej, Omar A; Al-Ayedh, Noura K; Masuadi, Emad M; Al-Kenani, Nader S

    2017-04-01

    Anatomy instructors adopt individual teaching methods and strategies to convey anatomical information to medical students for learning. Students also exhibit their own individual learning preferences. Instructional methods preferences vary between both instructors and students across different institutions. In attempt to bridge the gap between teaching methods and the students' learning preferences, this study aimed to identify students' learning methods and different strategies of studying anatomy in two different Saudi medical schools in Riyadh. A cross-sectional study, conducted in Saudi Arabia in April 2015, utilized a three-section questionnaire, which was distributed to a consecutive sample of 883 medical students to explore their methods and strategies in learning and teaching anatomy in two separate institutions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Medical students' learning styles and preferences were found to be predominantly affected by different cultural backgrounds, gender, and level of study. Many students found it easier to understand and remember anatomy components using study aids. In addition, almost half of the students felt confident to ask their teachers questions after class. The study also showed that more than half of the students found it easier to study by concentrating on a particular part of the body rather than systems. Students' methods of learning were distributed equally between memorizing facts and learning by hands-on dissection. In addition, the study showed that two thirds of the students felt satisfied with their learning method and believed it was well suited for anatomy. There is no single teaching method which proves beneficial; instructors should be flexible in their teaching in order to optimize students' academic achievements.

  18. Elevated depressive symptoms enhance reflexive but not reflective auditory category learning.

    PubMed

    Maddox, W Todd; Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Smayda, Kirsten; Yi, Han-Gyol; Koslov, Seth; Beevers, Christopher G

    2014-09-01

    In vision an extensive literature supports the existence of competitive dual-processing systems of category learning that are grounded in neuroscience and are partially-dissociable. The reflective system is prefrontally-mediated and uses working memory and executive attention to develop and test rules for classifying in an explicit fashion. The reflexive system is striatally-mediated and operates by implicitly associating perception with actions that lead to reinforcement. Although categorization is fundamental to auditory processing, little is known about the learning systems that mediate auditory categorization and even less is known about the effects of individual difference in the relative efficiency of the two learning systems. Previous studies have shown that individuals with elevated depressive symptoms show deficits in reflective processing. We exploit this finding to test critical predictions of the dual-learning systems model in audition. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the two systems are dissociable and competitive. We predicted that elevated depressive symptoms would lead to reflective-optimal learning deficits but reflexive-optimal learning advantages. Because natural speech category learning is reflexive in nature, we made the prediction that elevated depressive symptoms would lead to superior speech learning. In support of our predictions, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms showed a deficit in reflective-optimal auditory category learning, but an advantage in reflexive-optimal auditory category learning. In addition, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms showed an advantage in learning a non-native speech category structure. Computational modeling suggested that the elevated depressive symptom advantage was due to faster, more accurate, and more frequent use of reflexive category learning strategies in individuals with elevated depressive symptoms. The implications of this work for dual-process approach to auditory learning and depression are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Elevated Depressive Symptoms Enhance Reflexive but not Reflective Auditory Category Learning

    PubMed Central

    Maddox, W. Todd; Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Smayda, Kirsten; Yi, Han-Gyol; Koslov, Seth; Beevers, Christopher G.

    2014-01-01

    In vision an extensive literature supports the existence of competitive dual-processing systems of category learning that are grounded in neuroscience and are partially-dissociable. The reflective system is prefrontally-mediated and uses working memory and executive attention to develop and test rules for classifying in an explicit fashion. The reflexive system is striatally-mediated and operates by implicitly associating perception with actions that lead to reinforcement. Although categorization is fundamental to auditory processing, little is known about the learning systems that mediate auditory categorization and even less is known about the effects of individual difference in the relative efficiency of the two learning systems. Previous studies have shown that individuals with elevated depressive symptoms show deficits in reflective processing. We exploit this finding to test critical predictions of the dual-learning systems model in audition. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the two systems are dissociable and competitive. We predicted that elevated depressive symptoms would lead to reflective-optimal learning deficits but reflexive-optimal learning advantages. Because natural speech category learning is reflexive in nature, we made the prediction that elevated depressive symptoms would lead to superior speech learning. In support of our predictions, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms showed a deficit in reflective-optimal auditory category learning, but an advantage in reflexive-optimal auditory category learning. In addition, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms showed an advantage in learning a non-native speech category structure. Computational modeling suggested that the elevated depressive symptom advantage was due to faster, more accurate, and more frequent use of reflexive category learning strategies in individuals with elevated depressive symptoms. The implications of this work for dual-process approach to auditory learning and depression are discussed. PMID:25041936

  20. Introverts, Extroverts, and Achievement in a Distance Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Offir, Baruch; Bezalel, Rachel; Barth, Ingrid

    2007-01-01

    Although difficulties that characterize distance learning (DL) clearly have differential effects on different learners, links between barrier research and individual differences remain relatively unexplored. This study examined the relationship between cognitive style, based on Jung's (1971) theory, and achievement levels among 77 university…

  1. Sex Differences in Learning Rate in an Intensive Summer Reading Clinic.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cahn, Lorynne, D.

    1988-01-01

    Examines whether sex differences in reading learning rate occurred when female instructors worked with small groups of elementary school boys and girls on an individualized basis in an intensive summer reading clinic program. Reports that girls outperformed boys on all measures. (RAE)

  2. Reactive Personality-Environment Transactions and Adult Developmental Trajectories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Gregory T.; Williams, Suzannah F.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Kelley, Scott

    2006-01-01

    The possibility, which is based on the concept of reactive personality-environment transactions, that individuals learn different things from the same experience as a function of personality differences may help explain individual differences in adult developmental trajectories. In an analogue, longitudinal design, business students were taught…

  3. Does individual learning styles influence the choice to use a web-based ECG learning programme in a blended learning setting?

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background The compressed curriculum in modern knowledge-intensive medicine demands useful tools to achieve approved learning aims in a limited space of time. Web-based learning can be used in different ways to enhance learning. Little is however known regarding its optimal utilisation. Our aim was to investigate if the individual learning styles of medical students influence the choice to use a web-based ECG learning programme in a blended learning setting. Methods The programme, with three types of modules (learning content, self-assessment questions and interactive ECG interpretation training), was offered on a voluntary basis during a face to face ECG learning course for undergraduate medical students. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) and a general questionnaire including questions about computer and Internet usage, preferred future speciality and prior experience of E-learning were used to explore different factors related to the choice of using the programme or not. Results 93 (76%) out of 123 students answered the ILS instrument and 91 the general questionnaire. 55 students (59%) were defined as users of the web-based ECG-interpretation programme. Cronbach's alpha was analysed with coefficients above 0.7 in all of the four dimensions of ILS. There were no significant differences with regard to learning styles, as assessed by ILS, between the user and non-user groups; Active/Reflective; Visual/Verbal; Sensing/Intuitive; and Sequential/Global (p = 0.56-0.96). Neither did gender, prior experience of E-learning or preference for future speciality differ between groups. Conclusion Among medical students, neither learning styles according to ILS, nor a number of other characteristics seem to influence the choice to use a web-based ECG programme. This finding was consistent also when the usage of the different modules in the programme were considered. Thus, the findings suggest that web-based learning may attract a broad variety of medical students. PMID:22248183

  4. Does individual learning styles influence the choice to use a web-based ECG learning programme in a blended learning setting?

    PubMed

    Nilsson, Mikael; Östergren, Jan; Fors, Uno; Rickenlund, Anette; Jorfeldt, Lennart; Caidahl, Kenneth; Bolinder, Gunilla

    2012-01-16

    The compressed curriculum in modern knowledge-intensive medicine demands useful tools to achieve approved learning aims in a limited space of time. Web-based learning can be used in different ways to enhance learning. Little is however known regarding its optimal utilisation. Our aim was to investigate if the individual learning styles of medical students influence the choice to use a web-based ECG learning programme in a blended learning setting. The programme, with three types of modules (learning content, self-assessment questions and interactive ECG interpretation training), was offered on a voluntary basis during a face to face ECG learning course for undergraduate medical students. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) and a general questionnaire including questions about computer and Internet usage, preferred future speciality and prior experience of E-learning were used to explore different factors related to the choice of using the programme or not. 93 (76%) out of 123 students answered the ILS instrument and 91 the general questionnaire. 55 students (59%) were defined as users of the web-based ECG-interpretation programme. Cronbach's alpha was analysed with coefficients above 0.7 in all of the four dimensions of ILS. There were no significant differences with regard to learning styles, as assessed by ILS, between the user and non-user groups; Active/Reflective; Visual/Verbal; Sensing/Intuitive; and Sequential/Global (p = 0.56-0.96). Neither did gender, prior experience of E-learning or preference for future speciality differ between groups. Among medical students, neither learning styles according to ILS, nor a number of other characteristics seem to influence the choice to use a web-based ECG programme. This finding was consistent also when the usage of the different modules in the programme were considered. Thus, the findings suggest that web-based learning may attract a broad variety of medical students.

  5. The Impact on Career Development of Learning Opportunities and Learning Behavior at Work.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van der Sluis, Lidewey E. C.; Poell, Rob E.

    2003-01-01

    Survey responses were received in 1998 (n=63) and 1999 (n=98) from master's of business administration graduates. Hierarchical regression and difference of means tests found that career development depended on learning opportunities at work and on individual learning behavior. Behavior was more predictive of objective career development measures,…

  6. A Preliminary Survey of the Preferred Learning Methods for Interpretation Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heinz, Michael

    2013-01-01

    There are many different methods that individuals use to learn languages like reading books or writing essays. Not all methods are equally successful for second language learners but nor do all successful learners of a second language show identical preferences for learning methods. Additionally, at the highest level of language learning various…

  7. Using Taxonomic Indexing Trees to Efficiently Retrieve SCORM-Compliant Documents in e-Learning Grids

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shih, Wen-Chung; Tseng, Shian-Shyong; Yang, Chao-Tung

    2008-01-01

    With the flourishing development of e-Learning, more and more SCORM-compliant teaching materials are developed by institutes and individuals in different sites. In addition, the e-Learning grid is emerging as an infrastructure to enhance traditional e-Learning systems. Therefore, information retrieval schemes supporting SCORM-compliant documents…

  8. Adult Learning in Free-Choice, Environmental Settings: What Makes It Different?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heimlich, Joe E.; Horr, E. Elaine T.

    2010-01-01

    Environmental learning, or how individuals make sense and meaning about nature, the environment, ecology, and environmental issues, is best understood as lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep (Banks and others, 2007). Lifelong learning refers to acquisition of skills, competencies, attitudes, and knowledge over time; life-wide is learning across…

  9. Implicit perceptual-motor skill learning in mild cognitive impairment and Parkinson's disease.

    PubMed

    Gobel, Eric W; Blomeke, Kelsey; Zadikoff, Cindy; Simuni, Tanya; Weintraub, Sandra; Reber, Paul J

    2013-05-01

    Implicit skill learning is hypothesized to depend on nondeclarative memory that operates independent of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system and instead depends on cortico striatal circuits between the basal ganglia and cortical areas supporting motor function and planning. Research with the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task suggests that patients with memory disorders due to MTL damage exhibit normal implicit sequence learning. However, reports of intact learning rely on observations of no group differences, leading to speculation as to whether implicit sequence learning is fully intact in these patients. Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often exhibit impaired sequence learning, but this impairment is not universally observed. Implicit perceptual-motor sequence learning was examined using the Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL) task in patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI; n = 11) and patients with PD (n = 15). Sequence learning in SISL is resistant to explicit learning and individually adapted task difficulty controls for baseline performance differences. Patients with MCI exhibited robust sequence learning, equivalent to healthy older adults (n = 20), supporting the hypothesis that the MTL does not contribute to learning in this task. In contrast, the majority of patients with PD exhibited no sequence-specific learning in spite of matched overall task performance. Two patients with PD exhibited performance indicative of an explicit compensatory strategy suggesting that impaired implicit learning may lead to greater reliance on explicit memory in some individuals. The differences in learning between patient groups provides strong evidence in favor of implicit sequence learning depending solely on intact basal ganglia function with no contribution from the MTL memory system.

  10. Differences in Learning Styles and Satisfaction between Traditional Face-to-Face and Online Web-Based Sport Management Studies Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West, Ellen Jo

    2010-01-01

    Each student has a unique learning style or individual way of perceiving, interacting, and responding to a learning environment. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the prevalence of learning styles among undergraduate Sport Management Studies (SMS) students at California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U). Learning style…

  11. Evolutionary model with genetics, aging, and knowledge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bustillos, Armando Ticona; de Oliveira, Paulo Murilo

    2004-02-01

    We represent a process of learning by using bit strings, where 1 bits represent the knowledge acquired by individuals. Two ways of learning are considered: individual learning by trial and error, and social learning by copying knowledge from other individuals or from parents in the case of species with parental care. The age-structured bit string allows us to study how knowledge is accumulated during life and its influence over the genetic pool of a population after many generations. We use the Penna model to represent the genetic inheritance of each individual. In order to study how the accumulated knowledge influences the survival process, we include it to help individuals to avoid the various death situations. Modifications in the Verhulst factor do not show any special feature due to its random nature. However, by adding years to life as a function of the accumulated knowledge, we observe an improvement of the survival rates while the genetic fitness of the population becomes worse. In this latter case, knowledge becomes more important in the last years of life where individuals are threatened by diseases. Effects of offspring overprotection and differences between individual and social learning can also be observed. Sexual selection as a function of knowledge shows some effects when fidelity is imposed.

  12. Web-based teaching video packages on anatomical education.

    PubMed

    Ozer, Mehmet Asim; Govsa, Figen; Bati, Ayse Hilal

    2017-11-01

    The aim of this study was to study the effect of web-based teaching video packages on medical students' satisfaction during gross anatomy education. The objective was to test the hypothesis that individual preference, which can be related to learning style, influences individual utilization of the video packages developed specifically for the undergraduate medical curriculum. Web-based teaching video packages consisting of Closed Circuit Audiovisual System and Distance Education of Anatomy were prepared. 54 informative application videos each lasting an average 12 min, competent with learning objectives have been prepared. 300 young adults of the medical school on applied anatomy education were evaluated in terms of their course content, exam performance and perceptions. A survey was conducted to determine the difference between the students who did not use teaching packages with those who used it during or after the lecture. A mean of 150 hits for each student per year was indicated. Academic performance of anatomy has been an increase of 10 points. Positive effects of the video packages on anatomy education have manifested on the survey conducted on students. The survey was compiled under twenty different items including effectiveness, providing education opportunity and affecting learning positively. Additionally, the difference was remarkable that the positive ideas of the second year students on learning were statistically significant from that of the third year students. Web-based video packages are helpful, definitive, easily accessible and affordable which enable students with different pace of learning to reach information simultaneously in equal conditions and increase the learning activity in crowded group lectures in cadaver labs. We conclude that personality/learning preferences of individual students influence their use of video packages in the medical curriculum.

  13. Identifying Learning Preferences Early.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reiff, Judith C.

    The Picture Learning Style Inventory was administered to 42 first graders and 46 second graders attending two public schools in a Southern university community. The inventory consists of 13 individual picture booklets, each illustrating a different element of learning style (environmental, emotional, sociological, and physical). The inventory is…

  14. Bumblebee learning and memory is impaired by chronic exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide

    PubMed Central

    Stanley, Dara A.; Smith, Karen E.; Raine, Nigel E.

    2015-01-01

    Bumblebees are exposed to pesticides applied for crop protection while foraging on treated plants, with increasing evidence suggesting that this sublethal exposure has implications for pollinator declines. The challenges of navigating and learning to manipulate many different flowers underline the critical role learning plays for the foraging success and survival of bees. We assessed the impacts of both acute and chronic exposure to field-realistic levels of a widely applied neonicotinoid insecticide, thiamethoxam, on bumblebee odour learning and memory. Although bees exposed to acute doses showed conditioned responses less frequently than controls, we found no difference in the number of individuals able to learn at field-realistic exposure levels. However, following chronic pesticide exposure, bees exposed to field-realistic levels learnt more slowly and their short-term memory was significantly impaired following exposure to 2.4 ppb pesticide. These results indicate that field-realistic pesticide exposure can have appreciable impacts on learning and memory, with potential implications for essential individual behaviour and colony fitness. PMID:26568480

  15. The Lasting Effects of Process-Specific versus Stimulus-Specific Learning during Infancy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hadley, Hillary; Pickron, Charisse B.; Scott, Lisa S.

    2015-01-01

    The capacity to tell the difference between two faces within an infrequently experienced face group (e.g. other species, other race) declines from 6 to 9 months of age unless infants learn to match these faces with individual-level names. Similarly, the use of individual-level labels can also facilitate differentiation of a group of non-face…

  16. Motivations to Seek Science Videos on YouTube: Free-Choice Learning in a Connected Society

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosenthal, Sonny

    2018-01-01

    Do individuals use video sharing sites in their free time to learn about science, and if so, why? This study takes a preliminary look at individual differences that motivate online science video seeking. Among 273 Singapore Internet users who participated in an online survey, most reported using YouTube during the previous week, and one-third…

  17. Social Constructivist Approach to Web-Based EFL Learning: Collaboration, Motivation, and Perception on the Use of Google Docs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Sarah Hsueh-Jui; Lan, Yu-Ju

    2016-01-01

    This study reports on the differences in motivation, vocabulary gain, and perceptions on using or the Google Docs between individual and collaborative learning at a tertiary level. Two classes of English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) students were recruited and each class was randomly assigned into one of the two groups--individuals or…

  18. Reduced autobiographical memory specificity is associated with impaired discrimination learning in anxiety disorder patients

    PubMed Central

    Lenaert, Bert; Boddez, Yannick; Vervliet, Bram; Schruers, Koen; Hermans, Dirk

    2015-01-01

    Associative learning plays an important role in the development of anxiety disorders, but a thorough understanding of the variables that impact such learning is still lacking. We investigated whether individual differences in autobiographical memory specificity are related to discrimination learning and generalization. In an associative learning task, participants learned the association between two pictures of female faces and a non-aversive outcome. Subsequently, six morphed pictures functioning as generalization stimuli (GSs) were introduced. In a sample of healthy participants (Study 1), we did not find evidence for differences in discrimination learning as a function of memory specificity. In a sample of anxiety disorder patients (Study 2), individuals who were characterized by low memory specificity showed deficient discrimination learning relative to high specific individuals. In contrast to previous findings, results revealed no effect of memory specificity on generalization. These results indicate that impaired discrimination learning, previously shown in patients suffering from an anxiety disorder, may be—in part—due to limited memory specificity. Together, these studies emphasize the importance of incorporating cognitive variables in associative learning theories and their implications for the development of anxiety disorders. In addition, re-analyses of the data (Study 3) showed that patients suffering from panic disorder showed higher outcome expectancies in the presence of the stimulus that was never followed by an outcome during discrimination training, relative to patients suffering from other anxiety disorders and healthy participants. Because we used a neutral, non-aversive outcome (i.e., drawing of a lightning bolt), these data suggest that learning abnormalities in panic disorder may not be restricted to fear learning, but rather reflect a more general associative learning deficit that also manifests in fear irrelevant contexts. PMID:26191015

  19. Second Language Experience Facilitates Statistical Learning of Novel Linguistic Materials.

    PubMed

    Potter, Christine E; Wang, Tianlin; Saffran, Jenny R

    2017-04-01

    Recent research has begun to explore individual differences in statistical learning, and how those differences may be related to other cognitive abilities, particularly their effects on language learning. In this research, we explored a different type of relationship between language learning and statistical learning: the possibility that learning a new language may also influence statistical learning by changing the regularities to which learners are sensitive. We tested two groups of participants, Mandarin Learners and Naïve Controls, at two time points, 6 months apart. At each time point, participants performed two different statistical learning tasks: an artificial tonal language statistical learning task and a visual statistical learning task. Only the Mandarin-learning group showed significant improvement on the linguistic task, whereas both groups improved equally on the visual task. These results support the view that there are multiple influences on statistical learning. Domain-relevant experiences may affect the regularities that learners can discover when presented with novel stimuli. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  20. Second language experience facilitates statistical learning of novel linguistic materials

    PubMed Central

    Potter, Christine E.; Wang, Tianlin; Saffran, Jenny R.

    2016-01-01

    Recent research has begun to explore individual differences in statistical learning, and how those differences may be related to other cognitive abilities, particularly their effects on language learning. In the present research, we explored a different type of relationship between language learning and statistical learning: the possibility that learning a new language may also influence statistical learning by changing the regularities to which learners are sensitive. We tested two groups of participants, Mandarin Learners and Naïve Controls, at two time points, six months apart. At each time point, participants performed two different statistical learning tasks: an artificial tonal language statistical learning task and a visual statistical learning task. Only the Mandarin-learning group showed significant improvement on the linguistic task, while both groups improved equally on the visual task. These results support the view that there are multiple influences on statistical learning. Domain-relevant experiences may affect the regularities that learners can discover when presented with novel stimuli. PMID:27988939

  1. A Route for Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Framework for Supporting Learning and Improving Achievement for All Learners in Maryland, Prekindergarten through Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maryland State Department of Education, 2011

    2011-01-01

    Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for curriculum design, instruction, and assessment that gives all students equal opportunities to learn and to demonstrate what they have learned. UDL is built on the premise that there is not one kind of learning. Learning differs across tasks, across development, and among individuals. UDL is…

  2. Reinforcement Learning Explains Conditional Cooperation and Its Moody Cousin.

    PubMed

    Ezaki, Takahiro; Horita, Yutaka; Takezawa, Masanori; Masuda, Naoki

    2016-07-01

    Direct reciprocity, or repeated interaction, is a main mechanism to sustain cooperation under social dilemmas involving two individuals. For larger groups and networks, which are probably more relevant to understanding and engineering our society, experiments employing repeated multiplayer social dilemma games have suggested that humans often show conditional cooperation behavior and its moody variant. Mechanisms underlying these behaviors largely remain unclear. Here we provide a proximate account for this behavior by showing that individuals adopting a type of reinforcement learning, called aspiration learning, phenomenologically behave as conditional cooperator. By definition, individuals are satisfied if and only if the obtained payoff is larger than a fixed aspiration level. They reinforce actions that have resulted in satisfactory outcomes and anti-reinforce those yielding unsatisfactory outcomes. The results obtained in the present study are general in that they explain extant experimental results obtained for both so-called moody and non-moody conditional cooperation, prisoner's dilemma and public goods games, and well-mixed groups and networks. Different from the previous theory, individuals are assumed to have no access to information about what other individuals are doing such that they cannot explicitly use conditional cooperation rules. In this sense, myopic aspiration learning in which the unconditional propensity of cooperation is modulated in every discrete time step explains conditional behavior of humans. Aspiration learners showing (moody) conditional cooperation obeyed a noisy GRIM-like strategy. This is different from the Pavlov, a reinforcement learning strategy promoting mutual cooperation in two-player situations.

  3. More than just noise: Inter-individual differences in fear acquisition, extinction and return of fear in humans - Biological, experiential, temperamental factors, and methodological pitfalls.

    PubMed

    Lonsdorf, Tina B; Merz, Christian J

    2017-09-01

    Why do only some individuals develop pathological anxiety following adverse events? Fear acquisition, extinction and return of fear paradigms serve as experimental learning models for the development, treatment and relapse of anxiety. Individual differences in experimental performance were however mostly regarded as 'noise' by researchers interested in basic associative learning principles. Our work for the first time presents a comprehensive literature overview and methodological discussion on inter-individual differences in fear acquisition, extinction and return of fear. We tell a story from noise that steadily develops into a meaningful tune and converges to a model of mechanisms contributing to individual risk/resilience with respect to fear and anxiety-related behavior. Furthermore, in light of the present 'replicability crisis' we identify methodological pitfalls and provide suggestions for study design and analyses tailored to individual difference research in fear conditioning. Ultimately, synergistic transdisciplinary and collaborative efforts hold promise to not only improve our mechanistic understanding but can also be expected to contribute to the development of specifically tailored ('individualized') intervention and targeted prevention programs in the future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Adult Age Differences in Learning from Positive and Negative Probabilistic Feedback

    PubMed Central

    Simon, Jessica R.; Howard, James H.; Howard, Darlene V.

    2010-01-01

    Objective Past research has investigated age differences in frontal-based decision making, but few studies have focused on the behavioral effects of striatal-based changes in healthy aging. Feedback learning has been found to vary with dopamine levels; increases in dopamine facilitate learning from positive feedback, whereas decreases facilitate learning from negative feedback. Given previous evidence of striatal dopamine depletion in healthy aging, we investigated behavioral differences between college-aged and healthy old adults using a feedback learning task that is sensitive to both frontal and striatal processes. Method Seventeen college-aged (M = 18.9 years) and 24 healthy, older adults (M = 70.3 years) completed the Probabilistic selection task, in which participants are trained on probabilistic stimulus-outcome information and then tested to determine whether they learned more from positive or negative feedback. Results As a group, the old adults learned equally well from positive and negative feedback, whereas the college-aged group learned more from positive than negative feedback, F(1, 39) = 4.10, p < .05, reffect = .3. However, these group differences were not due to the older individuals being more balanced learners. Most individuals of both ages were balanced learners, but while all of the remaining young learners had a positive bias, the remaining older learners were split between those with positive and negative learning biases (χ2(2) = 6.12, p<.047). Conclusions These behavioral results are consistent with the dopamine theory of striatal aging, and suggest there might be adult age differences in the kinds of information people use when faced with a current choice. PMID:20604627

  5. Brain potentials to native phoneme discrimination reveal the origin of individual differences in learning the sounds of a second language

    PubMed Central

    Díaz, Begoña; Baus, Cristina; Escera, Carles; Costa, Albert; Sebastián-Gallés, Núria

    2008-01-01

    Human beings differ in their ability to master the sounds of their second language (L2). Phonetic training studies have proposed that differences in phonetic learning stem from differences in psychoacoustic abilities rather than speech-specific capabilities. We aimed at finding the origin of individual differences in L2 phonetic acquisition in natural learning contexts. We consider two alternative explanations: a general psychoacoustic origin vs. a speech-specific one. For this purpose, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from two groups of early, proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals who differed in their mastery of the Catalan (L2) phonetic contrast /e-ε/. Brain activity in response to acoustic change detection was recorded in three different conditions involving tones of different length (duration condition), frequency (frequency condition), and presentation order (pattern condition). In addition, neural correlates of speech change detection were also assessed for both native (/o/-/e/) and nonnative (/o/-/ö/) phonetic contrasts (speech condition). Participants' discrimination accuracy, reflected electrically as a mismatch negativity (MMN), was similar between the two groups of participants in the three acoustic conditions. Conversely, the MMN was reduced in poor perceivers (PP) when they were presented with speech sounds. Therefore, our results support a speech-specific origin of individual variability in L2 phonetic mastery. PMID:18852470

  6. Individual Differences in Achievement Goals among Young Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smiley, Patricia A.; Dweck, Carol S.

    1994-01-01

    Tested on preschoolers a goal-confidence model for older children that predicts achievement behavior during failure. Found that individual differences in achievement goals emerge very early. Children appeared to have developed a mechanism for selecting learning opportunities prior to formal school experience. (AA)

  7. Effects of Different Student Response Modes on Science Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kho, Lee Sze; Chen, Chwen Jen

    2017-01-01

    Student response systems (SRSs) are wireless answering devices that enable students to provide simple real-time feedback to instructors. This study aims to evaluate the effects of different SRS interaction modes on elementary school students' science learning. Three interaction modes which include SRS Individual, SRS Collaborative, and Classroom…

  8. Effective Schooling in Desegregated Settings: What Do We Know About Learning Style and Linguistic Differences?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hare, Bruce R.; Levine, Daniel U.

    1985-01-01

    Argues that mismatches between home and classroom environments play an important part in accounting for the low academic performance of many low-status, especially minority, students. Discusses approaches emphasizing cooperative learning and individualized instruction for use with culturally different students in desegregated settings. (RDN)

  9. Moving Technology-Enhanced-Learning Forward: Bridging Divides through Leadership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bälter, Olle

    2017-01-01

    A study of academics and professional staff engaged in the emerging field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) reveal three areas of significant difference in reference to perspectives about TEL. These differences rest on the following individual characteristics: 1) research areas and competencies, 2) academic level, and 3) attitudes towards…

  10. Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Accommodating Learning Styles: A Content Analysis of Publications from 2000 to 2011

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbulut, Yavuz; Cardak, Cigdem Suzan

    2012-01-01

    Implementing instructional interventions to accommodate learner differences has received considerable attention. Among these individual difference variables, the empirical evidence regarding the pedagogical value of learning styles has been questioned, but the research on the issue continues. Recent developments in Web-based implementations have…

  11. Dimensional Integration of Assessment Outcomes with Intervention Services for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Decker, Scott

    2012-01-01

    This article reviews critical issues with integrating different procedures for identifying children with specific learning disabilities permitted in the federal regulations of the 2004 Individual With Disabilities Education Act 2004. Theoretical differences between behavioral approaches that focus on recording behavioral responses based on…

  12. Learning Object Names at Different Hierarchical Levels Using Cross-Situational Statistics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Chi-hsin; Zhang, Yayun; Yu, Chen

    2018-01-01

    Objects in the world usually have names at different hierarchical levels (e.g., "beagle," "dog," "animal"). This research investigates adults' ability to use cross-situational statistics to simultaneously learn object labels at individual and category levels. The results revealed that adults were able to use…

  13. Self-Regulation of Learning and Academic Delay of Gratification: Individual Differences among College Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bembenutty, Hefer

    This study examined whether there were gender and ethnic differences in students' willingness to delay gratification, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, use of cognitive strategies (such as rehearsal, organization, elaboration, and metacognition), and use of learning strategies (help seeking, time management, effort…

  14. Behavioral and neural effects of congruency of visual feedback during short-term motor learning.

    PubMed

    Ossmy, Ori; Mukamel, Roy

    2018-05-15

    Visual feedback can facilitate or interfere with movement execution. Here, we describe behavioral and neural mechanisms by which the congruency of visual feedback during physical practice of a motor skill modulates subsequent performance gains. 18 healthy subjects learned to execute rapid sequences of right hand finger movements during fMRI scans either with or without visual feedback. Feedback consisted of a real-time, movement-based display of virtual hands that was either congruent (right virtual hand movement), or incongruent (left virtual hand movement yoked to the executing right hand). At the group level, right hand performance gains following training with congruent visual feedback were significantly higher relative to training without visual feedback. Conversely, performance gains following training with incongruent visual feedback were significantly lower. Interestingly, across individual subjects these opposite effects correlated. Activation in the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) during training corresponded to individual differences in subsequent performance gains. Furthermore, functional coupling of SMA with visual cortices predicted individual differences in behavior. Our results demonstrate that some individuals are more sensitive than others to congruency of visual feedback during short-term motor learning and that neural activation in SMA correlates with such inter-individual differences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Preliminary evidence of a neurophysiological basis for individual discrimination in filial imprinting.

    PubMed

    Town, Stephen Michael

    2011-12-01

    Filial imprinting involves a predisposition for biologically important stimuli and a learning process directing preferences towards a particular stimulus. Learning underlies discrimination between imprinted and unfamiliar individuals and depends upon the IMM (intermediate and medial mesopallium). Here, IMM neurons responded differentially to familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics following socialization and the neurophysiological effects of social experience differed between hemispheres. Such findings may provide a neurophysiological basis for individual discrimination in imprinting. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. How Object, Situation and Personality Shape Human Attitude in Learning: An Activity Perspective and a Multilevel Modeling Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Jun

    2009-01-01

    Based on Activity Theory, this article examines attitude formation in human learning as shaped by the experiences of individual learners with various learning objects in particular learning contexts. It hypothesizes that a learner's object-related perceptions, personality traits and situational perceptions may have different relationships with the…

  17. An Examination of Online Instructional Practices Based on the Learning Styles of Graduate Education Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tonsing-Meyer, Julie A.

    2012-01-01

    As technology has evolved, the way individuals learn and the way instructors teach has changed. Despite the general consensus that learning styles and instructional preferences should be addressed in e-learning, there remains a gap in the research into how different styles might be correlated with certain instructional preferences to improve the…

  18. Highlighting in Early Childhood: Learning Biases through Attentional Shifting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burling, Joseph M.; Yoshida, Hanako

    2017-01-01

    The literature on human and animal learning suggests that individuals attend to and act on cues differently based on the order in which they were learned. Recent studies have proposed that one specific type of learning outcome, the highlighting effect, can serve as a framework for understanding a number of early cognitive milestones. However,…

  19. Learning Style-Based Teaching To Raise Minority Student Test Scores: There's No Debate!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burke, Karen; Dunn, Rita

    2002-01-01

    Explains how teachers in the Freeport, Illinois School District began teaching to individual learning styles to ensure that all of their students performed well in school. Notes that the teachers insisted that students learn differently from one another. Concludes that once students understood what they were required to learn and could work…

  20. A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirschner, Femke; Paas, Fred; Kirschner, Paul A.

    2009-01-01

    This article presents a review of research comparing the effectiveness of individual learning environments with collaborative learning environments. In reviewing the literature, it was determined that there is no clear and unequivocal picture of how, when, and why the effectiveness of these two approaches to learning differ, a result which may be…

  1. With Friends Like These...?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saba, Farhad, Ed.

    2000-01-01

    Suggests that distance education advocates and critics alike should learn that responding to learners' needs for independent learning is a fundamental principle. Discusses learner autonomy; new admirers of distance education; lack of sensitivity to individual learning differences and the increased use of streaming media; and the position of Dr.…

  2. Chinese Students Making Sense of Problem-Based Learning and Western Teaching--Pitfalls and Coping Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gram, Malene; Jaeger, Kirsten; Liu, Junyang; Qing, Li; Wu, Xiangying

    2013-01-01

    Culturally different imaginations of student and teacher roles, incongruent perceptions of academic standards, and diverging conceptualizations of learning may cause "difficult times" for institutions and individual learners involved in international education. Universities practicing alternative approaches to teaching and learning, for…

  3. Aptitude for Learning a Foreign Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard; Ganschow, Leonore

    2001-01-01

    Review research on foreign language aptitude and its measurement prior to 1990. Describes research areas in the 1990s, including affective variables, language learning strategies, learning styles as contributors to aptitude and aptitude as a cognitive construct affected by language variables. Reviews research on individual differences and the…

  4. Facilitating Long-Term Changes in Student Approaches to Learning Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buchwitz, Brian J.; Beyer, Catharine H.; Peterson, Jon E.; Pitre, Emile; Lalic, Nevena; Sampson, Paul D.; Wakimoto, Barbara T.

    2012-01-01

    Undergraduates entering science curricula differ greatly in individual starting points and learning needs. The fast pace, high enrollment, and high stakes of introductory science courses, however, limit students' opportunities to self-assess and modify learning strategies. The University of Washington's Biology Fellows Program (BFP) intervenes…

  5. Thinking Styles in Implicit and Explicit Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xie, Qiuzhi; Gao, Xiangping; King, Ronnel B.

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated whether individual differences in thinking styles influence explicit and implicit learning. Eighty-seven university students in China participated in this study. Results indicated that performance in the explicit learning condition was positively associated with Type I thinking styles (i.e. legislative and liberal styles)…

  6. Is Native-Language Decoding Skill Related to Second-Language Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meschyan, Gayane; Hernandez, Arturo

    2002-01-01

    Investigated the mechanisms through which native-language (English) word decoding ability predicted individual differences in native- and second-language (Spanish) learning. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that second-language learning is founded on native-language phonological-orthographic ability among college-age adults, especially…

  7. A Learning-Style Theory for Understanding Autistic Behaviors

    PubMed Central

    Qian, Ning; Lipkin, Richard M.

    2011-01-01

    Understanding autism's ever-expanding array of behaviors, from sensation to cognition, is a major challenge. We posit that autistic and typically developing brains implement different algorithms that are better suited to learn, represent, and process different tasks; consequently, they develop different interests and behaviors. Computationally, a continuum of algorithms exists, from lookup table (LUT) learning, which aims to store experiences precisely, to interpolation (INT) learning, which focuses on extracting underlying statistical structure (regularities) from experiences. We hypothesize that autistic and typical brains, respectively, are biased toward LUT and INT learning, in low- and high-dimensional feature spaces, possibly because of their narrow and broad tuning functions. The LUT style is good at learning relationships that are local, precise, rigid, and contain little regularity for generalization (e.g., the name–number association in a phonebook). However, it is poor at learning relationships that are context dependent, noisy, flexible, and do contain regularities for generalization (e.g., associations between gaze direction and intention, language and meaning, sensory input and interpretation, motor-control signal and movement, and social situation and proper response). The LUT style poorly compresses information, resulting in inefficiency, sensory overload (overwhelm), restricted interests, and resistance to change. It also leads to poor prediction and anticipation, frequent surprises and over-reaction (hyper-sensitivity), impaired attentional selection and switching, concreteness, strong local focus, weak adaptation, and superior and inferior performances on simple and complex tasks. The spectrum nature of autism can be explained by different degrees of LUT learning among different individuals, and in different systems of the same individual. Our theory suggests that therapy should focus on training autistic LUT algorithm to learn regularities. PMID:21886617

  8. Interactions of spatial strategies producing generalization gradient and blocking: A computational approach

    PubMed Central

    Dollé, Laurent; Chavarriaga, Ricardo

    2018-01-01

    We present a computational model of spatial navigation comprising different learning mechanisms in mammals, i.e., associative, cognitive mapping and parallel systems. This model is able to reproduce a large number of experimental results in different variants of the Morris water maze task, including standard associative phenomena (spatial generalization gradient and blocking), as well as navigation based on cognitive mapping. Furthermore, we show that competitive and cooperative patterns between different navigation strategies in the model allow to explain previous apparently contradictory results supporting either associative or cognitive mechanisms for spatial learning. The key computational mechanism to reconcile experimental results showing different influences of distal and proximal cues on the behavior, different learning times, and different abilities of individuals to alternatively perform spatial and response strategies, relies in the dynamic coordination of navigation strategies, whose performance is evaluated online with a common currency through a modular approach. We provide a set of concrete experimental predictions to further test the computational model. Overall, this computational work sheds new light on inter-individual differences in navigation learning, and provides a formal and mechanistic approach to test various theories of spatial cognition in mammals. PMID:29630600

  9. Short-term motor learning through non-immersive virtual reality task in individuals with down syndrome.

    PubMed

    de Mello Monteiro, Carlos Bandeira; da Silva, Talita Dias; de Abreu, Luiz Carlos; Fregni, Felipe; de Araujo, Luciano Vieira; Ferreira, Fernando Henrique Inocêncio Borba; Leone, Claudio

    2017-04-14

    Down syndrome (DS) has unique physical, motor and cognitive characteristics. Despite cognitive and motor difficulties, there is a possibility of intervention based on the knowledge of motor learning. However, it is important to study the motor learning process in individuals with DS during a virtual reality task to justify the use of virtual reality to organize intervention programs. The aim of this study was to analyze the motor learning process in individuals with DS during a virtual reality task. A total of 40 individuals participated in this study, 20 of whom had DS (24 males and 8 females, mean age of 19 years, ranging between 14 and 30 yrs.) and 20 typically developing individuals (TD) who were matched by age and gender to the individuals with DS. To examine this issue, we used software that uses 3D images and reproduced a coincidence-timing task. The results showed that all individuals improved performance in the virtual task, but the individuals with DS that started the task with worse performance showed higher difference from the beginning. Besides that, they were able to retain and transfer the performance with increase of speed of the task. Individuals with DS are able to learn movements from virtual tasks, even though the movement time was higher compared to the TD individuals. The results showed that individuals with DS who started with low performance improved coincidence- timing task with virtual objects, but were less accurate than typically developing individuals. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02719600 .

  10. Learning To Live Together.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nolan, Paul

    2003-01-01

    Grassroots communities in Northern Ireland are undertaking learning initiatives aimed at conflict reduction and community building. Efforts include replacing prejudice with knowledge, offering antisectarian education, building healthy individual communities before transcending differences, and celebrating cultural traditions. (SK)

  11. Dynamic functional connectivity shapes individual differences in associative learning.

    PubMed

    Fatima, Zainab; Kovacevic, Natasha; Misic, Bratislav; McIntosh, Anthony Randal

    2016-11-01

    Current neuroscientific research has shown that the brain reconfigures its functional interactions at multiple timescales. Here, we sought to link transient changes in functional brain networks to individual differences in behavioral and cognitive performance by using an active learning paradigm. Participants learned associations between pairs of unrelated visual stimuli by using feedback. Interindividual behavioral variability was quantified with a learning rate measure. By using a multivariate statistical framework (partial least squares), we identified patterns of network organization across multiple temporal scales (within a trial, millisecond; across a learning session, minute) and linked these to the rate of change in behavioral performance (fast and slow). Results indicated that posterior network connectivity was present early in the trial for fast, and later in the trial for slow performers. In contrast, connectivity in an associative memory network (frontal, striatal, and medial temporal regions) occurred later in the trial for fast, and earlier for slow performers. Time-dependent changes in the posterior network were correlated with visual/spatial scores obtained from independent neuropsychological assessments, with fast learners performing better on visual/spatial subtests. No relationship was found between functional connectivity dynamics in the memory network and visual/spatial test scores indicative of cognitive skill. By using a comprehensive set of measures (behavioral, cognitive, and neurophysiological), we report that individual variations in learning-related performance change are supported by differences in cognitive ability and time-sensitive connectivity in functional neural networks. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3911-3928, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Interdisciplinary research and education in the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems: a framework for evaluation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bloeschl, G.; Carr, G.; Loucks, D. P.

    2017-12-01

    Greater understanding of how interdisciplinary research and education evolves is critical for identifying and implementing appropriate programme management strategies. We propose a program evaluation framework that is based on social learning processes (individual learning, interdisciplinary research practices, and interaction between researchers with different backgrounds); social capital outcomes (ability to interact, interpersonal connectivity, and shared understanding); and knowledge and human capital outcomes (new knowledge that integrates multiple research fields). The framework is tested on established case study doctoral program: the Vienna Doctoral Program on Water Resource Systems. Data are collected via mixed qualitative/quantitative methods that include semi-structured interviews, publication co-author analysis, analysis of research proposals, categorisation of the interdisciplinarity of publications and graduate analysis. Through the evaluation and analysis, several interesting findings about how interdisciplinary research evolves and can be supported are identified. Firstly, different aspects of individual learning seem to contribute to a researcher's ability to interact with researchers from other research fields and work collaboratively. These include learning new material from different research fields, learning how to learn new material and learning how to integrate different material. Secondly, shared interdisciplinary research practices can be identified that may be common to other programs and support interaction and shared understanding between different researchers. They include clarification and questioning, harnessing differences and setting defensible research boundaries. Thirdly, intensive interaction between researchers from different backgrounds support connectivity between the researchers, further enabling cross-disciplinary collaborative work. The case study data suggest that social learning processes and social capital outcomes precede new interdisciplinary research findings and are therefore a critical aspect to consider in interdisciplinary program management.

  13. Adaptive Semantic and Social Web-based learning and assessment environment for the STEM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Babaie, Hassan; Atchison, Chris; Sunderraman, Rajshekhar

    2014-05-01

    We are building a cloud- and Semantic Web-based personalized, adaptive learning environment for the STEM fields that integrates and leverages Social Web technologies to allow instructors and authors of learning material to collaborate in semi-automatic development and update of their common domain and task ontologies and building their learning resources. The semi-automatic ontology learning and development minimize issues related to the design and maintenance of domain ontologies by knowledge engineers who do not have any knowledge of the domain. The social web component of the personal adaptive system will allow individual and group learners to interact with each other and discuss their own learning experience and understanding of course material, and resolve issues related to their class assignments. The adaptive system will be capable of representing key knowledge concepts in different ways and difficulty levels based on learners' differences, and lead to different understanding of the same STEM content by different learners. It will adapt specific pedagogical strategies to individual learners based on their characteristics, cognition, and preferences, allow authors to assemble remotely accessed learning material into courses, and provide facilities for instructors to assess (in real time) the perception of students of course material, monitor their progress in the learning process, and generate timely feedback based on their understanding or misconceptions. The system applies a set of ontologies that structure the learning process, with multiple user friendly Web interfaces. These include the learning ontology (models learning objects, educational resources, and learning goal); context ontology (supports adaptive strategy by detecting student situation), domain ontology (structures concepts and context), learner ontology (models student profile, preferences, and behavior), task ontologies, technological ontology (defines devices and places that surround the student), pedagogy ontology, and learner ontology (defines time constraint, comment, profile).

  14. Cognitive ability predicts motor learning on a virtual reality game in patients with TBI.

    PubMed

    O'Neil, Rochelle L; Skeel, Reid L; Ustinova, Ksenia I

    2013-01-01

    Virtual reality games and simulations have been utilized successfully for motor rehabilitation of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Little is known, however, how TBI-related cognitive decline affects learning of motor tasks in virtual environments. To fill this gap, we examined learning within a virtual reality game involving various reaching motions in 14 patients with TBI and 15 healthy individuals with different cognitive abilities. All participants practiced ten 90-second gaming trials to assess various aspects of motor learning. Cognitive abilities were assessed with a battery of tests including measures of memory, executive functioning, and visuospatial ability. Overall, participants with TBI showed both reduced performance and a slower learning rate in the virtual reality game compared to healthy individuals. Numerous correlations between overall performance and several of the cognitive ability domains were revealed for both the patient and control groups, with the best predictor being overall cognitive ability. The results may provide a starting point for rehabilitation programs regarding which cognitive domains interact with motor learning.

  15. Learning styles of medical students, general surgery residents, and general surgeons: implications for surgical education.

    PubMed

    Engels, Paul T; de Gara, Chris

    2010-06-30

    Surgical education is evolving under the dual pressures of an enlarging body of knowledge required during residency and mounting work-hour restrictions. Changes in surgical residency training need to be based on available educational models and research to ensure successful training of surgeons. Experiential learning theory, developed by David Kolb, demonstrates the importance of individual learning styles in improving learning. This study helps elucidate the way in which medical students, surgical residents, and surgical faculty learn. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, which divides individual learning styles into Accommodating, Diverging, Converging, and Assimilating categories, was administered to the second year undergraduate medical students, general surgery resident body, and general surgery faculty at the University of Alberta. A total of 241 faculty, residents, and students were surveyed with an overall response rate of 73%. The predominant learning style of the medical students was assimilating and this was statistically significant (p < 0.03) from the converging learning style found in the residents and faculty. The predominant learning styles of the residents and faculty were convergent and accommodative, with no statistically significant differences between the residents and the faculty. We conclude that medical students have a significantly different learning style from general surgical trainees and general surgeons. This has important implications in the education of general surgery residents.

  16. The Relationship between Multiple Intelligences and Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners across Genders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sabet, Masoud Khalili; Kiaee, Marjan Mesbah

    2016-01-01

    With developments in psychology and cognitive sciences in recent years, the significance of individual differences in L2 pedagogy has been highlighted. One of the outcomes of attending to individual differences is the increased attention to the concept of multiple intelligences and its relationship with language learning and different skills…

  17. Brainstem timing: implications for cortical processing and literacy.

    PubMed

    Banai, Karen; Nicol, Trent; Zecker, Steven G; Kraus, Nina

    2005-10-26

    The search for a unique biological marker of language-based learning disabilities has so far yielded inconclusive findings. Previous studies have shown a plethora of auditory processing deficits in learning disabilities at both the perceptual and physiological levels. In this study, we investigated the association among brainstem timing, cortical processing of stimulus differences, and literacy skills. To that end, brainstem timing and cortical sensitivity to acoustic change [mismatch negativity (MMN)] were measured in a group of children with learning disabilities and normal-learning children. The learning-disabled (LD) group was further divided into two subgroups with normal and abnormal brainstem timing. MMNs, literacy, and cognitive abilities were compared among the three groups. LD individuals with abnormal brainstem timing were more likely to show reduced processing of acoustic change at the cortical level compared with both normal-learning individuals and LD individuals with normal brainstem timing. This group was also characterized by a more severe form of learning disability manifested by poorer reading, listening comprehension, and general cognitive ability. We conclude that abnormal brainstem timing in learning disabilities is related to higher incidence of reduced cortical sensitivity to acoustic change and to deficient literacy skills. These findings suggest that abnormal brainstem timing may serve as a reliable marker of a subgroup of individuals with learning disabilities. They also suggest that faulty mechanisms of neural timing at the brainstem may be the biological basis of malfunction in this group.

  18. The Squeaky Wheel "Needs" the Grease: Perceptions of Teaching and Learning in Graduate Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Economos, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this international study was to contrast the differences in graduate student perceptions of professor pedagogical content knowledge, individualized consideration, Student-Professor Engagement in Learning, professor intellectual stimulation, and student deep learning. Sixty-seven graduate business and 70 graduate education students…

  19. Differentiating Instruction in Physical Education: Personalization of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colquitt, Gavin; Pritchard, Tony; Johnson, Christine; McCollum, Starla

    2017-01-01

    Differentiated instruction (DI) is a complex conceptual model and philosophy that is implemented in many traditional classroom settings. The primary focus of DI is to personalize the learning process by taking into account individual differences among students' varied levels of readiness, interest and learning profile. Varied assessments are used…

  20. Detecting Symptoms of Low Performance Using Production Rules

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bravo, Javier; Ortigosa, Alvaro

    2009-01-01

    E-Learning systems offer students innovative and attractive ways of learning through augmentation or substitution of traditional lectures and exercises with online learning material. Such material can be accessed at any time from anywhere using different devices, and can be personalized according to the individual student's needs, goals and…

  1. Assessing Individual-Level Factors Supporting Student Intrinsic Motivation in Online Discussions: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shroff, Ronnie H.; Vogel, Douglas R.; Coombes, John

    2008-01-01

    Research has established that intrinsic motivation has a positive effect on learning and academic achievement. However, little is known about the impact of different technology-supported learning activities on student intrinsic motivation or whether such learning activities significantly enhance student intrinsic motivation compared to traditional…

  2. Autism and Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Brien, Gregory; Pearson, Joanne

    2004-01-01

    In this article a short overview is given of the relationship between autism and learning disability. Autism exists with any level of intelligence, but many individuals with autism suffer also from learning disability. Although both disorders show overlap in some behaviours they are different in many aspects. Are they distinct syndromes which…

  3. Phonological Memory and Rule Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, John N.; Lovatt, Peter

    2005-01-01

    Our research reflects the current trend to relate individual differences in second language learning to underlying cognitive processes e.g., Robinson, 2002. We believe that such investigations, apart from being of practical importance, can also shed light on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the language learning process. Here we focus on the…

  4. Adaptive versus Learner Control in a Multiple Intelligence Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Declan

    2008-01-01

    Within the field of technology enhanced learning, adaptive educational systems offer an advanced form of learning environment that attempts to meet the needs of different students. Such systems capture and represent, for each student, various characteristics such as knowledge and traits in an individual learner model. Subsequently, using the…

  5. English Learning Strategies among EFL Learners: A Narrative Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen, Hoang; Terry, Daniel R.

    2017-01-01

    Language learning strategies (LLSs) are believed to be influenced by individual differences as well as environmental and contextual factors. Therefore, the effective use of LLSs is determined by various factors, including both learning and learner variables. This dynamic and complex nature of LLSs renders it appropriate to use a qualitative…

  6. Web-Based Learning: Cognitive Styles and Instructional Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alomyan, Hesham Raji

    2016-01-01

    This paper reports a study, which investigated whether different instructional strategies might interact with individual's cognitive style in learning. A web-based learning package was designed employing three strategies, Interactive Concept Maps, Illustration with Embedded Text and Text-Only. Group Embedded Figure Test was administered to 178…

  7. Implicit Perceptual-Motor Skill Learning in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Parkinson's Disease

    PubMed Central

    Gobel, Eric W.; Blomeke, Kelsey; Zadikoff, Cindy; Simuni, Tanya; Weintraub, Sandy; Reber, Paul J.

    2015-01-01

    Objective Implicit skill learning is hypothesized to depend on nondeclarative memory that operates independent of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system and instead depends on cortico-striatal circuits between the basal ganglia and cortical areas supporting motor function and planning. Research with the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task suggests that patients with memory-disorders due to MTL damage exhibit normal implicit sequence learning. However, reports of intact learning rely on observations of no group differences, leading to speculation whether implicit sequence learning is fully intact in these patients. Patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) often exhibit impaired sequence learning, but this impairment is not universally observed. Method Implicit perceptual-motor sequence learning was examined using the Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL) task in patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI; n=11) and patients with PD (n=15). Sequence learning in SISL is resistant to explicit learning and individually adapted task difficulty controls for baseline performance differences. Results Patients with MCI exhibited robust sequence learning, equivalent to healthy older adults (n=20), supporting the hypothesis that the MTL does not contribute to learning in this task. In contrast, the majority of patients with PD exhibited no sequence-specific learning in spite of matched overall task performance. Two patients with PD exhibited performance indicative of an explicit compensatory strategy suggesting that impaired implicit learning may lead to greater reliance on explicit memory in some individuals. Conclusion The differences in learning between patient groups provides strong evidence in favor of implicit sequence learning depending solely on intact basal ganglia function with no contribution from the MTL memory system. PMID:23688213

  8. An empirical typology of hospital nurses' individual learning paths.

    PubMed

    Poell, Rob F; Van der Krogt, Ferd J

    2014-03-01

    A relatively new theoretical concept is proposed in this paper, namely, the individual learning path. Learning paths are created by individual employees and comprise a set of learning-relevant activities that are both coherent as a whole and meaningful to them. To explore the empirical basis of this theoretical concept. A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews. Two academic medical centers (university hospitals) and two general hospitals in the Netherlands. A total of 89 nurses were involved in the study. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed qualitatively; cluster analysis was then performed on quantified data from the interviews. Four types of learning path emerged, namely, the formal-external, self-directed, social-emotional, and information-oriented learning paths. The relatively new theoretical concept of an individual learning path can be observed in practice and a number of different learning-path types can be distinguished. Nurses were found to create their own learning paths, that is, select a theme that is relevant primarily to themselves, conduct a variety of learning activities around this theme, participate in social contexts that might help them, and mobilize learning facilities provided by their organization. These activities go way beyond the notion of employees as self-directed learners merely in a didactic sense (establishing learning goals, choosing the right learning activities for these goals, evaluating to what extent their goals have been met as a result). The findings can be interpreted as evidence of employees acting strategically when it comes to their professional development. Providers of continuing professional education/development need to take this into account. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Cooperation-Controlled Learning for Explicit Class Structure in Self-Organizing Maps

    PubMed Central

    Kamimura, Ryotaro

    2014-01-01

    We attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of multiple points of view toward neural networks. By restricting ourselves to two points of view of a neuron, we propose a new type of information-theoretic method called “cooperation-controlled learning.” In this method, individual and collective neurons are distinguished from one another, and we suppose that the characteristics of individual and collective neurons are different. To implement individual and collective neurons, we prepare two networks, namely, cooperative and uncooperative networks. The roles of these networks and the roles of individual and collective neurons are controlled by the cooperation parameter. As the parameter is increased, the role of cooperative networks becomes more important in learning, and the characteristics of collective neurons become more dominant. On the other hand, when the parameter is small, individual neurons play a more important role. We applied the method to the automobile and housing data from the machine learning database and examined whether explicit class boundaries could be obtained. Experimental results showed that cooperation-controlled learning, in particular taking into account information on input units, could be used to produce clearer class structure than conventional self-organizing maps. PMID:25309950

  10. The lasting effects of process-specific versus stimulus-specific learning during infancy.

    PubMed

    Hadley, Hillary; Pickron, Charisse B; Scott, Lisa S

    2015-09-01

    The capacity to tell the difference between two faces within an infrequently experienced face group (e.g. other species, other race) declines from 6 to 9 months of age unless infants learn to match these faces with individual-level names. Similarly, the use of individual-level labels can also facilitate differentiation of a group of non-face objects (strollers). This early learning leads to increased neural specialization for previously unfamiliar face or object groups. The current investigation aimed to determine whether early conceptual learning between 6 and 9 months leads to sustained behavioral advantages and neural changes in these same children at 4-6 years of age. Results suggest that relative to a control group of children with no previous training and to children with infant category-level naming experience, children with early individual-level training exhibited faster response times to human faces. Further, individual-level training with a face group - but not an object group - led to more adult-like neural responses for human faces. These results suggest that early individual-level learning results in long-lasting process-specific effects, which benefit categories that continue to be perceived and recognized at the individual level (e.g. human faces). © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Vagal tone during infant contingency learning and its disruption.

    PubMed

    Sullivan, Margaret Wolan

    2016-04-01

    This study used contingency learning to examine changes in infants' vagal tone during learning and its disruption. The heart rate of 160 five-month-old infants was recorded continuously during the first of two training sessions as they experienced an audiovisual event contingent on their pulling. Maternal reports of infant temperament were also collected. Baseline vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic regulation of the heart, was related to vagal levels during the infants' contingency learning session, but not to their learner status. Vagal tone levels did not vary significantly over session minutes. Instead, vagal tone levels were a function of both individual differences in learner status and infant soothability. Vagal levels of infants who learned in the initial session were similar regardless of their soothability; however, vagal levels of infants who learned in a subsequent session differed as a function of soothability. Additionally, vagal levels during contingency disruption were significantly higher among infants in this group who were more soothable as opposed to those who were less soothable. The results suggest that contingency learning and disruption is associated with stable vagal tone in the majority of infants, but that individual differences in attention processes and state associated with vagal tone may be most readily observed during the disruption phase. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Vagal Tone During Infant Contingency Learning and Its Disruption

    PubMed Central

    Sullivan, Margaret Wolan

    2015-01-01

    This study used contingency learning to examine changes in infants’ vagal tone during learning and its disruption. The heart rate of 160 five-month-old infants was recorded continuously during the first of two training sessions as they experienced an audiovisual event contingent on their pulling. Maternal reports of infant temperament were also collected. Baseline vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic regulation of the heart, was related to vagal levels during the infants’ contingency learning session, but not to their learner status. Vagal tone levels did not vary significantly over session minutes. Instead, vagal tone levels were a function of both individual differences in learner status and infant soothability. Vagal levels of infants who learned in the initial session were similar regardless of their soothability; however, vagal levels of infants who learned in a subsequent session differed as a function of soothability. Additionally, vagal levels during contingency disruption were significantly higher among infants in this group who were more soothable as opposed to those who were less soothable. The results suggest that contingency learning and disruption is associated with stable vagal tone in the majority of infants, but that individual differences in attention processes and state associated with vagal tone may be most readily observed during the disruption phase. PMID:26517573

  13. Cognitive Plasticity and Cortical Modules

    PubMed Central

    Mercado, Eduardo

    2009-01-01

    Some organisms learn to calculate, accumulate knowledge, and communicate in ways that others do not. What factors determine which intellectual abilities a particular species or individual can easily acquire? I propose that cognitive-skill learning capacity reflects (a) the availability of specialized cortical circuits, (b) the flexibility with which cortical activity is coordinated, and (c) the customizability of cortical networks. This framework can potentially account for differences in learning capacity across species, individuals, and developmental stages. Understanding the mechanisms that constrain cognitive plasticity is fundamental to developing new technologies and educational practices that maximize intellectual advancements. PMID:19750239

  14. Cognitive Plasticity and Cortical Modules.

    PubMed

    Mercado, Eduardo

    2009-06-01

    Some organisms learn to calculate, accumulate knowledge, and communicate in ways that others do not. What factors determine which intellectual abilities a particular species or individual can easily acquire? I propose that cognitive-skill learning capacity reflects (a) the availability of specialized cortical circuits, (b) the flexibility with which cortical activity is coordinated, and (c) the customizability of cortical networks. This framework can potentially account for differences in learning capacity across species, individuals, and developmental stages. Understanding the mechanisms that constrain cognitive plasticity is fundamental to developing new technologies and educational practices that maximize intellectual advancements.

  15. Environmental Empowerment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sumrall, William J.; Aronin, Gene

    1993-01-01

    Describes having students write individual letters to learn about environmental issues and get students involved. With encouragement, students will learn that they can make a difference by addressing their concerns to people who have the power to direct change. (PR)

  16. Mobility scooter driving ability in visually impaired individuals.

    PubMed

    Cordes, Christina; Heutink, Joost; Brookhuis, Karel A; Brouwer, Wiebo H; Melis-Dankers, Bart J M

    2018-06-01

    To investigate how well visually impaired individuals can learn to use mobility scooters and which parts of the driving task deserve special attention. A mobility scooter driving skill test was developed to compare driving skills (e.g. reverse driving, turning) between 48 visually impaired (very low visual acuity = 14, low visual acuity = 10, peripheral field defects = 11, multiple visual impairments = 13) and 37 normal-sighted controls without any prior experience with mobility scooters. Performance on this test was rated on a three-point scale. Furthermore, the number of extra repetitions on the different elements were noted. Results showed that visually impaired participants were able to gain sufficient driving skills to be able to use mobility scooters. Participants with visual field defects combined with low visual acuity showed most problems learning different skills and needed more training. Reverse driving and stopping seemed to be most difficult. The present findings suggest that visually impaired individuals are able to learn to drive mobility scooters. Mobility scooter allocators should be aware that these individuals might need more training on certain elements of the driving task. Implications for rehabilitation Visual impairments do not necessarily lead to an inability to acquire mobility scooter driving skills. Individuals with peripheral field defects (especially in combination with reduced visual acuity) need more driving ability training compared to normal-sighted people - especially to accomplish reversing. Individual assessment of visually impaired people is recommended, since participants in this study showed a wide variation in ability to learn driving a mobility scooter.

  17. Mood induction effects on motor sequence learning and stop signal reaction time.

    PubMed

    Greeley, Brian; Seidler, Rachael D

    2017-01-01

    The neurobiological theory of positive affect proposes that positive mood states may benefit cognitive performance due to an increase of dopamine throughout the brain. However, the results of many positive affect studies are inconsistent; this may be due to individual differences. The relationship between dopamine and performance is not linear, but instead follows an inverted "U" shape. Given this, we hypothesized that individuals with high working memory capacity, a proxy measure for dopaminergic transmission, would not benefit from positive mood induction and in fact performance in dopamine-mediated tasks would decline. In contrast, we predicted that individuals with low working memory capacities would receive the most benefit after positive mood induction. Here, we explored the effect of positive affect on two dopamine-mediated tasks, an explicit serial reaction time sequence learning task and the stop signal task, predicting that an individual's performance is modulated not only by working memory capacity, but also on the type of mood. Improvements in explicit sequence learning from pre- to post-positive mood induction were associated with working memory capacity; performance declined in individuals with higher working memory capacities following positive mood induction, but improved in individuals with lower working memory capacities. This was not the case for negative or neutral mood induction. Moreover, there was no relationship between the change in stop signal reaction time with any of the mood inductions and individual differences in working memory capacity. These results provide partial support for the neurobiological theory of positive affect and highlight the importance of taking into account individual differences in working memory when examining the effects of positive mood induction.

  18. Different Strokes for Different Folks: How Individual Interest Moderates the Effects of Situational Factors on Task Interest

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Durik, Amanda M.; Harackiewicz, Judith M.

    2007-01-01

    Individual interest was examined as a moderator of effects of situational factors designed to catch and hold task interest. In Study 1, 96 college students learned a math technique with materials enhanced with collative features (catch) versus not. Catch promoted motivation among participants with low individual interest in math (IIM) but hampered…

  19. The Effects of Prior-knowledge and Online Learning Approaches on Students' Inquiry and Argumentation Abilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Wen-Tsung; Lin, Yu-Ren; She, Hsiao-Ching; Huang, Kai-Yi

    2015-07-01

    This study investigated the effects of students' prior science knowledge and online learning approaches (social and individual) on their learning with regard to three topics: science concepts, inquiry, and argumentation. Two science teachers and 118 students from 4 eighth-grade science classes were invited to participate in this research. Students in each class were divided into three groups according to their level of prior science knowledge; they then took either our social- or individual-based online science learning program. The results show that students in the social online argumentation group performed better in argumentation and online argumentation learning. Qualitative analysis indicated that the students' social interactions benefited the co-construction of sound arguments and the accurate understanding of science concepts. In constructing arguments, students in the individual online argumentation group were limited to knowledge recall and self-reflection. High prior-knowledge students significantly outperformed low prior-knowledge students in all three aspects of science learning. However, the difference in inquiry and argumentation performance between low and high prior-knowledge students decreased with the progression of online learning topics.

  20. Support-vector-machine tree-based domain knowledge learning toward automated sports video classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Guoqiang; Jiang, Yang; Song, Gang; Jiang, Jianmin

    2010-12-01

    We propose a support-vector-machine (SVM) tree to hierarchically learn from domain knowledge represented by low-level features toward automatic classification of sports videos. The proposed SVM tree adopts a binary tree structure to exploit the nature of SVM's binary classification, where each internal node is a single SVM learning unit, and each external node represents the classified output type. Such a SVM tree presents a number of advantages, which include: 1. low computing cost; 2. integrated learning and classification while preserving individual SVM's learning strength; and 3. flexibility in both structure and learning modules, where different numbers of nodes and features can be added to address specific learning requirements, and various learning models can be added as individual nodes, such as neural networks, AdaBoost, hidden Markov models, dynamic Bayesian networks, etc. Experiments support that the proposed SVM tree achieves good performances in sports video classifications.

  1. Strategies in Reading Comprehension: Individual Differences in Learning from Pictures and Words (A Footnote). Technical Report No. 300.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levin, Joel R.; Guttmann, Joseph

    In a recent experiment it was discovered that although many children learn uniformly well (or poorly) from pictures and words, others learn appreciably better from pictures. The present study rules out an alternative explanation of those data--which had been produced on a single learning task containing both pictures and words--by obtaining…

  2. Inter-individual differences in audio-motor learning of piano melodies and white matter fiber tract architecture.

    PubMed

    Engel, Annerose; Hijmans, Brenda S; Cerliani, Leonardo; Bangert, Marc; Nanetti, Luca; Keller, Peter E; Keysers, Christian

    2014-05-01

    Humans vary substantially in their ability to learn new motor skills. Here, we examined inter-individual differences in learning to play the piano, with the goal of identifying relations to structural properties of white matter fiber tracts relevant to audio-motor learning. Non-musicians (n = 18) learned to perform three short melodies on a piano keyboard in a pure audio-motor training condition (vision of their own fingers was occluded). Initial learning times ranged from 17 to 120 min (mean ± SD: 62 ± 29 min). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to derive the fractional anisotropy (FA), an index of white matter microstructural arrangement. A correlation analysis revealed that higher FA values were associated with faster learning of piano melodies. These effects were observed in the bilateral corticospinal tracts, bundles of axons relevant for the execution of voluntary movements, and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, a tract important for audio-motor transformations. These results suggest that the speed with which novel complex audio-motor skills can be acquired may be determined by variability in structural properties of white matter fiber tracts connecting brain areas functionally relevant for audio-motor learning. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Understanding the cognitive processes involved in writing to learn.

    PubMed

    Arnold, Kathleen M; Umanath, Sharda; Thio, Kara; Reilly, Walter B; McDaniel, Mark A; Marsh, Elizabeth J

    2017-06-01

    Writing is often used as a tool for learning. However, empirical support for the benefits of writing-to-learn is mixed, likely because the literature conflates diverse activities (e.g., summaries, term papers) under the single umbrella of writing-to-learn. Following recent trends in the writing-to-learn literature, the authors focus on the underlying cognitive processes. They draw on the largely independent writing-to-learn and cognitive psychology learning literatures to identify important cognitive processes. The current experiment examines learning from 3 writing tasks (and 1 nonwriting control), with an emphasis on whether or not the tasks engaged retrieval. Tasks that engaged retrieval (essay writing and free recall) led to better final test performance than those that did not (note taking and highlighting). Individual differences in structure building (the ability to construct mental representations of narratives; Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990) modified this effect; skilled structure builders benefited more from essay writing and free recall than did less skilled structure builders. Further, more essay-like responses led to better performance, implicating the importance of additional cognitive processes such as reorganization and elaboration. The results highlight how both task instructions and individual differences affect the cognitive processes involved when writing-to-learn, with consequences for the effectiveness of the learning strategy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Bridging Learning Opportunities: AMTEC '93 Conference Proceedings (Windsor, Ontario, Canada, June 14-16, 1993).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Selby, Stuart, Ed.; Marzotto, Esio, Ed.

    The bridging theme of the AMTEC'93 conference provided the stimulation to look beyond traditional boundaries: across international borders; across levels of disciplines and school systems; across social differences and across individual differences. These bridges can help make learning more effective, as can attention to related contemporary…

  5. Procedural Learning and Individual Differences in Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Joanna C.; Tomblin, J. Bruce

    2015-01-01

    The aim of the current study was to examine different aspects of procedural memory in young adults who varied with regard to their language abilities. We selected a sample of procedural memory tasks, each of which represented a unique type of procedural learning, and has been linked, at least partially, to the functionality of the corticostriatal…

  6. Assessing the Effects of Different Multimedia Materials on Emotions and Learning Performance for Visual and Verbal Style Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Chih-Ming; Sun, Ying-Chun

    2012-01-01

    Multimedia materials are now increasingly used in curricula. However, individual preferences for multimedia materials based on visual and verbal cognitive styles may affect learners' emotions and performance. Therefore, in-depth studies that investigate how different multimedia materials affect learning performance and the emotions of learners…

  7. The Transition from School to University in Mathematics: Which Influence Do School-Related Variables Have?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rach, Stefanie; Heinze, Aiso

    2017-01-01

    Particularly in mathematics, the transition from school to university often appears to be a substantial hurdle in the individual learning biography. Differences between the characters of school mathematics and scientific university mathematics as well as different demands related to the learning cultures in both institutions are discussed as…

  8. Beliefs about Knowledge, Knowing, and Learning: Differences across Knowledge Types in Physics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muis, Krista R.; Gierus, Bogusia

    2014-01-01

    The authors examined whether students' epistemic and learning beliefs varied across different knowledge types in physics. On the basis of various beliefs frameworks, the authors predicted that individuals' beliefs would vary within a domain across the same content when presented conceptually versus procedurally. Participants were 81 high…

  9. Navigational Style Influences Eye Movement Pattern during Exploration and Learning of an Environmental Map

    PubMed Central

    Piccardi, Laura; De Luca, Maria; Nori, Raffaella; Palermo, Liana; Iachini, Fabiana; Guariglia, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    During navigation people may adopt three different spatial styles (i.e., Landmark, Route, and Survey). Landmark style (LS) people are able to recall familiar landmarks but cannot combine them with directional information; Route style (RS) people connect landmarks to each other using egocentric information about direction; Survey style (SS) people use a map-like representation of the environment. SS individuals generally navigate better than LS and RS people. Fifty-one college students (20 LS; 17 RS, and 14 SS) took part in the experiment. The spatial cognitive style (SCS) was assessed by means of the SCS test; participants then had to learn a schematic map of a city, and after 5 min had to recall the path depicted on it. During the learning and delayed recall phases, eye-movements were recorded. Our intent was to investigate whether there is a peculiar way to explore an environmental map related to the individual’s spatial style. Results support the presence of differences in the strategy used by the three spatial styles for learning the path and its delayed recall. Specifically, LS individuals produced a greater number of fixations of short duration, while the opposite eye movement pattern characterized SS individuals. Moreover, SS individuals showed a more spread and comprehensive explorative pattern of the map, while LS individuals focused their exploration on the path and related targets. RS individuals showed a pattern of exploration at a level of proficiency between LS and SS individuals. We discuss the clinical and anatomical implications of our data. PMID:27445735

  10. The Multilingual/Bilingual Dichotomy: An Exploration of Individual Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson, Amy S.

    2009-01-01

    Bilingualism (Sanz, 2000), motivation (Pintrich, 1989), and language aptitude (Grigorenko, Sternberg, and Ehrman, 2000) are crucial individual differences that contribute to successful adult language learning. Since Gardner's (1985) seminal work on motivation, many studies have shown that motivation is dynamic and that it affects language…

  11. Assessing orientations to learning to teach.

    PubMed

    Oosterheert, Ida E; Vermunt, Jan D; Denessen, E

    2002-03-01

    An important purpose of teacher education is that student teachers develop and change their existing knowledge on learning and teaching. Research on how student teachers variously engage in this process is scarce. In a previous study of 30 student teachers, we identified five different orientations to learning to teach. Our aim was to extend the results of the previous study by developing an instrument to assess orientations to learning to teach at a larger scale. The development and psychometric properties of the instrument are discussed. The results with respect to how student teachers learn are compared to the results of the qualitative study. Participants in this study were 169 secondary student teachers from three institutes which had all adopted an initial in-service model of learning to teach. On the basis of extensive qualitative study, a questionnaire was developed to assess individual differences in learning to teach. Factor-, reliability-, and nonparametric scalability analyses were performed to identify reliable scales. Cluster analysis was used to identify groups of students with similar orientations to learning to teach. Eight scales covering cognitive, regulative and affective aspects of student teachers' learning were identified. Cluster analysis indicates that the instrument discriminates well between student teachers. Four of the five previously found patterns were found again. The four orientations found in relatively uniform learning environments indicate that student teachers need differential support in their learning. Although the instrument measures individual differences in a reliable way, it is somewhat one-sided in the sense that items representing constructive ways of learning dominate. New items forming a broader range of scales should be created.

  12. Capturing the complexity: Content, type, and amount of instruction and quality of the classroom learning environment synergistically predict third graders’ vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes

    PubMed Central

    Connor, Carol McDonald; Spencer, Mercedes; Day, Stephanie L.; Giuliani, Sarah; Ingebrand, Sarah W.; McLean, Leigh; Morrison, Frederick J.

    2014-01-01

    We examined classrooms as complex systems that affect students’ literacy learning through interacting effects of content and amount of time individual students spent in literacy instruction along with the global quality of the classroom-learning environment. We observed 27 third grade classrooms serving 315 target students using two different observation systems. The first assessed instruction at a more micro-level; specifically, the amount of time individual students spent in literacy instruction defined by the type of instruction, role of the teacher, and content. The second assessed the quality of the classroom-learning environment at a more macro level focusing on classroom organization, teacher responsiveness, and support for vocabulary and language. Results revealed that both global quality of the classroom learning environment and time individual students spent in specific types of literacy instruction covering specific content interacted to predict students’ comprehension and vocabulary gains whereas neither system alone did. These findings support a dynamic systems model of how individual children learn in the context of classroom literacy instruction and the classroom-learning environment, which can help to improve observations systems, advance research, elevate teacher evaluation and professional development, and enhance student achievement. PMID:25400293

  13. The Reliability and Validity of Salivation as a Measure of Individual Differences in Intrinsic Arousal. Report from the Project on Motivation and Individual Differences in Learning and Retention.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farley, Frank H.; And Others

    Two studies were reported which attempted to estimate the stability and construct validity of human salivary response as a measure of individual differences (IDs) in physiological arousal. Twenty-second base line estimates and 20-second response levels to four drops of lemon juice were measured, with the former value being removed from the latter…

  14. Knowledge transmission model with differing initial transmission and retransmission process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Haiying; Wang, Jun; Small, Michael

    2018-10-01

    Knowledge transmission is a cyclic dynamic diffusion process. The rate of acceptance of knowledge differs upon whether or not the recipient has previously held the knowledge. In this paper, the knowledge transmission process is divided into an initial and a retransmission procedure, each with its own transmission and self-learning parameters. Based on epidemic spreading model, we propose a naive-evangelical-agnostic (VEA) knowledge transmission model and derive mean-field equations to describe the dynamics of knowledge transmission in homogeneous networks. Theoretical analysis identifies a criterion for the persistence of knowledge, i.e., the reproduction number R0 depends on the minor effective parameters between the initial and retransmission process. Moreover, the final size of evangelical individuals is only related to retransmission process parameters. Numerical simulations validate the theoretical analysis. Furthermore, the simulations indicate that increasing the initial transmission parameters, including first transmission and self-learning rates of naive individuals, can accelerate the velocity of knowledge transmission efficiently but have no effect on the final size of evangelical individuals. In contrast, the retransmission parameters, including retransmission and self-learning rates of agnostic individuals, have a significant effect on the rate of knowledge transmission, i.e., the larger parameters the greater final density of evangelical individuals.

  15. Typewriting Instruction for Diverse Preparation Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crowell, Mary Alice; Young, Marlin

    1976-01-01

    The advanced typewriting course (for college students) effectively provided for individual differences through the use of proficiency tests, pretests, learning assignment units at three student-selected levels, timed tests, and individual pacing. (MS)

  16. Measuring change for a multidimensional test using a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model.

    PubMed

    Cho, Sun-Joo; Athay, Michele; Preacher, Kristopher J

    2013-05-01

    Even though many educational and psychological tests are known to be multidimensional, little research has been done to address how to measure individual differences in change within an item response theory framework. In this paper, we suggest a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model to measure individual differences in change. New longitudinal models for multidimensional tests and existing models for unidimensional tests are presented within this framework and implemented with software developed for generalized linear models. In addition to the measurement of change, the longitudinal models we present can also be used to explain individual differences in change scores for person groups (e.g., learning disabled students versus non-learning disabled students) and to model differences in item difficulties across item groups (e.g., number operation, measurement, and representation item groups in a mathematics test). An empirical example illustrates the use of the various models for measuring individual differences in change when there are person groups and multiple skill domains which lead to multidimensionality at a time point. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  17. More than words: Adults learn probabilities over categories and relationships between them.

    PubMed

    Hudson Kam, Carla L

    2009-04-01

    This study examines whether human learners can acquire statistics over abstract categories and their relationships to each other. Adult learners were exposed to miniature artificial languages containing variation in the ordering of the Subject, Object, and Verb constituents. Different orders (e.g. SOV, VSO) occurred in the input with different frequencies, but the occurrence of one order versus another was not predictable. Importantly, the language was constructed such that participants could only match the overall input probabilities if they were tracking statistics over abstract categories, not over individual words. At test, participants reproduced the probabilities present in the input with a high degree of accuracy. Closer examination revealed that learner's were matching the probabilities associated with individual verbs rather than the category as a whole. However, individual nouns had no impact on word orders produced. Thus, participants learned the probabilities of a particular ordering of the abstract grammatical categories Subject and Object associated with each verb. Results suggest that statistical learning mechanisms are capable of tracking relationships between abstract linguistic categories in addition to individual items.

  18. The Interplay of Individual Differences and Context of Learning in Behavioral and Neurocognitive Second Language Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Faretta-Stutenberg, Mandy; Morgan-Short, Kara

    2018-01-01

    In order to understand variability in second language (L2) acquisition, this study addressed how individual differences in cognitive abilities may contribute to development for learners in different contexts. Specifically, we report the results of two short-term longitudinal studies aimed at examining the role of cognitive abilities in accounting…

  19. How Does Anxiety Affect Second Language Learning? A Reply to Sparks and Ganschow.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MacIntyre, Peter D.

    1995-01-01

    Advocates that language anxiety can play a significant causal role in creating individual differences in both language learning and communication. This paper studies the role of anxiety in the language learning process and concludes that the linguistic coding deficit hypothesis errs in assigning epiphenomenal status to language anxiety. (57…

  20. Learning Behaviour and Learning Outcomes: The Roles for Social Influence and Field of Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smyth, Lillian; Mavor, Kenneth I.; Platow, Michael J.

    2017-01-01

    Research has demonstrated a significant role of discipline social identification in predicting learning approaches, even controlling for individual differences. Smyth et al. ("Educ Psychol" 35(1):53-72, 2015. doi:10.1080/01443410.2013.822962) suggest that learners share discipline-based social identifications, and that this…

  1. Learning Transfer--Validation of the Learning Transfer System Inventory in Portugal

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Velada, Raquel; Caetano, Antonio; Bates, Reid; Holton, Ed

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the construct validity of learning transfer system inventory (LTSI) for use in Portugal. Furthermore, it also aims to analyze whether LTSI dimensions differ across individual variables such as gender, age, educational level and job tenure. Design/methodology/approach: After a rigorous translation…

  2. Cooperative/Collaborative Learning: Research and Practice (Primarily) at the Collegiate Level, Parts I and II.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, James L.; And Others

    1991-01-01

    Cooperative learning may be defined as a structured, systematic instructional strategy in which small groups work together toward a common goal. It differs from collaborative learning in its emphasis on highly structured techniques for ensuring positive interdependence within groups and its insistence on individual accountability rather than…

  3. Contextual Dynamics in Foreign Language Learning Motivation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kozaki, Yoko; Ross, Steven J.

    2011-01-01

    Learning context has increasingly been postulated to exert an influence on the dynamics of individual differences in language learning. In a longitudinal design that tested the proficiency gains of 1,682 learners over a 2-year foreign language program, a multilevel modeling approach was deployed in this study to account for variation in second…

  4. Learning during a Collaborative Final Exam

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dahlstrom, Orjan

    2012-01-01

    Collaborative testing has been suggested to serve as a good learning activity, for example, compared to individual testing. The aim of the present study was to measure learning at different levels of knowledge during a collaborative final exam in a course in basic methods and statistical procedures. Results on pre- and post-tests taken…

  5. Implementing Service Learning in Pre-Service Teacher Coursework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hildenbrand, Susan M.; Schultz, Susan M.

    2015-01-01

    Service learning remains a topic of interest in higher education. It has become more prevalent in teacher preparation programs with the intent of providing the opportunity for pre-service teachers to become engaged with individuals who have different life experiences than their own. Lessons can be learned through a review of the literature and the…

  6. The Influence of Personality on Neural Mechanisms of Observational Fear and Reward Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hooker, Christine I.; Verosky, Sara C.; Miyakawa, Asako; Knight, Robert T.; D'Esposito, Mark

    2008-01-01

    Fear and reward learning can occur through direct experience or observation. Both channels can enhance survival or create maladaptive behavior. We used fMRI to isolate neural mechanisms of observational fear and reward learning and investigate whether neural response varied according to individual differences in neuroticism and extraversion.…

  7. Using Learning Preferences to Improve Coaching and Athletic Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dunn, Julia L.

    2009-01-01

    Each individual learns in a different manner, depending on his or her perceptual or learning preferences (visual, auditory, read/write, or kinesthetic). In sport, coaches and athletes must speak a common language of instructions, verbal cues, and appropriate motor responses. Thus, developing a clear understanding of how to use students' learning…

  8. Bubble Festival: Presenting Bubble Activities in a Learning Station Format. Teacher's Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barber, Jacqueline; Willard, Carolyn

    This learning station guide adapts the Bubble Festival, an all-school event, for individual classrooms. It presents students with a variety of different challenges at learning stations set up around the classroom. The activities are student-centered and involve open-ended investigations. Also included are ways to extend students' experiences at…

  9. Individual and Collective Reflection: How to Meet the Needs of Development in Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nissila, Sade-Pirkko

    2005-01-01

    The following five core ideas explain how learning organizations function as wholes. The core ideas are central when school is examined as a learning organization. Personal mastery, mental models, team learning, shared visions and system thinking offer different angles to examine the organization. (1) Personal mastery. Without personal commitment,…

  10. Learning Novel Phonological Representations in Developmental Dyslexia: Associations with Basic Auditory Processing of Rise Time and Phonological Awareness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomson, Jennifer M.; Goswami, Usha

    2010-01-01

    Across languages, children with developmental dyslexia are known to have impaired lexical phonological representations. Here, we explore associations between learning new phonological representations, phonological awareness, and sensitivity to amplitude envelope onsets (rise time). We show that individual differences in learning novel phonological…

  11. Contributions of Associative Learning to Age and Individual Differences in Fluid Intelligence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tamez, Elaine; Myerson, Joel; Hale, Sandra

    2012-01-01

    According to the cognitive cascade hypothesis, age-related slowing results in decreased working memory, which in turn affects higher-order cognition. Because recent studies show complex associative learning correlates highly with fluid intelligence, the present study examined the role of complex associative learning in cognitive cascade models of…

  12. PUPIL-TEACHER ADJUSTEMENT AND MUTUAL ADAPTATION IN CREATING CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    FOX, ROBERT S.; AND OTHERS

    AN ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE LEARNING SITUATIONS IN A VARIETY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASSROOMS WAS UNDERTAKEN. THE PROJECT MADE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PATTERNS OF COOPERATION OR ALIENATION AMONG PARENTS, TEACHERS, PEERS, AND INDIVIDUAL PUPILS. THE PATTERNS CREATE LEARNING CULTURES OF DIFFERENT PRODUCTIVITY IN VARIOUS CLASSROOMS. THE DATA…

  13. Verbal Knowledge, Working Memory, and Processing Speed as Predictors of Verbal Learning in Older Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rast, Philippe

    2011-01-01

    The present study aimed at modeling individual differences in a verbal learning task by means of a latent structured growth curve approach based on an exponential function that yielded 3 parameters: initial recall, learning rate, and asymptotic performance. Three cognitive variables--speed of information processing, verbal knowledge, working…

  14. Why Do Learners Choose Online Learning: The Learners' Voices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ilgaz, Hale; Gulbahar, Yasemin

    2017-01-01

    Offering many advantages to adult learners, e-Learning is now being recognized--and preferred--by more and more people, resulting in an increased number of distance learners in recent years. Numerous research studies focus on learner preferences for online learning, with most converging around the individual characteristics and differences, if not…

  15. The Prepared Environment and Its Relationship to Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loeffler, Margaret Howard

    A proposal to carefully examine some current thinking on early learning and attempts to project their implications into the design of a unique learning facility that would offer a supportive and stimulating environment for young children two to six years of age, providing for their individual needs and differences. The concepts examined were…

  16. The Impact of Individual Differences on E-Learning System Satisfaction: A Contingency Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Hsi-Peng; Chiou, Ming-Jen

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of contingent variables on the relationship between four predictors and students' satisfaction with e-learning. Five hundred and twenty-two university students from 10 intact classes engaging in online instruction were asked to answer questionnaires about their learning styles, perceptions of the quality of the…

  17. The influence of learning styles on collaborative performances of allied health students in a clinical exercise.

    PubMed

    Sandmire, D A; Vroman, K G; Sanders, R

    2000-01-01

    With the increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary practice, there is a need to recognize factors that promote effective interdisciplinary teams. The influence of individual learning-style preference on collaborative performance was examined in 78 occupational and physical therapy students in a neuroscience course. They were randomly assigned in pairs to one of three subsets based upon their Kolb Learning Style Inventory scores (active experimenters vs reflective observers). The students viewed a videotape of a quadriplegic patient's physical examination and completed a collaborative exercise that required performance skills on all levels of Bloom's taxonomy of learning. Analysis of variance revealed no significant difference among learning-style subset pairs in performance (F2, 36 = 0.43, p > 0.05), but the exercise's overall grade correlated with the average of the pair's highest individual scores on two prior written exams (r = 0.631, p < 0.05), suggesting that background knowledge may predict performance better than learning styles do. It is suggested that differences in information-processing styles as measured by the Kolb inventory do not affect interdisciplinary team performance.

  18. Interactions between Learner Characteristics and Optimal Instruction. Report No. 75-17.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brophy, Jere E.

    Possible implications of individual and group differences for educational research and practice are discussed. Differences include preference for cooperative versus competitive tasks; for working alone versus in a group; for structured versus unstructured learning situations; or for individual versus group reward contingencies; social class and…

  19. Practicing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Physical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young, Shawna; Sternod, Brandon M.

    2011-01-01

    As a result of continuous global immigration to the United States, several microcultures coexist within the country. Today's classroom should provide an interface where individuals from different cultural backgrounds have the potential for sharing a rich place of learning--a place where the teacher embraces and celebrates individual differences,…

  20. Distinguishable memory retrieval networks for collaboratively and non-collaboratively learned information.

    PubMed

    Vanlangendonck, Flora; Takashima, Atsuko; Willems, Roel M; Hagoort, Peter

    2018-03-01

    Learning often occurs in communicative and collaborative settings, yet almost all research into the neural basis of memory relies on participants encoding and retrieving information on their own. We investigated whether learning linguistic labels in a collaborative context at least partly relies on cognitively and neurally distinct representations, as compared to learning in an individual context. Healthy human participants learned labels for sets of abstract shapes in three different tasks. They came up with labels with another person in a collaborative communication task (collaborative condition), by themselves (individual condition), or were given pre-determined unrelated labels to learn by themselves (arbitrary condition). Immediately after learning, participants retrieved and produced the labels aloud during a communicative task in the MRI scanner. The fMRI results show that the retrieval of collaboratively generated labels as compared to individually learned labels engages brain regions involved in understanding others (mentalizing or theory of mind) and autobiographical memory, including the medial prefrontal cortex, the right temporoparietal junction and the precuneus. This study is the first to show that collaboration during encoding affects the neural networks involved in retrieval. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. The significance of 'facilitator as a change agent'--organisational learning culture in aged care home settings.

    PubMed

    Grealish, Laurie; Henderson, Amanda; Quero, Fritz; Phillips, Roslyn; Surawski, May

    2015-04-01

    To explore the impact of an educational programme focused on social behaviours and relationships on organisational learning culture in the residential aged care context. The number of aged care homes will continue to rise as the frail older elderly live longer, requiring more formal care and support. As with other small- to medium-sized health services, aged care homes are faced with the challenge of continuous development of the workforce and depend upon registered nurses to lead staff development. A mixed-method evaluation research design was used to determine the impact of an educational programme focused on social aspects of learning on organisational learning culture. One hundred and fifty-nine (pre) and 143 (post) participants from three aged care homes completed the Clinical Learning Organisational Culture survey, and three participant-researcher registered nurse clinical educators provided regular journal entries for review. While each site received the same educational programme over a six-month period, the change in organisational learning culture at each site was notably different. Two aged care homes had significant improvements in affiliation, one in accomplishment and one in recognition. The educators' journals differed in the types of learning observed and interventions undertaken, with Eucalyptus focused on organisational change, Grevillea focused on group (student) change and the Wattle focused on individual or situational change. Clinical educator activities appear to have a significant effect on organisational learning culture, with a focus on the organisational level having the greatest positive effect on learning culture and on individual or situational level having a limited effect. Clinical educator facilitation that is focused on organisational rather than individual interests may offer a key to improving organisational learning culture. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. A network model of behavioural performance in a rule learning task.

    PubMed

    Hasselmo, Michael E; Stern, Chantal E

    2018-04-19

    Humans demonstrate differences in performance on cognitive rule learning tasks which could involve differences in properties of neural circuits. An example model is presented to show how gating of the spread of neural activity could underlie rule learning and the generalization of rules to previously unseen stimuli. This model uses the activity of gating units to regulate the pattern of connectivity between neurons responding to sensory input and subsequent gating units or output units. This model allows analysis of network parameters that could contribute to differences in cognitive rule learning. These network parameters include differences in the parameters of synaptic modification and presynaptic inhibition of synaptic transmission that could be regulated by neuromodulatory influences on neural circuits. Neuromodulatory receptors play an important role in cognitive function, as demonstrated by the fact that drugs that block cholinergic muscarinic receptors can cause cognitive impairments. In discussions of the links between neuromodulatory systems and biologically based traits, the issue of mechanisms through which these linkages are realized is often missing. This model demonstrates potential roles of neural circuit parameters regulated by acetylcholine in learning context-dependent rules, and demonstrates the potential contribution of variation in neural circuit properties and neuromodulatory function to individual differences in cognitive function.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  3. Different Verbal Learning Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowler, Dermot M.; Limoges, Elyse; Mottron, Laurent

    2009-01-01

    The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires the free recall of the same list of 15 unrelated words over 5 trials, was administered to 21 high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 matched typical individuals. The groups showed similar overall levels of free recall, rates of learning over trials and…

  4. Learning in a Different Era: "Do Our Education Systems Do Enough to Enable Learners to Flourish as Independent, Autonomous and Well-Balanced Individuals?"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Kai-ming

    2015-01-01

    There is a prime necessity to make a distinction between "education" and "learning." Learning is a human instinct. Education is not. Education is about learning processes designed by adults for the young. In the past two centuries in the industrial era, education has developed into society-wide "school" systems. Young…

  5. Using appreciative inquiry to help students identify strategies to overcome handicaps of their learning styles.

    PubMed

    Kumar, Latha Rajendra; Chacko, Thomas Vengail

    2012-01-01

    In India, as in some other neighboring Asian countries, students and teachers are generally unaware of the differences in the learning styles among learners, which can handicap students with learning styles alien to the common teaching/learning modality within the institution. This study aims to find out whether making students aware of their learning styles and then using the Appreciative Inquiry approach to help them discover learning strategies that worked for them and others with similar learning styles within the institution made them perceive that this experience improved their learning and performance in exams. The visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic (VARK) inventory of learning styles questionnaire was administered to all 100 first-year medical students of the Father Muller's Medical College in Mangalore India to make them aware of their individual learning styles. An Appreciate Inquiry intervention was administered to 62 student volunteers who were counseled about the different learning styles and their adaptive strategies. Pre and post intervention change in student's perception about usefulness of knowing learning styles on their learning, learning behavior, and performance in examinations was collected from the students using a prevalidated questionnaire. Post intervention mean scores showed a significant change (P < 0.0001) in student's self-perceptions about usefulness of knowing one's learning style and discovering strategies that worked within the institutional environment. There was agreement among students that the intervention helped them become more confident in learning (84%), facilitating learning in general (100%), and in understanding concepts (100%). However, only 29% of the students agreed that the intervention has brought about their capability improvement in application of learning and 31% felt it improved their performance in exams. Appreciate Inquiry was perceived as useful in helping students discover learning strategies that work for different individual learning styles and sharing them within the group helped students choose strategies to help overcome the handicap presented by the school's teaching methods.

  6. Addressing Learning Style Criticism: The Unified Learning Style Model Revisited

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Popescu, Elvira

    Learning style is one of the individual differences that play an important but controversial role in the learning process. This paper aims at providing a critical analysis regarding learning styles and their use in technology enhanced learning. The identified criticism issues are addressed by reappraising the so called Unified Learning Style Model (ULSM). A detailed description of the ULSM components is provided, together with their rationale. The practical applicability of the model in adaptive web-based educational systems and its advantages versus traditional learning style models are also outlined.

  7. Learning styles of medical students, general surgery residents, and general surgeons: implications for surgical education

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background Surgical education is evolving under the dual pressures of an enlarging body of knowledge required during residency and mounting work-hour restrictions. Changes in surgical residency training need to be based on available educational models and research to ensure successful training of surgeons. Experiential learning theory, developed by David Kolb, demonstrates the importance of individual learning styles in improving learning. This study helps elucidate the way in which medical students, surgical residents, and surgical faculty learn. Methods The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, which divides individual learning styles into Accommodating, Diverging, Converging, and Assimilating categories, was administered to the second year undergraduate medical students, general surgery resident body, and general surgery faculty at the University of Alberta. Results A total of 241 faculty, residents, and students were surveyed with an overall response rate of 73%. The predominant learning style of the medical students was assimilating and this was statistically significant (p < 0.03) from the converging learning style found in the residents and faculty. The predominant learning styles of the residents and faculty were convergent and accommodative, with no statistically significant differences between the residents and the faculty. Conclusions We conclude that medical students have a significantly different learning style from general surgical trainees and general surgeons. This has important implications in the education of general surgery residents. PMID:20591159

  8. A study of the effect of dyad practice versus that of individual practice on simulation-based complex skills learning and of students' perceptions of how and why dyad practice contributes to learning.

    PubMed

    Räder, Sune B E W; Henriksen, Ann-Helen; Butrymovich, Vitalij; Sander, Mikael; Jørgensen, Erik; Lönn, Lars; Ringsted, Charlotte V

    2014-09-01

    The aims of this study were (1) to explore the effectiveness of dyad practice compared with individual practice on a simulator for learning a complex clinical skill and (2) to explore medical students' perceptions of how and why dyad practice on a simulator contributes to learning a complex skill. In 2011, the authors randomly assigned 84 medical students to either the dyad or the individual practice group to learn coronary angiography skills using instruction videos and a simulator. Two weeks later, participants each performed two video-recorded coronary angiographies on the simulator. Two raters used a rating scale to assess the participants' video-recorded performance. The authors then interviewed the participants in the dyad practice group. Seventy-two (86%) participants completed the study. The authors found no significant difference between the performance scores of the two groups (mean±standard deviation, 68%±13% for individual versus 63%±16% for dyad practice; P=.18). Dyad practice participants noted that several key factors contributed to their learning: being equal-level novices, the quality of the cooperation between partners, observational learning and overt communication, social aspects and motivation, and meta-cognition. Dyad practice is more efficient and thus more cost-effective than individual practice and can be used for costly virtual reality simulator training. However, dyad practice may not apply to clinical training involving real patients because learning from errors and overt communication, both keys to dyad practice, do not transfer to clinical practice.

  9. Learning-related human brain activations reflecting individual finances.

    PubMed

    Tobler, Philippe N; Fletcher, Paul C; Bullmore, Edward T; Schultz, Wolfram

    2007-04-05

    A basic tenet of microeconomics suggests that the subjective value of financial gains decreases with increasing assets of individuals ("marginal utility"). Using concepts from learning theory and microeconomics, we assessed the capacity of financial rewards to elicit behavioral and neuronal changes during reward-predictive learning in participants with different financial backgrounds. Behavioral learning speed during both acquisition and extinction correlated negatively with the assets of the participants, irrespective of education and age. Correspondingly, response changes in midbrain and striatum measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging were slower during both acquisition and extinction with increasing assets and income of the participants. By contrast, asymptotic magnitudes of behavioral and neuronal responses after learning were unrelated to personal finances. The inverse relationship of behavioral and neuronal learning speed with personal finances is compatible with the general concept of decreasing marginal utility with increasing wealth.

  10. How learning style affects evidence-based medicine: a survey study

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Learning styles determine how people manage new information. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) involves the management of information in clinical practice. As a consequence, the way in which a person uses EBM can be related to his or her learning style. In order to tailor EBM education to the individual learner, this study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between an individual's learning style and EBM competence (knowledge/skills, attitude, behaviour). Methods In 2008, we conducted a survey among 140 novice GP trainees in order to assess their EBM competence and learning styles (Accommodator, Diverger, Assimilator, Converger, or mixed learning style). Results The trainees' EBM knowledge/skills (scale 0-15; mean 6.8; 95%CI 6.4-7.2) were adequate and their attitudes towards EBM (scale 0-100; mean 63; 95%CI 61.3-64.3) were positive. We found no relationship between their knowledge/skills or attitudes and their learning styles (p = 0.21; p = 0.19). Of the trainees, 40% used guidelines to answer clinical questions and 55% agreed that the use of guidelines is the most appropriate way of applying EBM in general practice. Trainees preferred using evidence from summaries to using evidence from single studies. There were no differences in medical decision-making or in EBM use (p = 0.59) for the various learning styles. However, we did find a link between having an Accommodating or Converging learning style and making greater use of intuition. Moreover, trainees with different learning styles expressed different ideas about the optimal use of EBM in primary care. Conclusions We found that EBM knowledge/skills and EBM attitudes did not differ with respect to the learning styles of GP trainees. However, we did find differences relating to the use of intuition and the trainees' ideas regarding the use of evidence in decision-making. PMID:21982307

  11. Praxis and reflexivity for interprofessional education: towards an inclusive theoretical framework for learning.

    PubMed

    Hutchings, Maggie; Scammell, Janet; Quinney, Anne

    2013-09-01

    While there is growing evidence of theoretical perspectives adopted in interprofessional education, learning theories tend to foreground the individual, focusing on psycho-social aspects of individual differences and professional identity to the detriment of considering social-structural factors at work in social practices. Conversely socially situated practice is criticised for being context-specific, making it difficult to draw generalisable conclusions for improving interprofessional education. This article builds on a theoretical framework derived from earlier research, drawing on the dynamics of Dewey's experiential learning theory and Archer's critical realist social theory, to make a case for a meta-theoretical framework enabling social-constructivist and situated learning theories to be interlinked and integrated through praxis and reflexivity. Our current analysis is grounded in an interprofessional curriculum initiative mediated by a virtual community peopled by health and social care users. Student perceptions, captured through quantitative and qualitative data, suggest three major disruptive themes, creating opportunities for congruence and disjuncture and generating a model of zones of interlinked praxis associated with professional differences and identity, pedagogic strategies and technology-mediated approaches. This model contributes to a framework for understanding the complexity of interprofessional learning and offers bridges between individual and structural factors for engaging with the enablements and constraints at work in communities of practice and networks for interprofessional education.

  12. Incidental Learning and Explicit Recall in Upper Extremity Prosthesis Use: Insights Into Functional Rehabilitation Challenges.

    PubMed

    Hughey, Laura; Wheaton, Lewis A

    2016-01-01

    Loss of an upper extremity and the resulting rehabilitation often requires individuals to learn how to use a prosthetic device for activities of daily living. It remains unclear how prostheses affect motor learning outcomes. The authors' aim was to evaluate whether incidental motor learning and explicit recall is affected in intact persons either using prostheses (n = 10) or the sound limb (n = 10), and a chronic amputee on a modified serial reaction time task. Latency and accuracy of task completion were recorded over six blocks, with a distractor task between blocks 5 and 6. Participants were also asked to recall the sequence immediately following the study and at a 24-hr follow-up. Prosthesis users demonstrate patterns consistent with implicit learning, with sustained error patterns with the distal terminal device. More intact individuals were able to explicitly recall the sequence initially, however there was no significant difference 24 hr following the study. Acute incidental motor learning does not appear to diminish task related error patterns or accompany with explicit recall in prosthesis users, which could present limitations for acute training of prosthesis use in amputees. This suggests differing mechanisms of visuospatial sequential learning and motor control with prostheses.

  13. Can personality predict individual differences in brook trout spatial learning ability?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    White, S.L.; Wagner, Tyler; Gowan, C.; Braithwaite, V.A.

    2017-01-01

    While differences in individual personality are common in animal populations, understanding the ecological significance of variation has not yet been resolved. Evidence suggests that personality may influence learning and memory; a finding that could improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes that produce and maintain intraspecific behavioural heterogeneity. Here, we tested whether boldness, the most studied personality trait in fish, could predict learning ability in brook trout. After quantifying boldness, fish were trained to find a hidden food patch in a maze environment. Stable landmark cues were provided to indicate the location of food and, at the conclusion of training, cues were rearranged to test for learning. There was a negative relationship between boldness and learning as shy fish were increasingly more successful at navigating the maze and locating food during training trials compared to bold fish. In the altered testing environment, only shy fish continued using cues to search for food. Overall, the learning rate of bold fish was found to be lower than that of shy fish for several metrics suggesting that personality could have widespread effects on behaviour. Because learning can increase plasticity to environmental change, these results have significant implications for fish conservation.

  14. Procedural Learning and Individual Differences in Language

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Joanna C.; Tomblin, J. Bruce

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the current study was to examine different aspects of procedural memory in young adults who varied with regard to their language abilities. We selected a sample of procedural memory tasks, each of which represented a unique type of procedural learning, and has been linked, at least partially, to the functionality of the corticostriatal system. The findings showed that variance in language abilities is associated with performance on different domains of procedural memory, including the motor domain (as shown in the pursuit rotor task), the cognitive domain (as shown in the weather prediction task), and the linguistic domain (as shown in the nonword repetition priming task). These results implicate the corticostriatal system in individual differences in language. PMID:26190949

  15. Individual differences in the benefits of feedback for learning.

    PubMed

    Kelley, Christopher M; McLaughlin, Anne Collins

    2012-02-01

    Research on learning from feedback has produced ambiguous guidelines for feedback design--some have advocated minimal feedback, whereas others have recommended more extensive feedback that highly supported performance. The objective of the current study was to investigate how individual differences in cognitive resources may predict feedback requirements and resolve previous conflicted findings. Cognitive resources were controlled for by comparing samples from populations with known differences, older and younger adults.To control for task demands, a simple rule-based learning task was created in which participants learned to identify fake Windows pop-ups. Pop-ups were divided into two categories--those that required fluid ability to identify and those that could be identified using crystallized intelligence. In general, results showed participants given higher feedback learned more. However, when analyzed by type of task demand, younger adults performed comparably with both levels of feedback for both cues whereas older adults benefited from increased feedbackfor fluid ability cues but from decreased feedback for crystallized ability cues. One explanation for the current findings is feedback requirements are connected to the cognitive abilities of the learner-those with higher abilities for the type of demands imposed by the task are likely to benefit from reduced feedback. We suggest the following considerations for feedback design: Incorporate learner characteristics and task demands when designing learning support via feedback.

  16. Explicit and implicit motor learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy.

    PubMed

    van der Kamp, John; Steenbergen, Bert; Masters, Rich S W

    2017-07-30

    The current study aimed to investigate the capacity for explicit and implicit learning in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Children with left and right unilateral cerebral palsy and typically developing children shuffled disks toward a target. A prism-adaptation design was implemented, consisting of pre-exposure, prism exposure, and post-exposure phases. Half of the participants were instructed about the function of the prism glasses, while the other half were not. For each trial, the distance between the target and the shuffled disk was determined. Explicit learning was indicated by the rate of adaptation during the prism exposure phase, whereas implicit learning was indicated by the magnitude of the negative after-effect at the start of the post-exposure phase. Results No significant effects were revealed between typically developing participants and participants with unilateral cerebral palsy. Comparison of participants with left and right unilateral cerebral palsy demonstrated that participants with right unilateral cerebral palsy had a significantly lower rate of adaptation than participants with left unilateral cerebral palsy, but only when no instructions were provided. The magnitude of the negative after-effects did not differ significantly between participants with right and left unilateral cerebral palsy. The capacity for explicit motor learning is reduced among individuals with right unilateral cerebral palsy when accumulation of declarative knowledge is unguided (i.e., discovery learning). In contrast, the capacity for implicit learning appears to remain intact among individuals with left as well as right unilateral cerebral palsy. Implications for rehabilitation Implicit motor learning interventions are recommended for individuals with cerebral palsy, particularly for individuals with right unilateral cerebral palsy Explicit motor learning interventions for individual with cerebral palsy - if used - best consist of singular verbal instruction.

  17. Neophobia is negatively related to reversal learning ability in females of a generalist bird of prey, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango.

    PubMed

    Guido, Jorgelina María; Biondi, Laura Marina; Vasallo, Aldo Ivan; Muzio, Rubén Nestor

    2017-07-01

    In an ever-changing environment, the ability to adapt choices to new conditions is essential for daily living and ultimately, for survival. Behavioural flexibility allows animals to maximise survival and reproduction in novel settings by adjusting their behaviour based on specific information and feedback acquired in their current environments. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that an individual's personality type can limit the extent to which the individual might behave flexibly, by influencing the way an individual pays attention to novelty and how much information it collects and stores, which in turn affects the individual's decision-making and learning process. In this study, the behavioural flexibility of a generalist predator, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango, was analysed using the reversal learning paradigm, focusing on the comparison between age classes, and the relation of learning flexibility with a personality trait, the level of neophobia. Due to the low number of male individuals captured, this study was carried out only with female birds. The results showed that age had no significant effect either on the acquisition of a stimulus-reward association, or on the capacity of reversing this previously learned association. Reversal of the response was a harder task for these birds in comparison with the initial acquisition process. The individual's performances in the learning tasks seemed to be uncorrelated with each other, suggesting that they involve different neural mechanisms. Contrary to the general pattern observed in the majority of previous work on personality and cognition in non-human animals, the level of neophobia did not correlate with the initial associative learning performance in both adults and juveniles, yet it showed a significant negative relationship with reversal learning ability, mainly in the regressive phase of this task, for the two age classes. Our results suggest that the predatory and generalist lifestyle of female individuals of M. chimango along with the selective pressures of the environment of the individuals studied might play a critical role in the degree and direction of the linkage between novelty response and learning flexibility observed in this study.

  18. Development rate rather than social environment influences cognitive performance in Australian black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus.

    PubMed

    Anderson, Caitlin L; Kasumovic, Michael M

    2017-01-01

    Cognitive functioning is vital for enabling animals of all taxa to optimise their chances of survival and reproductive success. Learning and memory in particular are drivers of many evolutionary processes. In this study, we examine how developmental plasticity can affect cognitive ability by exploring the role the early social environment has on problem solving ability and learning of female black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus. We used two learning paradigms, an analog of the Morris water maze and a novel linear maze, to examine cognitive differences between individuals reared in two acoustic treatments: silence or calling. Although there was no evidence of learning or memory, individuals that took longer to mature solved the Morris water maze more quickly. Our results suggest that increased investment into cognitive development is likely associated with increased development time during immature stages. Inconsistent individual performance and motivation during the novel linear maze task highlights the difficulties of designing ecologically relevant learning tasks within a lab setting. The role of experimental design in understanding cognitive ability and learning in more natural circumstances is discussed.

  19. Utilizing constructivism learning theory in collaborative testing as a creative strategy to promote essential nursing skills.

    PubMed

    Duane, Barbara T; Satre, Maria E

    2014-01-01

    In nursing education, students participate in individual learner testing. This process follows the instructionist learning theory of a system model. However, in the practice of nursing, success depends upon collaboration with numerous people in different capacities, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and the ability to communicate with others. Research has shown that collaborative testing, a constructivism learning activity and a form of collaborative learning, enhances students' abilities to master these areas. Collaborative testing is a clear, creative strategy which constructivists would say supports the socio-linguistic base of their learning theory. The test becomes an active implementation of peer-mediated learning where individual knowledge is enhanced through problem solving or defense of an individual position with the collaborative method. There is criticism for the testing method's potential of grade inflation and for students to receive grade benefits with little effort. After a review of various collaborative testing methods, this nursing faculty implemented a collaborative testing format that addresses both the positive and negative aspects of the process. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Resting-state qEEG predicts rate of second language learning in adults.

    PubMed

    Prat, Chantel S; Yamasaki, Brianna L; Kluender, Reina A; Stocco, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    Understanding the neurobiological basis of individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA) is important for research on bilingualism, learning, and neural plasticity. The current study used quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) to predict SLA in college-aged individuals. Baseline, eyes-closed resting-state qEEG was used to predict language learning rate during eight weeks of French exposure using an immersive, virtual scenario software. Individual qEEG indices predicted up to 60% of the variability in SLA, whereas behavioral indices of fluid intelligence, executive functioning, and working-memory capacity were not correlated with learning rate. Specifically, power in beta and low-gamma frequency ranges over right temporoparietal regions were strongly positively correlated with SLA. These results highlight the utility of resting-state EEG for studying the neurobiological basis of SLA in a relatively construct-free, paradigm-independent manner. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  1. Assessing Instructional Modalities: Individualized Treatment Effects for Personalized Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beemer, Joshua; Spoon, Kelly; Fan, Juanjuan; Stronach, Jeanne; Frazee, James P.; Bohonak, Andrew J.; Levine, Richard A.

    2018-01-01

    Estimating the efficacy of different instructional modalities, techniques, and interventions is challenging because teaching style covaries with instructor, and the typical student only takes a course once. We introduce the individualized treatment effect (ITE) from analyses of personalized medicine as a means to quantify individual student…

  2. Learning curves in health professions education.

    PubMed

    Pusic, Martin V; Boutis, Kathy; Hatala, Rose; Cook, David A

    2015-08-01

    Learning curves, which graphically show the relationship between learning effort and achievement, are common in published education research but are not often used in day-to-day educational activities. The purpose of this article is to describe the generation and analysis of learning curves and their applicability to health professions education. The authors argue that the time is right for a closer look at using learning curves-given their desirable properties-to inform both self-directed instruction by individuals and education management by instructors.A typical learning curve is made up of a measure of learning (y-axis), a measure of effort (x-axis), and a mathematical linking function. At the individual level, learning curves make manifest a single person's progress towards competence including his/her rate of learning, the inflection point where learning becomes more effortful, and the remaining distance to mastery attainment. At the group level, overlaid learning curves show the full variation of a group of learners' paths through a given learning domain. Specifically, they make overt the difference between time-based and competency-based approaches to instruction. Additionally, instructors can use learning curve information to more accurately target educational resources to those who most require them.The learning curve approach requires a fine-grained collection of data that will not be possible in all educational settings; however, the increased use of an assessment paradigm that explicitly includes effort and its link to individual achievement could result in increased learner engagement and more effective instructional design.

  3. Sampling capacity underlies individual differences in human associative learning.

    PubMed

    Byrom, Nicola C; Murphy, Robin A

    2014-04-01

    Though much work has studied how external factors, such as stimulus properties, influence generalization of associative strength, there has been limited exploration of the influence that internal dispositions may contribute to stimulus processing. Here we report 2 studies using a modified negative patterning discrimination to test the relationship between global processing and generalization. Global processing was associated with stronger negative patterning discrimination, indicative of limited generalization between distinct stimulus compounds and their constituent elements. In Experiment 2, participants pretrained to adopt global processing similarly showed strong negative patterning discrimination. These results demonstrate considerable individual difference in capacity to engage in negative patterning discrimination and suggest that the tendency toward global processing may be one factor explaining this variability. The need for models of learning to account for this variability in learning is discussed.

  4. Payoff-based learning explains the decline in cooperation in public goods games.

    PubMed

    Burton-Chellew, Maxwell N; Nax, Heinrich H; West, Stuart A

    2015-02-22

    Economic games such as the public goods game are increasingly being used to measure social behaviours in humans and non-human primates. The results of such games have been used to argue that people are pro-social, and that humans are uniquely altruistic, willingly sacrificing their own welfare in order to benefit others. However, an alternative explanation for the empirical observations is that individuals are mistaken, but learn, during the game, how to improve their personal payoff. We test between these competing hypotheses, by comparing the explanatory power of different behavioural rules, in public goods games, where individuals are given different amounts of information. We find: (i) that individual behaviour is best explained by a learning rule that is trying to maximize personal income; (ii) that conditional cooperation disappears when the consequences of cooperation are made clearer; and (iii) that social preferences, if they exist, are more anti-social than pro-social. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  5. Sleep promotes branch-specific formation of dendritic spines after learning

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Guang; Lai, Cora Sau Wan; Cichon, Joseph; Ma, Lei; Li, Wei; Gan, Wen-Biao

    2015-01-01

    How sleep helps learning and memory remains unknown. We report in mouse motor cortex that sleep after motor learning promotes the formation of postsynaptic dendritic spines on a subset of branches of individual layer V pyramidal neurons. New spines are formed on different sets of dendritic branches in response to different learning tasks and are protected from being eliminated when multiple tasks are learned. Neurons activated during learning of a motor task are reactivated during subsequent non-rapid eye movement sleep, and disrupting this neuronal reactivation prevents branch-specific spine formation. These findings indicate that sleep has a key role in promoting learning-dependent synapse formation and maintenance on selected dendritic branches, which contribute to memory storage. PMID:24904169

  6. LIMITED GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN THE VOCALIZATIONS OF THE ENDANGERED THICK-BILLED PARROT: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

    PubMed Central

    Guerra, Jaime E.; Cruz-Nieto, Javier; Ortiz-Maciel, Sonia Gabriela; Wright, Timothy F.

    2012-01-01

    The populations of many species are declining worldwide, and conservation efforts struggle to keep pace with extinction rates. Conservation biologists commonly employ strategies such as translocation and reintroduction, which move individuals of endangered species from one part of their range to another. Because individuals from endangered populations are nonexpendable, identifying any potential barriers to the establishment of viable populations prior to release of individuals should be a priority. This study evaluates the potential for learned communication signals to constrain conservation strategies such as reintroduction in an endangered species, the Thick-billed Parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha). We conducted vocal surveys at three geographically distinct breeding populations in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua, Mexico. Acoustic analyses utilizing both spectrogram cross-correlations and parameter measurements from spectrograms revealed no significant differences among the three sites in two common call types. Calls did vary among individuals within a site. The apparent lack of significant geographic variation across sampled sites suggests that differences in learned communication signals are unlikely to pose a barrier to the integration of translocated individuals from different populations into newly established populations. PMID:22307993

  7. Preferential selection based on degree difference in the spatial prisoner's dilemma games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Changwei; Dai, Qionglin; Cheng, Hongyan; Li, Haihong

    2017-10-01

    Strategy evolution in spatial evolutionary games is generally implemented through imitation processes between individuals. In most previous studies, it is assumed that individuals pick up one of their neighbors randomly to learn from. However, by considering the heterogeneity of individuals' influence in the real society, preferential selection is more realistic. Here, we introduce a preferential selection mechanism based on degree difference into spatial prisoner's dilemma games on Erdös-Rényi networks and Barabási-Albert scale-free networks and investigate the effects of the preferential selection on cooperation. The results show that, when the individuals prefer to choose the neighbors who have small degree difference with themselves to imitate, cooperation is hurt by the preferential selection. In contrast, when the individuals prefer to choose those large degree difference neighbors to learn from, there exists optimal preference strength resulting in the maximal cooperation level no matter what the network structure is. In addition, we investigate the robustness of the results against variations of the noise, the average degree and the size of network in the model, and find that the qualitative features of the results are unchanged.

  8. A Contemporary Learning Theory Perspective on the Etiology of Anxiety Disorders: It's Not What You Thought it Was

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mineka, Susan; Zinbarg, Richard

    2006-01-01

    The authors describe how contemporary learning theory and research provide the basis for perspectives on the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders that capture the complexity associated with individual differences in the development and course of these disorders. These insights from modern research on learning overcome the shortcomings of…

  9. Neoliberal Individualism in Dutch Universities: Teaching and Learning Anthropology in an Insecure Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bal, Ellen; Grassiani, Erella; Kirk, Kate

    2014-01-01

    This article is based on our own experiences and that of several of our colleagues teaching social and cultural anthropology in different Dutch institutions for higher learning. We focus in particular on teaching and learning in two small liberal arts and science (LAS) colleges, where anthropology makes up part of the social science curriculum…

  10. Individual Differences in Sequence Learning Ability and Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood and Adulthood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Granena, Gisela

    2013-01-01

    Language aptitude has been hypothesized as a factor that can compensate for postcritical period effects in language learning capacity. However, previous research has primarily focused on instructed contexts and rarely on acquisition-rich learning environments where there is a potential for massive amounts of input. In addition, the studies…

  11. Beyond Instruction; Beyond a Website: Distance Learning, Disability Inclusiveness and Changing Workplace Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rudstam, Hannah; Gower, Wendy Strobel

    2012-01-01

    Often, the aim of distance learning (DL) is to enhance individual learning, not to change workplace practices. Changing organizational policies, practices and behaviors related to disability calls for a different DL approach that engages users and contextualizes knowledge. In the disability arena, there is a need for programming that brings about…

  12. Individual Differences: Implications for Web-Based Learning Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alomyan, Hesham

    2004-01-01

    In the past ten years the Web has attracted many educators for purposes of teaching and learning. The main advantage of the Web lies in its non-linear interaction. That is, students can have more control over their learning paths. However, this freedom of control may cause problems for some students, such as disorientation, cognitive overload and…

  13. Kinesthetic and Interpersonal Learning: A Compendium of "Hands-On" and "Person-to-Person" Projects for Teaching International Accounting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riordan, Diane A.

    2006-01-01

    Prior researchers have described how individuals prefer to learn with different types of activities. Vincent and others (2002) have reported that business students prefer kinesthetic and interpersonal modes of learning and prescribe their use in the international business curriculum. Based on their findings, this paper presents a compendium of…

  14. Accommodating Individual Differences in the Design of Online Learning Environments: A Comparative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moallem, Mahnaz

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a comparative and descriptive study that examined the relationship and effects of incorporating students' learning styles in the design of instruction and the outcome of students' learning, including their attitude and satisfaction. The paper will first explain how the literature on learning…

  15. Teacher and Student Perceptions of the Development of Learner Autonomy; A Case Study in the Biological Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, G. W.; Furnell, J.; Murphy, C. M.; Goulder, R.

    2015-01-01

    Biology teachers in a UK university expressed a majority view that student learning autonomy increases with progression through university. A minority suggested that pre-existing diversity in learning autonomy was more important and that individuals not cohorts differ in their learning autonomy. They suggested that personal experience prior to…

  16. Communities of Practice in Higher Education: Professional Learning in an Academic Career

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arthur, Linet

    2016-01-01

    This article focuses on the life history of a university academic, and the ways in which he learned in different communities of practice during his career. This account raises questions about the applicability of situated learning theory to a knowledge-based organisation, and argues that both the external context and the individuals within the…

  17. Individual Differences in Study Processes and the Quality of Learning Outcomes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Biggs, John

    1979-01-01

    The relationship between students' study processes and the structural complexity of their learning is examined. Study processes are viewed in terms of three dimensions and are assessed by a questionnaire. Learning quality is expressed in levels of a taxonomy. A study that relates taxonomic levels and retention to study processes is reported.…

  18. Student Groups as Learning Entities: The Effect of Group Diversity and Teamwork Quality on Groups' Cognitive Complexity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Curseu, Petru L.; Pluut, Helen

    2013-01-01

    Collaborative learning has important group-level benefits, yet most studies in higher education only focus on individual benefits of collaborative learning experiences. This study extends these insights by testing a model in which teamwork quality mediates the impact of several compositional differences (gender, nationality and teamwork expertise…

  19. Taxonomy of Learning Skills. Interim Technical Report for the Period February 1986-1987.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyllonen, Patrick C.; Shute, Valerie J.

    Questions concerning individual differences in learning ability may be more precisely addressed in light of an agreed-upon taxonomy of learning skills. Existing taxonomies are reviewed, and their shortcomings are described. A taxonomy is then proposed based on a synthesis of current thought consisting of four dimensions: the forms of knowledge;…

  20. The Relationship between Iranian EFL Instructors' Understanding of Learning Styles and Their Students' Success in Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khademi, Marzieh; Motallebzadeh, Khalil; Ashraf, Hamid

    2013-01-01

    Many variables reasonably influence teachers' education. One of these considering variables is being aware of the students' learning styles. Dörnyei (2005) maintains that individual differences correlate strongly with L2 achievements. Keefe (1979) believes that learning styles might be thought of as cognitive, affective, and physiological traits…

  1. A Real Community Bridge: Informing Community-Based Learning through a Model of Participatory Public Art

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stephens, Pamela Geiger

    2006-01-01

    Community-based learning has the power to encourage and sustain the intellectual curiosity of learners. By most accounts, community-based learning is a process that creates a collaborative environment of scholarship that holds individual differences, as well as similarities, in high esteem. It is a process, as the phrase suggests, that extends…

  2. Dissociation of spatial memory systems in Williams syndrome.

    PubMed

    Bostelmann, Mathilde; Fragnière, Emilie; Costanzo, Floriana; Di Vara, Silvia; Menghini, Deny; Vicari, Stefano; Lavenex, Pierre; Lavenex, Pamela Banta

    2017-11-01

    Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic deletion syndrome, is characterized by severe visuospatial deficits affecting performance on both tabletop spatial tasks and on tasks which assess orientation and navigation. Nevertheless, previous studies of WS spatial capacities have ignored the fact that two different spatial memory systems are believed to contribute parallel spatial representations supporting navigation. The place learning system depends on the hippocampal formation and creates flexible relational representations of the environment, also known as cognitive maps. The spatial response learning system depends on the striatum and creates fixed stimulus-response representations, also known as habits. Indeed, no study assessing WS spatial competence has used tasks which selectively target these two spatial memory systems. Here, we report that individuals with WS exhibit a dissociation in their spatial abilities subserved by these two memory systems. As compared to typically developing (TD) children in the same mental age range, place learning performance was impaired in individuals with WS. In contrast, their spatial response learning performance was facilitated. Our findings in individuals with WS and TD children suggest that place learning and response learning interact competitively to control the behavioral strategies normally used to support human spatial navigation. Our findings further suggest that the neural pathways supporting place learning may be affected by the genetic deletion that characterizes WS, whereas those supporting response learning may be relatively preserved. The dissociation observed between these two spatial memory systems provides a coherent theoretical framework to characterize the spatial abilities of individuals with WS, and may lead to the development of new learning strategies based on their facilitated response learning abilities. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Responding to Individual Differences in Inclusive Classrooms in Australia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Kraayenoord, Christina E.; Waterworth, David; Brady, Trish

    2014-01-01

    Responding to individual differences in classrooms in which there is increasing diversity is one of the challenges of inclusive education in Australia. The linking of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and assistive technologies (ATs) is one way in which this challenge can be addressed. This article describes an initiative, known as…

  4. How to Assign Individualized Scores on a Group Project: An Empirical Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Bo; Ohland, Matthew W.

    2009-01-01

    One major challenge in using group projects to assess student learning is accounting for the differences of contribution among group members so that the mark assigned to each individual actually reflects their performance. This research addresses the validity of grading group projects by evaluating different methods that derive individualized…

  5. Training Participation and Gender: Analyzing Individual Barriers across Different Welfare State Regimes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Massing, Natascha; Gauly, Britta

    2017-01-01

    Lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important in today's societies. Individuals need to develop their skills through training in order to be successfully integrated in the labor market. We use data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to investigate gender differences in training across 12 countries. We…

  6. Individual Differences in Depth and Breadth of Processing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schmeck, Ronald R.; McCarthy, Patricia

    Memory has been defined as traces left behind by past information processing. One approach to the study of everyday memory is to isolate reliable differences between individuals in the ways in which they process information when preparing for test events. The Inventory of Learning Processes, consisting of four scales, i.e., Deep Processing,…

  7. Case Studies in Diversity: Individual Differences in Abilities and Traits of Young Gifted Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hafenstein, Norma Lu; Tucker, Brooke

    This study documented how individual differences in personal experiences, cultures, learning styles, and interests affect the demonstrated abilities of children who are gifted, based on qualitative case study research with five children from early childhood classes at the University of Denver's Ricks Center for Gifted Children. Information was…

  8. Task Complexity, Focus on L2 Constructions, and Individual Differences: A Classroom-Based Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Revesz, Andrea

    2011-01-01

    Motivated by cognitive-interactionist frameworks for task-based learning, this study explores whether task complexity affects the extent to which learners focus on form-meaning connections during task-based work in a classroom setting, and whether this relationship is modulated by 3 individual difference factors--linguistic self-confidence,…

  9. Individual Differences and Acquiring Computer Literacy: Are Women More Efficient Than Men?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gattiker, Urs E.

    The training of computer users is becoming increasingly important to all industrialized nations. This study examined how individual differences (e.g. ability and gender) may affect learning outcomes when acquiring computer skills. Subjects (N=347) were college students who took a computer literacy course from a college of business administration…

  10. Individual Differences in Learning Talker Categories: The Role of Working Memory

    PubMed Central

    Levi, Susannah V.

    2016-01-01

    The current study explores the question of how an auditory category is learned by having school-age listeners learn to categorize speech not in terms of linguistic categories, but instead in terms of talker categories (i.e., who is talking). Findings from visual-category learning indicate that working memory skills affect learning, but the literature is equivocal: sometimes better working memory is advantageous, and sometimes not. The current study examined the role of different components of working memory to test which component skills benefit, and which hinder, learning talker categories. Results revealed that the short-term storage component positively predicted learning, but that the Central Executive and Episodic Buffer negatively predicted learning. As with visual categories, better working memory is not always an advantage. PMID:25721393

  11. Applying team-based learning of diagnostics for undergraduate students: assessing teaching effectiveness by a randomized controlled trial study

    PubMed Central

    Zeng, Rui; Xiang, Lian-rui; Zeng, Jing; Zuo, Chuan

    2017-01-01

    Background We aimed to introduce team-based learning (TBL) as one of the teaching methods for diagnostics and to compare its teaching effectiveness with that of the traditional teaching methods. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial on diagnostics teaching involving 111 third-year medical undergraduates, using TBL as the experimental intervention, compared with lecture-based learning as the control, for teaching the two topics of symptomatology. Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT)-baseline and Group Readiness Assurance Test (GRAT) were performed in members of each TBL subgroup. The scores in Individual Terminal Test 1 (ITT1) immediately after class and Individual Terminal Test 2 (ITT2) 1 week later were compared between the two groups. The questionnaire and interview were also implemented to survey the attitude of students and teachers toward TBL. Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in ITT1 (19.85±4.20 vs 19.70±4.61), while the score of the TBL group was significantly higher than that of the control group in ITT2 (19.15±3.93 vs 17.46±4.65). In the TBL group, the scores of the two terminal tests after the teaching intervention were significantly higher than the baseline test score of individuals. IRAT-baseline, ITT1, and ITT2 scores of students at different academic levels in the TBL teaching exhibited significant differences, but the ITT1-IRAT-baseline and ITT2-IRAT-baseline indicated no significant differences among the three subgroups. Conclusion Our TBL in symptomatology approach was highly accepted by students in the improvement of interest and self-directed learning and resulted in an increase in knowledge acquirements, which significantly improved short-term test scores compared with lecture-based learning. TBL is regarded as an effective teaching method worthy of promoting. PMID:28331383

  12. Applying team-based learning of diagnostics for undergraduate students: assessing teaching effectiveness by a randomized controlled trial study.

    PubMed

    Zeng, Rui; Xiang, Lian-Rui; Zeng, Jing; Zuo, Chuan

    2017-01-01

    We aimed to introduce team-based learning (TBL) as one of the teaching methods for diagnostics and to compare its teaching effectiveness with that of the traditional teaching methods. We conducted a randomized controlled trial on diagnostics teaching involving 111 third-year medical undergraduates, using TBL as the experimental intervention, compared with lecture-based learning as the control, for teaching the two topics of symptomatology. Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT)-baseline and Group Readiness Assurance Test (GRAT) were performed in members of each TBL subgroup. The scores in Individual Terminal Test 1 (ITT1) immediately after class and Individual Terminal Test 2 (ITT2) 1 week later were compared between the two groups. The questionnaire and interview were also implemented to survey the attitude of students and teachers toward TBL. There was no significant difference between the two groups in ITT1 (19.85±4.20 vs 19.70±4.61), while the score of the TBL group was significantly higher than that of the control group in ITT2 (19.15±3.93 vs 17.46±4.65). In the TBL group, the scores of the two terminal tests after the teaching intervention were significantly higher than the baseline test score of individuals. IRAT-baseline, ITT1, and ITT2 scores of students at different academic levels in the TBL teaching exhibited significant differences, but the ITT1-IRAT-baseline and ITT2-IRAT-baseline indicated no significant differences among the three subgroups. Our TBL in symptomatology approach was highly accepted by students in the improvement of interest and self-directed learning and resulted in an increase in knowledge acquirements, which significantly improved short-term test scores compared with lecture-based learning. TBL is regarded as an effective teaching method worthy of promoting.

  13. Neurobiological and Endocrine Correlates of Individual Differences in Spatial Learning Ability

    PubMed Central

    Sandi, Carmen; Cordero, M. Isabel; Merino, José J.; Kruyt, Nyika D.; Regan, Ciaran M.; Murphy, Keith J.

    2004-01-01

    The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) has been implicated in activity-dependent synaptic remodeling and memory formation. Here, we questioned whether training-induced modulation of PSA-NCAM expression might be related to individual differences in spatial learning abilities. At 12 h posttraining, immunohistochemical analyses revealed a learning-induced up-regulation of PSA-NCAM in the hippocampal dentate gyrus that was related to the spatial learning abilities displayed by rats during training. Specifically, a positive correlation was found between latency to find the platform and subsequent activated PSA levels, indicating that greater induction of polysialylation was observed in rats with the slower acquisition curve. At posttraining times when no learning-associated activation of PSA was observed, no such correlation was found. Further experiments revealed that performance in the massed water maze training is related to a pattern of spatial learning and memory abilities, and to learning-related glucocorticoid responsiveness. Taken together, our findings suggest that the learning-related neural circuits of fast learners are better suited to solving the water maze task than those of slow learners, the latter relying more on structural reorganization to form memory, rather than the relatively economic mechanism of altering synaptic efficacy that is likely used by the former. PMID:15169853

  14. Neurobiological and endocrine correlates of individual differences in spatial learning ability.

    PubMed

    Sandi, Carmen; Cordero, M Isabel; Merino, José J; Kruyt, Nyika D; Regan, Ciaran M; Murphy, Keith J

    2004-01-01

    The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) has been implicated in activity-dependent synaptic remodeling and memory formation. Here, we questioned whether training-induced modulation of PSA-NCAM expression might be related to individual differences in spatial learning abilities. At 12 h posttraining, immunohistochemical analyses revealed a learning-induced up-regulation of PSA-NCAM in the hippocampal dentate gyrus that was related to the spatial learning abilities displayed by rats during training. Specifically, a positive correlation was found between latency to find the platform and subsequent activated PSA levels, indicating that greater induction of polysialylation was observed in rats with the slower acquisition curve. At posttraining times when no learning-associated activation of PSA was observed, no such correlation was found. Further experiments revealed that performance in the massed water maze training is related to a pattern of spatial learning and memory abilities, and to learning-related glucocorticoid responsiveness. Taken together, our findings suggest that the learning-related neural circuits of fast learners are better suited to solving the water maze task than those of slow learners, the latter relying more on structural reorganization to form memory, rather than the relatively economic mechanism of altering synaptic efficacy that is likely used by the former.

  15. Social learning of predators in the dark: understanding the role of visual, chemical and mechanical information.

    PubMed

    Manassa, R P; McCormick, M I; Chivers, D P; Ferrari, M C O

    2013-08-22

    The ability of prey to observe and learn to recognize potential predators from the behaviour of nearby individuals can dramatically increase survival and, not surprisingly, is widespread across animal taxa. A range of sensory modalities are available for this learning, with visual and chemical cues being well-established modes of transmission in aquatic systems. The use of other sensory cues in mediating social learning in fishes, including mechano-sensory cues, remains unexplored. Here, we examine the role of different sensory cues in social learning of predator recognition, using juvenile damselfish (Amphiprion percula). Specifically, we show that a predator-naive observer can socially learn to recognize a novel predator when paired with a predator-experienced conspecific in total darkness. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that when threatened, individuals release chemical cues (known as disturbance cues) into the water. These cues induce an anti-predator response in nearby individuals; however, they do not facilitate learnt recognition of the predator. As such, another sensory modality, probably mechano-sensory in origin, is responsible for information transfer in the dark. This study highlights the diversity of sensory cues used by coral reef fishes in a social learning context.

  16. Not so Individual after All: An Ecological Approach to Age as an Individual Difference Variable in a Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pfenninger, Simone E.

    2017-01-01

    The main goal of this paper is to analyze how the age factor behaves as an alleged individual difference (ID) variable in SLA by focusing on the influence that the learning context exerts on the dynamics of age of onset (AO). The results of several long-term classroom studies on age effects will be presented, in which I have empirically analyzed…

  17. Intermediate Work Outcomes for Adolescents with High-Incidence Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rojewski, Jay W.; Lee, In Heok; Gregg, Noel

    2014-01-01

    A longitudinal sample from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 was used to determine differences in work outcomes between (a) individuals with learning disabilities or emotional-behavior disorders and (b) individuals with or without disabilities. Twelve factors were arranged into individual, family, school-peer, and community categories.…

  18. Differences That Make A Difference: A Study in Collaborative Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Touchman, Stephanie

    Collaborative learning is a common teaching strategy in classrooms across age groups and content areas. It is important to measure and understand the cognitive process involved during collaboration to improve teaching methods involving interactive activities. This research attempted to answer the question: why do students learn more in collaborative settings? Using three measurement tools, 142 participants from seven different biology courses at a community college and at a university were tested before and after collaborating about the biological process of natural selection. Three factors were analyzed to measure their effect on learning at the individual level and the group level. The three factors were: difference in prior knowledge, sex and religious beliefs. Gender and religious beliefs both had a significant effect on post-test scores.

  19. An analysis of intergroup rivalry using Ising model and reinforcement learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Feng-Fei; Qin, Zheng; Shao, Zhuo

    2014-01-01

    Modeling of intergroup rivalry can help us better understand economic competitions, political elections and other similar activities. The result of intergroup rivalry depends on the co-evolution of individual behavior within one group and the impact from the rival group. In this paper, we model the rivalry behavior using Ising model. Different from other simulation studies using Ising model, the evolution rules of each individual in our model are not static, but have the ability to learn from historical experience using reinforcement learning technique, which makes the simulation more close to real human behavior. We studied the phase transition in intergroup rivalry and focused on the impact of the degree of social freedom, the personality of group members and the social experience of individuals. The results of computer simulation show that a society with a low degree of social freedom and highly educated, experienced individuals is more likely to be one-sided in intergroup rivalry.

  20. Learning and robustness to catch-and-release fishing in a shark social network

    PubMed Central

    Brown, Culum; Planes, Serge

    2017-01-01

    Individuals can play different roles in maintaining connectivity and social cohesion in animal populations and thereby influence population robustness to perturbations. We performed a social network analysis in a reef shark population to assess the vulnerability of the global network to node removal under different scenarios. We found that the network was generally robust to the removal of nodes with high centrality. The network appeared also highly robust to experimental fishing. Individual shark catchability decreased as a function of experience, as revealed by comparing capture frequency and site presence. Altogether, these features suggest that individuals learnt to avoid capture, which ultimately increased network robustness to experimental catch-and-release. Our results also suggest that some caution must be taken when using capture–recapture models often used to assess population size as assumptions (such as equal probabilities of capture and recapture) may be violated by individual learning to escape recapture. PMID:28298593

  1. "I'll Take Care of the Flowers!" Researching Agency through Initiatives across Different Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kangas, Marjaana; Kopisto, Kaisa; Löfman, Krista; Salo, Laura; Krokfors, Leena

    2017-01-01

    This case study examined how the agency of a fifth-grade pupil appeared across different learning environments in the primary school context. In this study, agency is defined as the initiatives taken by an individual in interactive situations. The research question is: how does a pupil's agency manifest and vary through taking initiatives across…

  2. A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Learning Organization Model in School Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alavi, Seyyed Babak; McCormick, John

    2004-01-01

    It has been argued that some management theories and models may not be universal and are based on some cultural assumptions. It is argued in this paper that the effectiveness of applying the Learning Organization (LO) model in school contexts across different countries may be associated with cultural differences such as individualism,…

  3. Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other

    PubMed Central

    King, Stephanie L.; Janik, Vincent M.

    2013-01-01

    In animal communication research, vocal labeling refers to incidents in which an animal consistently uses a specific acoustic signal when presented with a specific object or class of objects. Labeling with learned signals is a foundation of human language but is notably rare in nonhuman communication systems. In natural animal systems, labeling often occurs with signals that are not influenced by learning, such as in alarm and food calling. There is a suggestion, however, that some species use learned signals to label conspecific individuals in their own communication system when mimicking individually distinctive calls. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are a promising animal for exploration in this area because they are capable of vocal production learning and can learn to use arbitrary signals to report the presence or absence of objects. Bottlenose dolphins develop their own unique identity signal, the signature whistle. This whistle encodes individual identity independently of voice features. The copying of signature whistles may therefore allow animals to label or address one another. Here, we show that wild bottlenose dolphins respond to hearing a copy of their own signature whistle by calling back. Animals did not respond to whistles that were not their own signature. This study provides compelling evidence that a dolphin’s learned identity signal is used as a label when addressing conspecifics. Bottlenose dolphins therefore appear to be unique as nonhuman mammals to use learned signals as individually specific labels for different social companions in their own natural communication system. PMID:23878217

  4. New Learning - The IPP Programme: Improvements in Learning and Self Esteem by Changing the Organization of Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garber, Klaus; Ausserer, Oskar; Giacomuzzi, Salvatore

    "New learning" is basically an individualized learning style. "New learning" starts by the individual itself. The individual is the basis for conditions, learning contents, rhythm, duration and intensity of the teaching. The appropriate slogan is: fetch the individual at his personal conditions.

  5. Perceived helplessness is associated with individual differences in the central motor output system.

    PubMed

    Salomons, Tim V; Moayedi, Massieh; Weissman-Fogel, Irit; Goldberg, Michael B; Freeman, Bruce V; Tenenbaum, Howard C; Davis, Karen D

    2012-05-01

    Learned helplessness is a maladaptive response to uncontrollable stress characterized by impaired motor escape responses, reduced motivation and learning deficits. There are important individual differences in the likelihood of becoming helpless following exposure to uncontrollable stress but little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying these individual differences. Here we used structural MRI to measure gray and white matter in individuals with chronic pain, a population at high risk for helplessness due to prolonged exposure to a poorly controlled stressor (pain). Given that self-reported helplessness is predictive of treatment outcomes in chronic pain, understanding such differences might provide valuable clinical insight. We found that the magnitude of self-reported helplessness correlated with cortical thickness in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and midcingulate cortex, regions implicated in cognitive aspects of motor behavior. We then examined the white matter connectivity of these regions and found that fractional anisotropy of connected white matter tracts along the corticospinal tract was associated with helplessness and mediated the relationship between SMA cortical thickness and helplessness. These data provide novel evidence that links individual differences in the motor output pathway with perceived helplessness over a chronic and poorly controlled stressor. © 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  6. Cross-situational word learning in aphasia.

    PubMed

    Peñaloza, Claudia; Mirman, Daniel; Cardona, Pedro; Juncadella, Montserrat; Martin, Nadine; Laine, Matti; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni

    2017-08-01

    Human learners can resolve referential ambiguity and discover the relationships between words and meanings through a cross-situational learning (CSL) strategy. Some people with aphasia (PWA) can learn word-referent pairings under referential uncertainty supported by online feedback. However, it remains unknown whether PWA can learn new words cross-situationally and if such learning ability is supported by statistical learning (SL) mechanisms. The present study examined whether PWA can learn novel word-referent mappings in a CSL task without feedback. We also studied whether CSL is related to SL in PWA and neurologically healthy individuals. We further examined whether aphasia severity, phonological processing and verbal short-term memory (STM) predict CSL in aphasia, and also whether individual differences in verbal STM modulate CSL in healthy older adults. Sixteen people with chronic aphasia underwent a CSL task that involved exposure to a series of individually ambiguous learning trials and a SL task that taps speech segmentation. Their learning ability was compared to 18 older controls and 39 young adults recruited for task validation. CSL in the aphasia group was below the older controls and young adults and took place at a slower rate. Importantly, we found a strong association between SL and CSL performance in all three groups. CSL was modulated by aphasia severity in the aphasia group, and by verbal STM capacity in the older controls. Our findings indicate that some PWA can preserve the ability to learn new word-referent associations cross-situationally. We suggest that both PWA and neurologically intact individuals may rely on SL mechanisms to achieve CSL and that verbal STM also influences CSL. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the cognitive mechanisms underlying this learning ability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Child Art and the Emergence of Learning Styles.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wieder, Charles G.

    1998-01-01

    Looks at individuality, in the sense of a personal expressive idiom or style, in children's art production. Shows that early stylistic differences manifest in children's art making correspond to basic cognitive/affective learning processes. Outlines implications for ideas about child development. (DSK)

  8. Temperament and Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teglasi, Hedwig; Cohn, Andrea; Meshbesher, Nicole

    2004-01-01

    The link between learning problems and social-emotional difficulties is well documented and both are associated with temperamental risk factors. Whereas temperament refers to individual differences in biologically based dispositions for responding to and engaging with one's surroundings, developmental outcomes are the products of experiences as…

  9. Impairment in flexible emotion-based learning in hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals.

    PubMed

    Cella, Matteo; Dymond, Simon; Cooper, Andrew

    2009-11-30

    Deficits in emotion-based learning are implicated in many psychiatric disorders. Research conducted with patients with schizophrenia using one of the most popular tasks for the investigation of emotion-based learning, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), has largely been inconclusive. The present study employed a novel, contingency-shifting variant IGT with hallucination- and delusion-prone university students to determine whether previous findings were due merely to the presence of psychosis. Following initial screening of a sample of 253 students (mean age = 20.13 years, S.D. = 3.27), 28 high (10 male, 18 female) and 27 low (12 male, 15 female) hallucination-prone and 27 high (7 male, 20 female) and 26 low (11 male, 15 female) delusion-prone individuals completed the contingency-shifting variant IGT. Results showed no significant differences between the performances of high and low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals during the original phase of the task. Differences only emerged following the onset of the contingency-shift phases, with individuals high in hallucination- and delusion-proneness having impaired performance compared with low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals. Overall, the present findings demonstrate that impairments associated with hallucination- and delusion-proneness are specific to the shift phase of the contingency-shifting variant IGT, which supports previous findings with patients with schizophrenia.

  10. The profile of students’ self-regulated learning at vocational high school

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ciptaningtyas, Asih; Pratiwi, Hasih; Mardiyana

    2018-05-01

    Self-regulated learning is a power in the individual through the individualization process. Self-regulated learning will occur when the student is active to control himself from everything done, plan something, evaluate, and deeply reflect what he has experienced. This study aims to determine the profile of students’ self-regulated learning in SMK Giripuro, Sumpiuh, Banyumas Regency. This study is a qualitative research with questionnaire and interview methods. This study used triangulation method technique to obtain from the questionnaire and interview to get valid data. The subjects in this study are three 10th Grade students who have different self-regulated learning in SMK Giripuro Sumpiuh. The results showed that the high self-regulated learning student has characteristics: 1) independent of others, 2) believe in their abilities, 3) awareness in learning, and 4) be able to reflect on their learning. Medium self-regulated learning student has characteristics: 1) independent of others, 2) believe in their abilities, 3) awareness in learning, and 4) do not reflect on learning. Low self-regulated learning student has characteristics: 1) dependent on others, 2) do not believe in their abilities, 3) lack awareness of learning, and 4) do not reflect on learning.

  11. A method for integrating neuroimaging into genetic models of learning performance.

    PubMed

    Mehta, Chintan M; Gruen, Jeffrey R; Zhang, Heping

    2017-01-01

    Specific learning disorders (SLD) are an archetypal example of how clinical neuropsychological (NP) traits can differ from underlying genetic and neurobiological risk factors. Disparate environmental influences and pathologies impact learning performance assessed through cognitive examinations and clinical evaluations, the primary diagnostic tools for SLD. We propose a neurobiological risk for SLD with neuroimaging biomarkers, which is integrated into a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of learning performance in a cohort of 479 European individuals between 8 and 21 years of age. We first identified six regions of interest (ROIs) in temporal and anterior cingulate regions where the group diagnosed with learning disability has the least overall variation, relative to the other group, in thickness, area, and volume measurements. Although we used the three imaging measures, the thickness was the leading contributor. Hence, we calculated the Euclidean distances between any two individuals based on their thickness measures in the six ROIs. Then, we defined the relative similarity of one individual according to the averaged ranking of pairwise distances from the individuals to those in the SLD group. The inverse of this relative similarity is called the neurobiological risk for the individual. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the AGBL1 gene on chromosome 15 had a significant association with learning performance at a genome-wide level. This finding was supported in an independent cohort of 2,327 individuals of the same demographic profile. Our statistical approach for integrating genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers can be extended into studying the biological basis of other NP traits. © 2016 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

  12. Computational Dysfunctions in Anxiety: Failure to Differentiate Signal From Noise.

    PubMed

    Huang, He; Thompson, Wesley; Paulus, Martin P

    2017-09-15

    Differentiating whether an action leads to an outcome by chance or by an underlying statistical regularity that signals environmental change profoundly affects adaptive behavior. Previous studies have shown that anxious individuals may not appropriately differentiate between these situations. This investigation aims to precisely quantify the process deficit in anxious individuals and determine the degree to which these process dysfunctions are specific to anxiety. One hundred twenty-two subjects recruited as part of an ongoing large clinical population study completed a change point detection task. Reinforcement learning models were used to explicate observed behavioral differences in low anxiety (Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale score ≤ 8) and high anxiety (Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale score ≥ 9) groups. High anxiety individuals used a suboptimal decision strategy characterized by a higher lose-shift rate. Computational models and simulations revealed that this difference was related to a higher base learning rate. These findings are better explained in a context-dependent reinforcement learning model. Anxious subjects' exaggerated response to uncertainty leads to a suboptimal decision strategy that makes it difficult for these individuals to determine whether an action is associated with an outcome by chance or by some statistical regularity. These findings have important implications for developing new behavioral intervention strategies using learning models. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Sustained Professional Development on Cooperative Learning: Impact on Six Teachers' Practices and Students' Learning.

    PubMed

    Goodyear, Victoria A

    2017-03-01

    It has been argued, extensively and internationally, that sustained school-based continuous professional development (CPD) has the potential to overcome some of the shortcomings of traditional one-off CPD programs. Yet, the evidence base on more effective or less effective forms of CPD is contradictory. The mechanisms by which sustained support should be offered are unclear, and the impacts on teachers' and students' learning are complex and difficult to track. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a sustained school-based, tailored, and supported CPD program on teachers' practices and students' learning. Data are reported from 6 case studies of individual teachers engaged in a yearlong CPD program focused on cooperative learning. The CPD program involved participatory action research and frequent interaction/support from a boundary spanner (researcher/facilitator). Data were gathered from 29 video-recorded lessons, 108 interviews, and 35 field journal entries. (a) Individualized (external) support, (b) departmental (internal) support, and (c) sustained support impacted teachers' practices of cooperative learning. The teachers adapted their practices of cooperative learning in response to their students' learning needs. Teachers began to develop a level of pedagogical fluency, and in doing so, teachers advanced students' learning. Because this study demonstrates impact, it contributes to international literature on effective CPD. The key contribution is the detailed evidence about how and why CPD supported 6 individual teachers to learn-differently-and the complexity of the learning support required to engage in ongoing curriculum development to positively impact student learning.

  14. Dispositional cognitive reappraisal modulates the neural correlates of fear acquisition and extinction.

    PubMed

    Hermann, Andrea; Keck, Tanja; Stark, Rudolf

    2014-09-01

    Adverse learning experiences play a significant role in the etiology of anxiety disorders. However, not all individuals experiencing negative events develop heightened anxiety. This is possibly due to individual differences in the regulation of negative emotions associated with these negative events. Cognitive reappraisal is defined as reinterpreting an emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact. A more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal in daily life has been shown to be more adaptive. However, no study to date examined the association of dispositional cognitive reappraisal with emotional learning, in order to elucidate individual differences in negative emotional responses towards aversive events. The goal of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to investigate the association of dispositional cognitive reappraisal with subjective, electrodermal and neural correlates of fear acquisition and extinction. Data of 41 healthy individuals, who participated in a socially relevant differential conditioning paradigm (acquisition and extinction learning: day 1, extinction recall: day 2), were acquired. Dispositional cognitive reappraisal was negatively associated with right insula, and hippocampus activation during acquisition. Furthermore, the reduction of self-reported conditioned fear during extinction learning as well as reduced insula and enhanced rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation during extinction learning was related to cognitive reappraisal. In addition, reduced recovery of conditioned arousal, reduced anterior cingulate and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation and enhanced ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation during extinction recall was observed in individuals with higher cognitive reappraisal scores. The results indicate that dispositional cognitive reappraisal modulates subjective and neural correlates of fear conditioning, probably leading to reduced acquisition and stronger extinction learning and recall. These results point to the important role of dispositional cognitive reappraisal in the development and modification of conditioned emotional responses and might further improve our understanding of anxiety disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Multitask visual learning using genetic programming.

    PubMed

    Jaśkowski, Wojciech; Krawiec, Krzysztof; Wieloch, Bartosz

    2008-01-01

    We propose a multitask learning method of visual concepts within the genetic programming (GP) framework. Each GP individual is composed of several trees that process visual primitives derived from input images. Two trees solve two different visual tasks and are allowed to share knowledge with each other by commonly calling the remaining GP trees (subfunctions) included in the same individual. The performance of a particular tree is measured by its ability to reproduce the shapes contained in the training images. We apply this method to visual learning tasks of recognizing simple shapes and compare it to a reference method. The experimental verification demonstrates that such multitask learning often leads to performance improvements in one or both solved tasks, without extra computational effort.

  16. Comparison of technology-based cooperative learning with technology-based individual learning in enhancing fundamental nursing proficiency.

    PubMed

    Lin, Zu-Chun

    2013-05-01

    The aim of nursing education is to prepare students with critical thinking, high interests in profession and high proficiency in patient care. Cooperative learning promotes team work and encourages knowledge building upon discussion. It has been viewed as one of the most powerful learning methods. Technology has been considered an influential tool in teaching and learning. It assists students in gathering more information to solve the problems and master skills better. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of technology-based cooperative learning with technology-based individual learning in nursing students' critical thinking in catheterization knowledge gaining, error discovering, skill acquisitions, and overall scores. This study used a pretest-posttest experimental design. Ninety-eight students were assigned randomly to one of two groups. Questionnaires and tests were collected at baseline and after completion of intervention. The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference in related catheterization skill performance. However, the remaining variables differed greatly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS: This study's findings guide the researchers and instructors to use technology-based cooperative learning more appropriately. Future research should address the design of the course module and the availability of mobile devices to reach student-centered and learn on the move goals. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. [Learning during the early clinical years takes more than good study habits: Perceptions of students and teachers].

    PubMed

    Zúñiga, Denisse; Leiva, Isabel; Calderón, Maribel; Tomicic, Alemka; Padilla, Oslando; Riquelme, Arnoldo; Bitran, Marcela

    2015-11-01

    Teaching methods of the undergraduate medical curriculum change considerably from the first years to clinical training. Clinical learning occurs in complex and varied scenarios while caring for patients. Students have to adapt their learning approaches and strategies to be able to integrate theory and clinical practice and become experiential learners. To identify the strategies used by medical students to learn during the initial clinical years, as reported by students themselves and by their clinical tutors. We performed eight focus group discussions with 54 students enrolled in years three to six and we interviewed eight clinical tutors. Both focus group discussions and interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed according to Grounded Theory. Four main themes were identified in the discourse of both students and tutors: Strategies oriented to theoretical learning, strategies oriented to experiential learning, strategies for integrating theory and practice and strategies oriented to evaluation. The mentioning of individual differences was present across the reports of both students and tutors. Students use a rich variety of strategies to face the challenges of clinical learning. Both students and tutors recognize that the learning approaches and strategies vary according the nature of the task and individual differences. The responses of students bring particular knowledge of the approaches used for the theoretical and practical integration and delve into the social dimension of learning.

  18. Naive, captive long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis) fail to individually and socially learn pound-hammering, a tool-use behaviour

    PubMed Central

    Tennie, Claudio

    2018-01-01

    A subspecies of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea; Mfa) has been reported to use stone tools and a specific technique to process nuts in Southeast Asia, a behaviour known as ‘pound-hammering’. The aim of this study was to examine the development of pound-hammering in long-tailed macaques: whether this behavioural form can be individually learnt or whether it has to rely on some forms of social learning. Given the absence of Mfa from captivity, long-tailed macaques of a highly related subspecies (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis; Mff) were experimentally tested by providing them with the ecological materials necessary to show pound-hammering. A baseline was first carried out to observe whether pound-hammering would emerge spontaneously without social information. As this was not the case, different degrees of social information, culminating in a full demonstration of the behaviour, were provided. None of the subjects (n = 31) showed pound-hammering in any of the individual or social learning conditions. Although these data do not support the hypothesis that individual learning underlies this behaviour, no evidence was found that (at least) Mff learn pound-hammering socially either. We propose that other—potentially interacting—factors may determine whether this behaviour emerges in the various subspecies of long-tailed macaques, and provide a novel methodology to test the role of social and individual learning in the development of animal tool-use. PMID:29892375

  19. Differential Use of Learning Strategies in First-Year Higher Education: The Impact of Personality, Academic Motivation, and Teaching Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donche, Vincent; De Maeyer, Sven; Coertjens, Liesje; Van Daal, Tine; Van Petegem, Peter

    2013-01-01

    Background. Although the evidence in support of the variability of students' learning strategies has expanded in recent years, less is known about the explanatory base of these individual differences in terms of the joint Influences of personal and contextual characteristics. Aims. Previous studies have often investigated how student learning is…

  20. The Best Time to Acquire New Skills: Age-Related Differences in Implicit Sequence Learning across the Human Lifespan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Janacsek, Karolina; Fiser, Jozsef; Nemeth, Dezso

    2012-01-01

    Implicit skill learning underlies obtaining not only motor, but also cognitive and social skills through the life of an individual. Yet, the ontogenetic changes in humans' implicit learning abilities have not yet been characterized, and, thus, their role in acquiring new knowledge efficiently during development is unknown. We investigated such…

  1. Self-Regulated Learning in Teacher Education--The Significance of Individual Resources and Learning Behaviour

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keller-Schneider, Manuela

    2014-01-01

    Teacher education must ensure that teachers have the prerequisites to meet different demands in their career entry phase. The presented evaluation study of 241 student teachers in their second semester of pre-service education shows that not only highly rated courses have an impact on the learning outcome of student teachers; the intensity with…

  2. Effects of Learning Style and Training Method on Computer Attitude and Performance in World Wide Web Page Design Training.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chou, Huey-Wen; Wang, Yu-Fang

    1999-01-01

    Compares the effects of two training methods on computer attitude and performance in a World Wide Web page design program in a field experiment with high school students in Taiwan. Discusses individual differences, Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and Learning Style Inventory, Computer Attitude Scale, and results of statistical analyses.…

  3. E?ffects of English Language Proficiency on the Choice of Language Learning Strategies by Saudi English-Major Undergraduates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Javid, Choudhary Z.; Al-thubaiti, Turki S.; Uthman, Awwadh

    2013-01-01

    It is reported that language learning is a creative and dynamic process and the learners are active partners in this process. This trend in language teaching motivated the researchers to investigate the learners' individual differences and the identification of language learning strategies (LLS) has become a major area of interest in this regard…

  4. Phoneme Awareness, Visual-Verbal Paired-Associate Learning, and Rapid Automatized Naming as Predictors of Individual Differences in Reading Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Warmington, Meesha; Hulme, Charles

    2012-01-01

    This study examines the concurrent relationships between phoneme awareness, visual-verbal paired-associate learning, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and reading skills in 7- to 11-year-old children. Path analyses showed that visual-verbal paired-associate learning and RAN, but not phoneme awareness, were unique predictors of word recognition,…

  5. Mapping the Learning Styles "Jungle": An Overview of the Literature Based on Citation Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Desmedt, Ella; Valcke, Martin

    2004-01-01

    Educationists and researchers who consider the use of the learning style concept to address individual differences in learning are often daunted by the multitude of definitions, models, and instruments. It is difficult to make an informed choice. The confusion with cognitive style, a term often used as a synonym, makes it even more complicated.…

  6. Current Issues in the Neurology and Genetics of Learning-Related Traits and Disorders: Introduction to the Special Issue.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilger, Jeffrey W.

    2001-01-01

    This introductory article briefly describes each of the following eight articles in this special issue on the neurology and genetics of learning related disorders. It notes the greater appreciation of learning disability as a set of complex disorders with broad and intricate neurological bases and of the large individual differences in how these…

  7. Appropriate Use of Theory in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as a Strategy for Institutional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roxa, Torgny; Olsson, Thomas; Martensson, Katarina

    2008-01-01

    In this article we--as academic developers in two different faculties within a large, research-intensive university--discuss the scholarship of teaching and learning as a strategy for institutional improvement of teaching and learning. We focus on three related issues. Firstly, how can individual engagement in the scholarship of teaching and…

  8. Facilitating Learning in Large Lecture Classes: Testing the “Teaching Team” Approach to Peer Learning

    PubMed Central

    Lang, Sarah; Maas, Martha

    2010-01-01

    We tested the effect of voluntary peer-facilitated study groups on student learning in large introductory biology lecture classes. The peer facilitators (preceptors) were trained as part of a Teaching Team (faculty, graduate assistants, and preceptors) by faculty and Learning Center staff. Each preceptor offered one weekly study group to all students in the class. All individual study groups were similar in that they applied active-learning strategies to the class material, but they differed in the actual topics or questions discussed, which were chosen by the individual study groups. Study group participation was correlated with reduced failing grades and course dropout rates in both semesters, and participants scored better on the final exam and earned higher course grades than nonparticipants. In the spring semester the higher scores were clearly due to a significant study group effect beyond ability (grade point average). In contrast, the fall study groups had a small but nonsignificant effect after accounting for student ability. We discuss the differences between the two semesters and offer suggestions on how to implement teaching teams to optimize learning outcomes, including student feedback on study groups. PMID:21123696

  9. "Making a difference" - Medical students' opportunities for transformational change in health care and learning through quality improvement projects.

    PubMed

    Bergh, Anne-Marie; Bac, Martin; Hugo, Jannie; Sandars, John

    2016-07-11

    Quality improvement is increasingly becoming an essential aspect of the medical curriculum, with the intention of improving the health care system to provide better health care. The aim of this study was to explore undergraduate medical students' experiences of their involvement in quality improvement projects during a district health rotation. Student group reports from rotations in learning centres of the University of Pretoria in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa were analysed for the period 2012 to 2015. Interviews were conducted with health care providers at four learning centres in 2013. Three main themes were identified: (1) 'Situated learning', describing students' exposure to the discrepancies between ideal and reality in a real-life situation and how they learned to deal with complex situations, individually and as student group; (2) 'Facing dilemmas', describing how students were challenged about the non-ideal reality; (3) 'Making a difference', describing the impact of the students' projects, with greater understanding of themselves and others through working in teams but also making a change in the health care system. Quality improvement projects can provide an opportunity for both the transformation of health care and for transformative learning, with individual and 'collective' self-authorship.

  10. Sampling Capacity Underlies Individual Differences in Human Associative Learning

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Though much work has studied how external factors, such as stimulus properties, influence generalization of associative strength, there has been limited exploration of the influence that internal dispositions may contribute to stimulus processing. Here we report 2 studies using a modified negative patterning discrimination to test the relationship between global processing and generalization. Global processing was associated with stronger negative patterning discrimination, indicative of limited generalization between distinct stimulus compounds and their constituent elements. In Experiment 2, participants pretrained to adopt global processing similarly showed strong negative patterning discrimination. These results demonstrate considerable individual difference in capacity to engage in negative patterning discrimination and suggest that the tendency toward global processing may be one factor explaining this variability. The need for models of learning to account for this variability in learning is discussed. PMID:24446699

  11. Assessing Soldier Individual Differences to Enable Tailored Training

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    upon effective and efficient training. However, there is ample evidence that learning-related individual differences exist ( Thorndike , 1985; Jensen...in both civilian and military settings (Schmidt, Hunter, & Outerbridge, 1986; Thorndike , 1985). Prior knowledge or knowledge of facts and...predictive power ( Thorndike , 1985; Jensen, 1998). Further, there is a good deal of evidence that general mental ability impacts performance largely

  12. Individual Differences in Children's and Parents' Generic Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gelman, Susan A.; Ware, Elizabeth A.; Kleinberg, Felicia; Manczak, Erika M.; Stilwell, Sarah M.

    2014-01-01

    Generics ("'Dogs' bark") convey important information about categories and facilitate children's learning. Two studies with parents and their 2- or 4-year-old children (N = 104 dyads) examined whether individual differences in generic language use are as follows: (a) stable over time, contexts, and domains, and (b) linked…

  13. Incorporating Learning Characteristics into Automatic Essay Scoring Models: What Individual Differences and Linguistic Features Tell Us about Writing Quality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crossley, Scott A.; Allen, Laura K.; Snow, Erica L.; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates a novel approach to automatically assessing essay quality that combines natural language processing approaches that assess text features with approaches that assess individual differences in writers such as demographic information, standardized test scores, and survey results. The results demonstrate that combining text…

  14. Individual Differences in the Fan Effect and Working Memory Capacity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bunting, M.F.; Conway, A.R.A.; Heitz, R.P.

    2004-01-01

    In opposition to conceptualizing working memory (WM) in terms of a general capacity, we present four experiments that favor the view that individual differences in WM depend on attentional control. High- and low-WM participants, as assessed by the operation span task, learned unrelated sentences for which the subject and predicate of the sentences…

  15. The Onion Model: Myth or Reality in the Field of Individual Differences Psychology?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cools, Eva; Bellens, Kim

    2012-01-01

    To bring order in concepts related to individual learner differences, Curry (1983) designed the three-layered onion model. As this model provides an interesting way to distinguish related concepts--such as cognitive styles and approaches to studying--on the basis of their stability in learning situations, ample studies build further on this model.…

  16. Comparison of Turkish and US Pre-Service Teachers' Web 2.0 Tools Usage Characteristics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kiyici, Mubin; Akyeampong, Albert; Balkan Kiyici, Fatime

    2013-01-01

    As the Internet and computer develop, the world is changing dramatically and fantastically. Usage of technological tools is increased day by day in daily life besides ICT. All the technological tools shape individual behavior, life style and learning style as well as individual lives. Today's child use different tools and different way to…

  17. Children's Human Figure Drawings Do Not Measure Intellectual Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willcock, Emma; Imuta, Kana; Hayne, Harlene

    2011-01-01

    Children typically follow a well-defined series of stages as they learn to draw, but the rate at which they progress through these stages varies from child to child. Some experts have argued that these individual differences in drawing development reflect individual differences in intelligence. Here we assessed the validity of a drawing test that…

  18. Promoting Awareness of Learner Diversity in Prospective Teachers: Signaling Individual and Group Differences within Virtual Classroom Cases

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moreno, Roxana; Abercrombie, Sara

    2010-01-01

    We investigated two methods to promote prospective teachers' awareness of learner diversity and application of teaching principles using a problem-based learning environment. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of presenting a conceptual framework about learners' individual and group differences either before or after instruction on teaching…

  19. A Cognitive Processing Account of Individual Differences in Novice Logo Programmers' Conceptualisation and Use of Recursion.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibbons, Pamela

    1995-01-01

    Describes a study that investigated individual differences in the construction of mental models of recursion in LOGO programming. The learning process was investigated from the perspective of Norman's mental models theory and employed diSessa's ontology regarding distributed, functional, and surrogate mental models, and the Luria model of brain…

  20. Learner Personas in CALL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heift, Trude

    2007-01-01

    In examining the titles of this year's conference presentations, the author noticed quite a few papers that focus on learner-specific issues, for instance, papers that address learning styles, learner needs, personality and learning, learner modeling and, more generally, pedagogical issues that deal with individual learner differences in…

  1. Implicit Learning as an Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaufman, Scott Barry; DeYoung, Caroline G.; Gray, Jeremy R.; Jimenez, Luis; Brown, Jamie; Mackintosh, Nicholas

    2010-01-01

    The ability to automatically and implicitly detect complex and noisy regularities in the environment is a fundamental aspect of human cognition. Despite considerable interest in implicit processes, few researchers have conceptualized implicit learning as an ability with meaningful individual differences. Instead, various researchers (e.g., Reber,…

  2. Brain Mechanisms Underlying Individual Differences in Reaction to Stress: An Animal Model

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-10-29

    Schooler, et al., 1976; Gershon & Buchsbaum, 1977; Buchsbaum, et al., 1977), personality scales of extraversion- introversion (Haier, 1984) and sensation...exploratory and learned to bar press more quickly and efficiently. Reducers with a lower inhibitory threshold learned the differential reinforcement of

  3. Individual differences in social and non-social behaviors in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) during the acquisition, extinction and reacquisition of a problem solving task.

    PubMed

    Shimabukuro, Carolina; Putrino, Natalia; Helbling, Julia; Tognetti, Sandra; Bentosela, Mariana

    2015-04-01

    Dogs are able to solve different problems by trial and error learning, but it seems that they cannot understand the means-end connection. Some studies suggest that dogs' performance is influenced by their breed and by the level of familiarity with the person they interact with. In our study, we assess individual differences in both social and non-social responses in a problem-solving task during the acquisition, extinction, and reacquisition phases. In order to investigate the effect of familiarity, in the first experiment, the human present during the task was either a familiar (the dog's owner) or unfamiliar person. In the second experiment, we compared breeds (Retrievers and Shepherds) that had previously shown differences in a communicative task. The results revealed that all groups learned the task and became more efficient in the acquisition trials. These non-social responses diminished during extinction, where an increase in social responses was observed. With regard to individual differences, dogs were more persistent in searching the reward during the second extinction trial when the owner was present (in contrast with a stranger), and also looked longer at the unfamiliar person at the beginning of the acquisition trial. On the other hand, Retrievers showed greater social motivation during reacquisition and Shepherds picked up more bones during the third acquisition trial, thus suggesting a more persistent search of the reward. These findings highlight the relevance of studying different learning schedules as well as individual differences in problem-solving ability so as to improve selection and training techniques. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Spatial Learning and Wayfinding in an Immersive Environment: The Digital Fulldome.

    PubMed

    Hedge, Craig; Weaver, Ruth; Schnall, Simone

    2017-05-01

    Previous work has examined whether immersive technologies can benefit learning in virtual environments, but the potential benefits of technology in this context are confounded by individual differences such as spatial ability. We assessed spatial knowledge acquisition in male and female participants using a technology not previously examined empirically: the digital fulldome. Our primary aim was to examine whether performance on a test of survey knowledge was better in a fulldome (N = 28, 12 males) relative to a large, flat screen display (N = 27, 13 males). Regression analysis showed that, compared to a flat screen display, males showed higher levels of performance on a test of survey knowledge after learning in the fulldome, but no benefit occurred for females. Furthermore, performance correlated with spatial visualization ability in male participants, but not in female participants. Thus, the digital fulldome is a potentially useful learning aid, capable of accommodating multiple users, but individual differences and use of strategy need to be considered.

  5. Unraveling the nature of autism: finding order amid change

    PubMed Central

    Hellendoorn, Annika; Wijnroks, Lex; Leseman, Paul P. M.

    2015-01-01

    In this article, we hypothesize that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are born with a deficit in invariance detection, which is a learning process whereby people and animals come to attend the relatively stable patterns or structural regularities in the changing stimulus array. This paper synthesizes a substantial body of research which suggests that a deficit in the domain-general perceptual learning process of invariant detection in ASD can lead to a cascade of consequences in different developmental domains. We will outline how this deficit in invariant detection can cause uncertainty, unpredictability, and a lack of control for individuals with ASD and how varying degrees of impairments in this learning process can account for the heterogeneity of the ASD phenotype. We also describe how differences in neural plasticity in ASD underlie the impairments in perceptual learning. The present account offers an alternative to prior theories and contributes to the challenge of understanding the developmental trajectories that result in the variety of autistic behaviors. PMID:25870581

  6. Effect of collaborative testing on learning and retention of course content in nursing students.

    PubMed

    Rivaz, Mozhgan; Momennasab, Marzieh; Shokrollahi, Paymaneh

    2015-10-01

    Collaborative testing is a learning strategy that provides students with the opportunity to learn and practice collaboration. This study aimed to determine the effect of collaborative testing on test performance and retention of course content in nursing students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. This quasi-experimental study was carried out on 84 students enrolled in the course of Medical-Surgical 2 in Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 semesters. The control group consisting of 39 students participated in the first mid-term exam in an individual format. The intervention group, on the other hand, consisted of 45 students who took the test in a two-stage process. The first stage included an individual testing, while the second stage was a collaborative one given in groups of five individuals chosen randomly. Four weeks later, in order to investigate retention of the course content, both groups took part in the second mid-term exam held individually. The study findings showed significant difference between the mean scores in the intervention group in the Fall 2013 semester (p=0.001). Besides, a statistically significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the tests mean scores (p=0.001). Moreover, retention of course content improved in the collaborative group (p=0.001). The results indicated an increase in test performance and a long-term learning enhancement in collaborative testing compared with the traditional method. Collaborative testing, as an active learning technique and a valuable assessment method, can help nursing instructors provide the alumni with strong problem-solving and critical thinking abilities at healthcare environments.

  7. Why children differ in motivation to learn: Insights from over 13,000 twins from 6 countries.

    PubMed

    Kovas, Yulia; Garon-Carrier, Gabrielle; Boivin, Michel; Petrill, Stephen A; Plomin, Robert; Malykh, Sergey B; Spinath, Frank; Murayama, Kou; Ando, Juko; Bogdanova, Olga Y; Brendgen, Mara; Dionne, Ginette; Forget-Dubois, Nadine; Galajinsky, Eduard V; Gottschling, Juliana; Guay, Frédéric; Lemelin, Jean-Pascal; Logan, Jessica A R; Yamagata, Shinji; Shikishima, Chizuru; Spinath, Birgit; Thompson, Lee A; Tikhomirova, Tatiana N; Tosto, Maria G; Tremblay, Richard; Vitaro, Frank

    2015-07-01

    Little is known about why people differ in their levels of academic motivation. This study explored the etiology of individual differences in enjoyment and self-perceived ability for several school subjects in nearly 13,000 twins aged 9-16 from 6 countries. The results showed a striking consistency across ages, school subjects, and cultures. Contrary to common belief, enjoyment of learning and children's perceptions of their competence were no less heritable than cognitive ability. Genetic factors explained approximately 40% of the variance and all of the observed twins' similarity in academic motivation. Shared environmental factors, such as home or classroom, did not contribute to the twin's similarity in academic motivation. Environmental influences stemmed entirely from individual specific experiences.

  8. Individual differences in the learning potential of human beings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stern, Elsbeth

    2017-01-01

    To the best of our knowledge, the genetic foundations that guide human brain development have not changed fundamentally during the past 50,000 years. However, because of their cognitive potential, humans have changed the world tremendously in the past centuries. They have invented technical devices, institutions that regulate cooperation and competition, and symbol systems, such as script and mathematics, that serve as reasoning tools. The exceptional learning ability of humans allows newborns to adapt to the world they are born into; however, there are tremendous individual differences in learning ability among humans that become obvious in school at the latest. Cognitive psychology has developed models of memory and information processing that attempt to explain how humans learn (general perspective), while the variation among individuals (differential perspective) has been the focus of psychometric intelligence research. Although both lines of research have been proceeding independently, they increasingly converge, as both investigate the concepts of working memory and knowledge construction. This review begins with presenting state-of-the-art research on human information processing and its potential in academic learning. Then, a brief overview of the history of psychometric intelligence research is combined with presenting recent work on the role of intelligence in modern societies and on the nature-nurture debate. Finally, promising approaches to integrating the general and differential perspective will be discussed in the conclusion of this review.

  9. Scaffolding scientific discussion using socially relevant representations in networked multimedia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hoadley, Christopher M.

    1999-11-01

    How do students make use of social cues when learning on the computer? This work examines how students in a middle-school science course learned through on-line peer discussion. Cognitive accounts of collaboration stress interacting with ideas, while socially situated accounts stress the interpersonal context. The design of electronic environments allows investigation into the interrelation of cognitive and social dimensions. I use on-line peer discussion to investigate how socially relevant representations in interfaces can aid learning. First, I identify some of the variables that affect individual participation in on-line discussion, including interface features. Individual participation is predicted by student attitudes towards learning from peers. Second, I describe the range of group outcomes for these on-line discussions. There is a large effect of discussion group on learning outcomes which is not reducible to group composition or gross measures of group process. Third, I characterize how students (individually) construct understanding from these group discussions. Learning in the on-line discussions is shown to be a result of sustained interaction over time, not merely encountering or expressing ideas. Experimental manipulations in the types of social cues available to students suggest that many students do use socially relevant representations to support their understanding of multiple viewpoints and science reasoning. Personalizing scientific disputes can afford reflection on the nature of scientific discovery and advance. While there are many individual differences in how social representations are used by students in learning, overall learning benefits for certain social representations can be shown. This work has profound implications for design of collaborative instructional methods, equitable access to science learning, design of instructional technology, and understanding of learning and cognition in social settings.

  10. Peer Assessment of an Individual's Contribution to a Group Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Robert; And Others

    1993-01-01

    In response to optometry student complaints about group scores as an inadequate reflection of individual effort, two different procedures for assessing individual contributions to a group learning project were investigated, one based on evaluations by students outside the group and one using student evaluations of their fellow group members'…

  11. Can personality predict individual differences in brook trout spatial learning ability?

    PubMed

    White, S L; Wagner, T; Gowan, C; Braithwaite, V A

    2017-08-01

    While differences in individual personality are common in animal populations, understanding the ecological significance of variation has not yet been resolved. Evidence suggests that personality may influence learning and memory; a finding that could improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes that produce and maintain intraspecific behavioural heterogeneity. Here, we tested whether boldness, the most studied personality trait in fish, could predict learning ability in brook trout. After quantifying boldness, fish were trained to find a hidden food patch in a maze environment. Stable landmark cues were provided to indicate the location of food and, at the conclusion of training, cues were rearranged to test for learning. There was a negative relationship between boldness and learning as shy fish were increasingly more successful at navigating the maze and locating food during training trials compared to bold fish. In the altered testing environment, only shy fish continued using cues to search for food. Overall, the learning rate of bold fish was found to be lower than that of shy fish for several metrics suggesting that personality could have widespread effects on behaviour. Because learning can increase plasticity to environmental change, these results have significant implications for fish conservation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Relationship between perceptual learning in speech and statistical learning in younger and older adults

    PubMed Central

    Neger, Thordis M.; Rietveld, Toni; Janse, Esther

    2014-01-01

    Within a few sentences, listeners learn to understand severely degraded speech such as noise-vocoded speech. However, individuals vary in the amount of such perceptual learning and it is unclear what underlies these differences. The present study investigates whether perceptual learning in speech relates to statistical learning, as sensitivity to probabilistic information may aid identification of relevant cues in novel speech input. If statistical learning and perceptual learning (partly) draw on the same general mechanisms, then statistical learning in a non-auditory modality using non-linguistic sequences should predict adaptation to degraded speech. In the present study, 73 older adults (aged over 60 years) and 60 younger adults (aged between 18 and 30 years) performed a visual artificial grammar learning task and were presented with 60 meaningful noise-vocoded sentences in an auditory recall task. Within age groups, sentence recognition performance over exposure was analyzed as a function of statistical learning performance, and other variables that may predict learning (i.e., hearing, vocabulary, attention switching control, working memory, and processing speed). Younger and older adults showed similar amounts of perceptual learning, but only younger adults showed significant statistical learning. In older adults, improvement in understanding noise-vocoded speech was constrained by age. In younger adults, amount of adaptation was associated with lexical knowledge and with statistical learning ability. Thus, individual differences in general cognitive abilities explain listeners' variability in adapting to noise-vocoded speech. Results suggest that perceptual and statistical learning share mechanisms of implicit regularity detection, but that the ability to detect statistical regularities is impaired in older adults if visual sequences are presented quickly. PMID:25225475

  13. Relationship between perceptual learning in speech and statistical learning in younger and older adults.

    PubMed

    Neger, Thordis M; Rietveld, Toni; Janse, Esther

    2014-01-01

    Within a few sentences, listeners learn to understand severely degraded speech such as noise-vocoded speech. However, individuals vary in the amount of such perceptual learning and it is unclear what underlies these differences. The present study investigates whether perceptual learning in speech relates to statistical learning, as sensitivity to probabilistic information may aid identification of relevant cues in novel speech input. If statistical learning and perceptual learning (partly) draw on the same general mechanisms, then statistical learning in a non-auditory modality using non-linguistic sequences should predict adaptation to degraded speech. In the present study, 73 older adults (aged over 60 years) and 60 younger adults (aged between 18 and 30 years) performed a visual artificial grammar learning task and were presented with 60 meaningful noise-vocoded sentences in an auditory recall task. Within age groups, sentence recognition performance over exposure was analyzed as a function of statistical learning performance, and other variables that may predict learning (i.e., hearing, vocabulary, attention switching control, working memory, and processing speed). Younger and older adults showed similar amounts of perceptual learning, but only younger adults showed significant statistical learning. In older adults, improvement in understanding noise-vocoded speech was constrained by age. In younger adults, amount of adaptation was associated with lexical knowledge and with statistical learning ability. Thus, individual differences in general cognitive abilities explain listeners' variability in adapting to noise-vocoded speech. Results suggest that perceptual and statistical learning share mechanisms of implicit regularity detection, but that the ability to detect statistical regularities is impaired in older adults if visual sequences are presented quickly.

  14. Learning needs assessment for registered nurses in two large acute care hospitals in Urban New Zealand.

    PubMed

    Dyson, Lyn; Hedgecock, Bronwyn; Tomkins, Sharon; Cooke, Gordon

    2009-11-01

    Ongoing education for the nursing workforce is necessary to ensure currency of knowledge in order to enable evidence based client care. The cost of education is high to the organisation and the individual, and must therefore be cost-effective, relevant and appropriate. According to research, education for nurses is not always systematically planned and developed and often relies on the interest area and assessment of the nurse educators. To survey the learning needs of clinically based registered nurses within an acute care setting. An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect the data. Two groups completed the questionnaire: all eligible registered nurses in two acute care hospitals located in urban New Zealand and their senior nurses such as clinical nurse managers, specialists and educators. The study found agreement on learning needs and also noted differing opinions between the Registered Nurses (RNs), and their senior RNs, RNs initially registered overseas and between levels of practice, on selection and ranking of learning needs. This survey identified a number of high learning needs for RNs working within acute care settings. Differences in perception of learning needs for RNs, between the nurses themselves and the Senior RNs exist, as well as among sub groups of RNs. As a result, educators and managers are encouraged to collaborate to realise the opportunity which exists for the provision of education across specialty areas and to work with the different groups and the individual to ensure unique learning needs are met.

  15. Using an improved virtual learning environment for engineering students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lourdes Martínez Cartas, Ma

    2012-06-01

    In recent years, e-learning has been used in a chemical engineering subject in the final course of a mining engineering degree, a subject concerned with fuel technology. The low results obtained by students in this subject have led the teacher to search for new strategies to increase grades. Such strategies have consisted of incorporating into the existing virtual environment a dynamics of work with conceptual maps and a consideration of the different learning styles in the classroom. In an attempt to adapt teaching to the individual methods of learning for each student, various activities aimed at strengthening different learning styles have been proposed and concept maps have been used to create meaningful learning experiences. In addition, different modalities of assessment have been proposed, which can be selected by each student according to his or her particular method of learning to avoid penalising one style preference in contrast to another. This combination of e-learning, use of concept maps and catering for different learning styles has involved the implementation of the improved virtual learning environment. This has led to an increase in participation in the subject and has improved student assessment results.

  16. Modelling individual difference in visual categorization.

    PubMed

    Shen, Jianhong; Palmeri, Thomas J

    Recent years has seen growing interest in understanding, characterizing, and explaining individual differences in visual cognition. We focus here on individual differences in visual categorization. Categorization is the fundamental visual ability to group different objects together as the same kind of thing. Research on visual categorization and category learning has been significantly informed by computational modeling, so our review will focus both on how formal models of visual categorization have captured individual differences and how individual difference have informed the development of formal models. We first examine the potential sources of individual differences in leading models of visual categorization, providing a brief review of a range of different models. We then describe several examples of how computational models have captured individual differences in visual categorization. This review also provides a bit of an historical perspective, starting with models that predicted no individual differences, to those that captured group differences, to those that predict true individual differences, and to more recent hierarchical approaches that can simultaneously capture both group and individual differences in visual categorization. Via this selective review, we see how considerations of individual differences can lead to important theoretical insights into how people visually categorize objects in the world around them. We also consider new directions for work examining individual differences in visual categorization.

  17. Modelling individual difference in visual categorization

    PubMed Central

    Shen, Jianhong; Palmeri, Thomas J.

    2016-01-01

    Recent years has seen growing interest in understanding, characterizing, and explaining individual differences in visual cognition. We focus here on individual differences in visual categorization. Categorization is the fundamental visual ability to group different objects together as the same kind of thing. Research on visual categorization and category learning has been significantly informed by computational modeling, so our review will focus both on how formal models of visual categorization have captured individual differences and how individual difference have informed the development of formal models. We first examine the potential sources of individual differences in leading models of visual categorization, providing a brief review of a range of different models. We then describe several examples of how computational models have captured individual differences in visual categorization. This review also provides a bit of an historical perspective, starting with models that predicted no individual differences, to those that captured group differences, to those that predict true individual differences, and to more recent hierarchical approaches that can simultaneously capture both group and individual differences in visual categorization. Via this selective review, we see how considerations of individual differences can lead to important theoretical insights into how people visually categorize objects in the world around them. We also consider new directions for work examining individual differences in visual categorization. PMID:28154496

  18. The Many Faces of Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Werdmann, Anne M.

    In a sixth-grade unit, students learned about people's facial expressions through careful observation, recording, reporting, and generalizing. The students studied the faces of people of various ages; explored "masks" that people wear in different situations; learned about the use of ritual masks; made case studies of individuals to show…

  19. Internal and External Scripts in Computer-Supported Collaborative Inquiry Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kollar, Ingo; Fischer, Frank; Slotta, James D.

    2007-01-01

    We investigated how differently structured external scripts interact with learners' internal scripts with respect to individual knowledge acquisition in a Web-based collaborative inquiry learning environment. Ninety students from two secondary schools participated. Two versions of an external collaboration script (high vs. low structured)…

  20. Differences in color learning between pollen- and sucrose-rewarded bees

    PubMed Central

    Nicholls, Elizabeth K; Ehrendreich, Doreen; Hempel de Ibarra, Natalie

    2015-01-01

    What bees learn during pollen collection, and how they might discriminate between flowers on the basis of the quality of this reward, is not well understood. Recently we showed that bees learn to associate colors with differences in pollen rewards. Extending these findings, we present here additional evidence to suggest that the strength and time-course of memory formation may differ between pollen- and sucrose-rewarded bees. Color-naïve honeybees, trained with pollen or sucrose rewards to discriminate colored stimuli, were found to differ in their responses when recalling learnt information after reversal training. Such differences could affect the decision-making and foraging dynamics of individual bees when collecting different types of floral rewards. PMID:26478780

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