ABSTRACT KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Academic Performance under Stress.
Sian Beilock
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, USA
Sian Beilock
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, USA
For many people, the desire to perform their best in academics is high. Consequences for poor performance, especially in examinations, include poor evaluations by mentors, teachers, and peers; lost scholarships; and relinquished educational opportunities. But, why do poor performances occur in those very situations where students are set on doing their best? What cognitive and neural processes drive less-than-optimal outcomes when the pressure is high? And, can we use knowledge about how cognitive control is altered under stress to shed light on why some people thrive while others fail in high-stakes situations? In this talk, I will discuss behavioral and brain imaging work examining how students’ knowledge and general cognitive abilities interact with social and emotional factors (e.g., a student’s fear of test taking) to impact performance in academic arenas such as math. Implications for education and assessment, as well as how neuroscience can inform our understanding of the interplay of emotion and cognitive control in academic settings, will be discussed.
A longitudinal analysis of brain development in relation to cognitive control and reward sensitivity.
Eveline A. Crone
Development and Educational Psychology, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands
Eveline A. Crone
Development and Educational Psychology, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands
Adolescence is a natural time for explorative learning, risk taking and sensation seeking. Developmental neuroimaging studies including children, adolescents and adults reported protracted development of cortical brain regions which are important for cognitive control, and heightened activation in reward related regions, with most emphasis on the ventral striatum as a key brain region involved in reward seeking behavior. These studies led to the hypothesis that adolescent brain development can be explained as an imbalance between the development of cortical and subcortical brain regions.
However, most studies show considerable variability between adolescents. This leads to the question whether some adolescents develop faster than others, and whereas some adolescents are more sensitive to social-affective influences than others. An important direction to understand this variability is by examining changes within children and adolescents over time. This longitudinal approach has several advantages over previously used cross-sectional comparisons, for example, when there is large variability between individuals, individual slopes are more informative for detecting change because each individual at the second measurement provides its own control at the first measurement. Second, a longitudinal design gives the possibility to use behavioral and neuroimaging data to predict future behavioral outcomes. In a large study called ‘Braintime’, participants between ages 8-27 years were scanned on two time points, with a two year interval in between, while performing a cognitive control and a gambling task in the scanner. Outside of the scanner, participants completed questionnaires for puberty, impulsivity, working memory, reading and arithmetic. We investigate whether neural responses in adolescence over time 1) are stable within individuals, 2) are related to age-related changes and 3) are related to behavioral changes over time.
The neuroimaging results support the model of protracted development of the frontal-cortical network and heightened ventral striatum response in early and mid-adolescence. The results further show that neuroimaging is a valuable method to detect and predict educational outcomes (reading, arithmetic). This is study provides the first prove for longitudinal change by testing the whole range of adolescence with multiple measurements within each individual, and has the potential to unravel some of the previously suggested patterns and resolve inconsistencies with respect to individual variability.
However, most studies show considerable variability between adolescents. This leads to the question whether some adolescents develop faster than others, and whereas some adolescents are more sensitive to social-affective influences than others. An important direction to understand this variability is by examining changes within children and adolescents over time. This longitudinal approach has several advantages over previously used cross-sectional comparisons, for example, when there is large variability between individuals, individual slopes are more informative for detecting change because each individual at the second measurement provides its own control at the first measurement. Second, a longitudinal design gives the possibility to use behavioral and neuroimaging data to predict future behavioral outcomes. In a large study called ‘Braintime’, participants between ages 8-27 years were scanned on two time points, with a two year interval in between, while performing a cognitive control and a gambling task in the scanner. Outside of the scanner, participants completed questionnaires for puberty, impulsivity, working memory, reading and arithmetic. We investigate whether neural responses in adolescence over time 1) are stable within individuals, 2) are related to age-related changes and 3) are related to behavioral changes over time.
The neuroimaging results support the model of protracted development of the frontal-cortical network and heightened ventral striatum response in early and mid-adolescence. The results further show that neuroimaging is a valuable method to detect and predict educational outcomes (reading, arithmetic). This is study provides the first prove for longitudinal change by testing the whole range of adolescence with multiple measurements within each individual, and has the potential to unravel some of the previously suggested patterns and resolve inconsistencies with respect to individual variability.
Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying mathematical competencies.
Roland H. Grabner
Department of Psychology, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany
Roland H. Grabner
Department of Psychology, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany
In light of the increasingly recognized importance of mathematical competencies for life success, the number of educational neuroscience studies on school-relevant mathematical cognition has remarkably grown in the past years. These studies have generated incremental knowledge on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of mathematical information processing and have opened up new ways to treat mathematical learning difficulties. In this talk, I will present evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial electric stimulation (tES) studies, which illustrate the value added of neuroscientific techniques in the investigation of questions related to mathematics education. Specifically, I will focus on individual differences in mathematical competencies, arithmetic problem-solving strategies, and the potential to enhance mathematics learning by means of non-invasive brain stimulation. In addition, avenues for future research will be outlined.
Genetics for Education: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Yulia Kovas
Department of Psychology, Goldsmith University of London, UK
Yulia Kovas
Department of Psychology, Goldsmith University of London, UK
The talk considers potential contributions of genetics to education, the general view about genetics in education, and attempts to date to identify specific genes throughout the genome responsible for ubiquitous genetic influence. Many important for education findings have recently emerged from genetic research, suggesting that genetic effects are not static or deterministic, but change throughout life and in different educational and cultural contexts. For example, academic achievement - such as performance in reading, language and mathematics - has been found to be highly heritable throughout school education in the UK. On the contrary, heritability of general cognitive ability is only moderate in the early school years and increases gradually, reaching substantial levels in adulthood. It is possible that high heritability of reading and mathematics can be explained by the high homogeneity of educational environments. For example, the UK National Curriculum is highly uniform and therefore may decrease the environmental contribution to the variance in these traits. On the contrary, general cognitive ability is not explicitly taught at schools, and therefore may be under highly variable environmental influences across individuals, especially early in development. As children go through school, they may begin to use their acquired new skills in ways to further develop their general cognitive ability. Gene-environment correlations, whereby children experience, modify, and select their environments, may contribute to the observed increase in heritability of IQ. I will also describe recent advances in molecular genetic and genomic research into the aetiology of individual differences in educationally relevant traits.
Thinking About Quantity: The Intertwined Development of Spatial and Numerical Cognition.
Nora Newcombe
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
Nora Newcombe
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
This talk considers how children and adults encode and reason about the many continuous dimensions that collectively define the physical world. Philosophical, psychological and neural work has focused especially on space and number, and somewhat on time. However, there are other important continuous dimensions (e.g., mass) and space can be broken down into distinct dimensions (e.g., perimeter versus area). While formally distinct, variation on these quantitative dimensions is typically correlated, e.g., if one marching band has more members than another, that band will also occupy more space and take longer to march past the reviewing stand. Number has a distinctive characteristic among these dimensions, namely that count words and early teaching of arithmetic emphasize the discretization of numerical quantity. Debate concerning the origins and development of quantitative thinking has centered on several questions: (1) whether a generalized magnitude system (see Walsh, 2003) exists, and if so, whether it is a starting point for development, an endpoint, or both; (2) following on from the answer to the first question, whether development consists of differentiation of a generalized magnitude system into separable dimensions, or mapping of separated processing systems onto each other, or a mixture of each at different developmental points; (3) what factors lead to increasing precision in magnitude estimation, both spatial and numerical. Answers to these questions have educational implications, e.g., for teaching fractions.
Neuromodulatory brain stimulation: basics and functional implications
Michael Nitsche
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Göttingen University Medical School, Germany
Michael Nitsche
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Göttingen University Medical School, Germany
Major physiological derivates of cognitive processes and behaviour are task-specific alterations of cortical activity, and excitability. For learning and memory formation, even long-lasting alterations take place. Functional imaging and electroencephalographic methods have increased our knowledge about these physiological processes in the human brain largely. More recently, brain stimulation tools have been developed, which are able to promote or counteract these physiological alterations. These enable us to explore the causal relationship of physiological and cognitive behavioural processes. Moreover, these techniques might also be able to improve functions. In this talk, an overview of effects and mechanisms of neuromodulatory brain stimulation techniques will be given, including options to improve functions in health and disease.
Development, implementation, and assessment of an evidence-based training program for at-risk preschoolers
Eric Pakluka
University of Oregon, USA
Eric Pakluka
University of Oregon, USA
For several years we have
employed multiple neuroimaging techniques to study the development and
plasticity of the human brain. Over the
course of this research we have observed that different brain systems and
related functions display different 'profiles' of neuroplasticity, or the
degree to which these systems are changeable and vulnerable. Guided by these findings, we developed a
training program for 3-5 year-old children who are at risk for school failure
for reasons of poverty. This program targets
changeable and vulnerable systems for attention and self-regulation and includes
both parenting and child training programs.
Relative to children randomly assigned to one of two comparison groups,
children in our training program showed significant improvements in several
domains including child brain functions supporting selective attention,
standardized measures of cognition, and parent-reported child behaviors. Caregivers in the program also showed improved
parenting behaviors and reduced parenting stress relative to the comparison
groups. We are currently conducting a
longitudinal follow-up study to assess the degree to which these effects
endure. In addition, we have culturally
adapted and translated the program into Spanish and are currently assessing the
efficacy of this program when implemented with Latino families. Finally, we are assessing the program when
more broadly implemented in preschools and are testing hypotheses that
participation in our program will result in improvements in stress physiology
and self-regulation in both children and caregivers as well as in longer-term
improvements in family well-being.
