Testing a neurally-inspired hypothesis: Post-encoding replay of visuospatial summaries promotes STEM concept understanding

Instructional design features are known to affect learning and memory in STEM classrooms. Past research in education, psychology, and marketing has shown that the addition of visuospatial information alongside verbal information can lead to overall memory retention benefits. This project will examine underlying mechanisms and explore the differential impacts of visuospatial versus verbal presentations of information and how to optimize memory consolidation of learned material. Despite some exploration of the role of visuospatial summaries in learning, the mechanisms and scope of these effects - especially in STEM concept learning - is less understood. To address this knowledge gap, the investigators will assess the neural mechanisms underlying the benefits of visuospatial summaries on STEM concept learning, leveraging empirical work (largely spearheaded by this lab) on the important of rest and consolidation, thereby bridging gaps between cognitive neuroscience and educational research. The team will directly test novel hypotheses about these mechanisms by leveraging insights from the cognitive neuroscience literature showing the neural structure critical for memory consolidation (the hippocampus) is also uniquely sensitive to visuospatial information. The team therefore asks whether visuospatial explanations may gain preferential access to hippocampal operations, thereby leading to the observed memory benefits. They will investigate this question by concluding an undergraduate lecture presentation with a visuospatial summary of the key concepts or with a verbal summary of the same concepts, looking both at the potential long-term memory benefits using behavioral tests as well as using neuroimaging methods. The outcomes have the potential to influence the design of STEM educational materials and the structure of classroom and remote learning. These findings could also advance our fundamental understanding of memory processes, with the potential to elucidate strategies that boost memory and cognition across all age groups.The investigators will conduct a large neuroimaging study examining immediate post-encoding replay and later retrieval of STEM content (lecture style slide-based materials) that ends with either verbal or visuospatial summaries. Three hypotheses will be tested. First, the researchers predict that offline neural replay, a key neural mechanism supporting long-term memory consolidation, will be enhanced following learning that ends with a visuospatial as compared to a verbal summary. Second, they predict that detailed concept memory and transfer of these concepts to novel contexts will benefit from visuospatial endings. They will examine the relationship between post-encoding hippocampal-cortical replay of these summaries and long-term (one week) memory retention and transfer performance. Finally, they predict that visuospatial summaries will be reinstated with more episodic detail, allowing it to serve as a more robust knowledge representation with which to add new learning content. The work is unique in many ways, including (1) its detailed examination of the effects of STEM-content summaries on long-term retention; (2) potential insights into real-world triggers for memory consolidation; and (3) the use of fMRI to analyze the mechanisms underlying different learning phases to shed light on memory processes previously unexplored in the STEM learning domain. The proposed work is designed as a foundational precursor to a broader project in real classrooms, aiming to transform STEM teaching methods. This project is supported by the EDU Core Research (ECR) program. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.