The ability to enhance and built upon one's knowledge base serves as an integral tool in the development of many facets of life. Whether it be training to improve one's performance in a sports setting or an attempt to learn material for an exam, studies have shown ways in which one can better his or her chances of success. Dr. Barbara Knowlton recently came to Loyola University Chicago and talked to neuroscience students about her work with a study titled, "Brain-behavior correlates of optimized learning through interleaved practice" (Lin et al). In her talk, Dr. Knowlton described two different kinds of learning: block and interleaved. Block learning is the concept of learning material in a repetitive AAA, BBB, CCC fashion whereas interleaved learning is the concept of learning material in a more random ABC, ABC, ABC fashion. This learning manipulation is known as the contextual interference (CI) effect. The CI effect is an example of a desirable difficulty: a concept describing the notion that the introduction of challenges for learners can actually result in more robust learning (Schmidt et al). As a result, block learners perform better during the practicing of the new material, but then perform inferior on a retention exam. In contract, those who practice and learn the new material via interleaved practice performed inferior during the practice phase, but superior during the retention phase. This illustrates the benefit of interleaved practice as it leads to better long-term understanding of material.
The study Dr. Knowlton spoke about served to expand, in part, upon these learning concepts by identifying if "neural activity reflects the paradoxical effect of CI on practice and retention" (Lin et al). During the study of interest, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal fMRI and cortical excitability via paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) were used as measures for neural activity. Neural activity can be used in such a way to confirm the CI effect because previous studies have shown that increased task complexity translates to a more intense BOLD signal. That being said, Lin at al hypothesized that neural activity would be greater during interleaved practice than block practice because of the increased difficulty of the interleaved practice. However, during the retention exam, it was hypothesized that the neural activity would be lower for those who partook in interleaved practice because, according to the CI effect, the interleaved practice lead to more robust learning and thus the retention task was less difficult. As a result, those that partook in block learning, were predicted to display higher neural activity during the retention exam because of the lack of robust learning and thus increased difficulty during examination.
Results showed that higher BOLD signals during the retention test for post block practice participants in comparison to post interleaved practice participants, thus confirming Lin et al predictions. With finals in full force, the Loyola community and students in general can benefit greatly from this work. It seems counterintuitive to study for an exam by doing practice problems in a completely random order, however, these finding show just how beneficial that can be. When it comes to organic chemistry, for example, and the countless different reactions, students might want to try synthesizing an alcohol and then an alkene and then maybe an ether and so on rather than going one function group at a time. It will certainly seem more difficult at the time, but come the organic chemistry final, you will be thanking yourself and Dr. Knowlton for her expertise.
Resources:
Lin, C., Knowlton, B., Chiang, M., Iacoboni, M., Udompholkul, P., & Wu, A. (2011). Brain-behavior correlates of optimizing learning through interleaved practice. Neuroimage, 56(3), 1758-1772.
Schmidt, R.A., Bjork, R.A., 1992. New conceptualizations of practice: common principles in three paradigms suggest new concepts for training. Psychol. Sci. 3, 2007-217.
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