npj Science of Learning最新文献

This study examined whether immersive virtual reality (VR) supports second-language vocabulary learning in school-aged children compared to passive computer-based training. Seventy-three Swedish middle-school students learned novel words by assembling objects in VR and by viewing object assembly on a computer screen in a crossover design. Word recall was tested after each condition, and individual differences in language aptitude and sustained attention were assessed. Overall, recall was higher after computer-based training than VR. However, sustained attention was the strongest predictor of learning outcomes, and the difference between conditions was (marginally) significant only for children with higher sustained attention. No VR behavioural measures (gaze, assembly time, rotation) explained learning outcomes. These findings suggest that VR may not universally enhance vocabulary learning but could benefit learners with specific attentional profiles. Further research should explore how VR design and training duration influence language acquisition in school settings.

The widespread rise of short videos has raised growing concerns about their influence on cognitive processing and memory, yet direct neural evidence remains scarce. In this study, 57 participants viewed either a continuous long video or multiple short videos matched for duration and content. Memory was tested with a recall task, and brain activity was measured with fMRI. Short video exposure led to poorer memory accuracy compared to the long video condition. Neuroimaging revealed reduced activation in the claustrum, caudate nucleus, and middle temporal gyrus, as well as weakened claustrum-caudate connectivity. These neural alterations were significantly associated with memory performance and habitual short video usage. Our findings indicate that learning through short videos impairs memory by disrupting brain systems involved in information integration, cognitive control, and semantic processing, providing novel neurobiological evidence of the cognitive costs of fragmented media exposure.

Acting successfully in dynamic environments requires learning supported by two systems that differ in computational demand: a fast, model-free system that repeats rewarded actions, and a more effortful model-based system that uses a mental model of the task structure to guide flexible, goal-directed decisions. A key open question is whether people engage effortful model-based strategies to the same extent when deciding for themselves versus others, and which computations underpin self-other differences. Using a two-step task with reinforcement learning drift-diffusion modelling in 92 adults, we found that deciding for others slowed down model-free learning and reduced reliance on model-based strategies, with the latter partially mediated by differences in non-decision time. Moreover, individual differences in social value orientation predicted the self-other discrepancy in model-based decision-making, with more prosocial individuals showing smaller gaps. Together, these findings identify the computational mechanisms underpinning prosocial model-based decision-making and demonstrate how individual differences modulate this computation.

Perceptual learning is traditionally retinotopically constrained, whereas category learning is thought to generalize across the visual field. Recent evidence challenges this distinction by showing that information-integration (II) category learning can also exhibit visual-field specificity. We investigated whether II learning transfers across retinal locations using a double-training paradigm. Participants learned to categorize gratings at one peripheral location, and transfer was tested at the opposite hemifield. We replicated visual-field specificity and found that transfer depended on the temporal order of training. Double training, with simultaneous or subsequent passive exposure to an irrelevant task at the untrained location, enabled robust transfer, whereas performing the irrelevant task before category training abolished it. This order-dependent pattern mirrors double-training effects in perceptual learning, suggesting that II category learning and perceptual learning share principles of location-specific plasticity and flexible transfer. These findings shed light on mechanisms of visual learning and inform strategies to enhance transfer.

Motor skill learning and performance is driven by the interplay between declarative and nondeclarative systems, which can complement or interfere with one another depending on task demands. In this study, we investigated whether an intervening declarative cued-recall task impairs motor skill performance in a finger-tapping-task and assessed three hypotheses: the consolidation disruption hypothesis, the shared resource hypothesis, and the breakdown of inhibition hypothesis. Intervening declarative tasks placed late in training failed to affect motor performance. In contrast, when introduced early in training (Experiment 3), motor performance appears to have been transiently impaired. Despite this impairment, there was no association between the intervening declarative task performance and motor impairment. We discuss the ramifications of these findings with regard to other motor skill tasks and intervening declarative tasks.

Motor learning is critical for effective motor rehabilitation, yet impaired in people with Parkinson's Disease (pwPD). Emerging evidence suggests that cardiovascular exercise (CVE), performed close to skill practice, may promote brain plasticity and motor learning. However, research has predominantly focused on acute effects of a single CVE session in neurotypical individuals. Here, we examined whether post-practice CVE enhances motor learning over multiple weeks. Twenty-four pwPD were randomly assigned to either moderate-intensity cycling or seated rest after practicing a novel balance task across six sessions. As hypothesized, CVE significantly improved motor learning, particularly in sessions 4 and 5. This effect was reflected in a non-significant trend toward greater within-session online learning, rather than in between-session offline gains. Exploratory analyses indicate that individuals with higher cardiorespiratory fitness benefited most from CVE. Our findings highlight CVE as an effective, low-cost tool to foster motor learning in neurorehabilitation and warrant further investigation.

Attending a lecture requires remaining focused for extended periods, which is particularly difficult in noisy environments or when lecture content is less engaging. Yet little is known about how these external (noise) and internal (interest) factors affect learners' neurophysiology. We measured brain activity (electroencephalogram; EEG) and physiological responses (skin conductance) during video-based learning, and assessed how neurophysiological responses were modulated by the presence of realistic background noise and by varying levels of interest throughout the lecture. Interest-level showed pronounced neurophysiological effects, with low-interest segments associated with reduced neural speech tracking, elevated alpha-power, reduced beta-power, and increased arousal, a pattern consistent with lower engagement and increased listening effort. Interestingly, background noise had comparatively limited effects on neurophysiological responses. These dissociated impacts of internal and external factors on speech processing during learning, emphasize the profound impact of content-engagement on neurophysiological measures associated with learner's attention, beyond the sensory burden of noise.

Social interaction can play a crucial role in how a second language (L2) is learned. In the current review, we examine theoretical frameworks and empirical studies demonstrating how social factors influence L2 learning, but we also identify gaps in the current literature. We propose using virtual reality (VR) as a methodology to fill these gaps with controlled, ecologically valid social simulations that can elucidate how social factors shape L2 learning.

Audio-visual (AV) associations are central to many aspects of behavior, including the initial steps of learning to read. The acquisition of AV pairings has been explored in individuals with varying literacy skills, including children with developmental dyslexia. Most previous studies examined performance in AV associative tasks looking at the pairings between linguistic auditory material and visual stimuli, thus confounding AV learning with phonological and/or verbal abilities. In the present study, we introduce an AV learning paradigm relying on non-linguistic auditory stimuli and novel visual shapes. We fit trial-by-trial performance and compare the response patterns of 52 Italian-speaking children with developmental dyslexia (DD) with those of age-matched (N = 54) and of younger, reading-matched (N = 51) typically-developing children. All groups showed increasing accuracy across trials, but children with DD learned less efficiently than their peers. These findings suggest that difficulties in forming AV associations through repeated exposure may underlie dyslexia, even when linguistic demands are minimized.