The Role of Subjective Task Value in Service-Learning Engagement among Chinese College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yulan; Guo, Fangfang; Yao, Meilin; Wang, Cong; Yan, Wenfan

2016-01-01

Most service-learning studies in higher education focused on its effects on students’ development. The dynamic processes and mechanisms of students’ development during service-learning, however, have not been explored thoroughly. Student engagement in service-learning may affect service-learning outcomes and be affected by subjective task value at the same time. The present study aimed to explore the effect of subjective task value on Chinese college student engagement during service-learning. Fifty-four Chinese college students participated in a 9-weeks service-learning program of interacting with children with special needs. Students’ engagement and subjective task value were assessed via self-report questionnaires and 433 weekly reflective journals. The results indicated that the cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement of Chinese college students demonstrated different developmental trends during service-learning process. Subjective task value played an essential role in student engagement in service-learning activities. However, the role of subjective task value varied with different stages. Finally, the implications for implementing service-learning in Chinese education were discussed. PMID:27445919

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

HD-MTL: Hierarchical Deep Multi-Task Learning for Large-Scale Visual Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jianping; Zhao, Tianyi; Kuang, Zhenzhong; Zheng, Yu; Zhang, Ji; Yu, Jun; Peng, Jinye

2017-02-09

In this paper, a hierarchical deep multi-task learning (HD-MTL) algorithm is developed to support large-scale visual recognition (e.g., recognizing thousands or even tens of thousands of atomic object classes automatically). First, multiple sets of multi-level deep features are extracted from different layers of deep convolutional neural networks (deep CNNs), and they are used to achieve more effective accomplishment of the coarseto- fine tasks for hierarchical visual recognition. A visual tree is then learned by assigning the visually-similar atomic object classes with similar learning complexities into the same group, which can provide a good environment for determining the interrelated learning tasks automatically. By leveraging the inter-task relatedness (inter-class similarities) to learn more discriminative group-specific deep representations, our deep multi-task learning algorithm can train more discriminative node classifiers for distinguishing the visually-similar atomic object classes effectively. Our hierarchical deep multi-task learning (HD-MTL) algorithm can integrate two discriminative regularization terms to control the inter-level error propagation effectively, and it can provide an end-to-end approach for jointly learning more representative deep CNNs (for image representation) and more discriminative tree classifier (for large-scale visual recognition) and updating them simultaneously. Our incremental deep learning algorithms can effectively adapt both the deep CNNs and the tree classifier to the new training images and the new object classes. Our experimental results have demonstrated that our HD-MTL algorithm can achieve very competitive results on improving the accuracy rates for large-scale visual recognition.

Task Demands in OSCEs Influence Learning Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafleur, Alexandre; Laflamme, Jonathan; Leppink, Jimmie; Côté, Luc

2017-01-01

Models on pre-assessment learning effects confirmed that task demands stand out among the factors assessors can modify in an assessment to influence learning. However, little is known about which tasks in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) improve students' cognitive and metacognitive processes. Research is needed to support OSCE designs that benefit students' metacognitive strategies when they are studying, reinforcing a hypothesis-driven approach. With that intent, hypothesis-driven physical examination (HDPE) assessments ask students to elicit and interpret findings of the physical exam to reach a diagnosis ("Examine this patient with a painful shoulder to reach a diagnosis"). When studying for HDPE, students will dedicate more time to hypothesis-driven discussions and practice than when studying for a part-task OSCE ("Perform the shoulder exam"). It is expected that the whole-task nature of HDPE will lead to a hypothesis-oriented use of the learning resources, a frequent use of adjustment strategies, and persistence with learning. In a mixed-methods study, 40 medical students were randomly paired and filmed while studying together for two hypothetical OSCE stations. Each 25-min study period began with video cues asking to study for either a part-task OSCE or an HDPE. In a crossover design, sequences were randomized for OSCEs and contents (shoulder or spine). Time-on-task for discussions or practice were categorized as "hypothesis-driven" or "sequence of signs and maneuvers." Content analysis of focus group interviews summarized students' perception of learning resources, adjustment strategies, and persistence with learning. When studying for HDPE, students allocate significantly more time for hypothesis-driven discussions and practice. Students use resources contrasting diagnoses and report persistence with learning. When studying for part-task OSCEs, time-on-task is reversed, spent on rehearsing a sequence of signs and maneuvers. OSCEs with

Incidental orthographic learning during a color detection task.

Science.gov (United States)

Protopapas, Athanassios; Mitsi, Anna; Koustoumbardis, Miltiadis; Tsitsopoulou, Sofia M; Leventi, Marianna; Seitz, Aaron R

2017-09-01

Orthographic learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge about specific spelling patterns forming words and about general biases and constraints on letter sequences. It is thought to occur by strengthening simultaneously activated visual and phonological representations during reading. Here we demonstrate that a visual perceptual learning procedure that leaves no time for articulation can result in orthographic learning evidenced in improved reading and spelling performance. We employed task-irrelevant perceptual learning (TIPL), in which the stimuli to be learned are paired with an easy task target. Assorted line drawings and difficult-to-spell words were presented in red color among sequences of other black-colored words and images presented in rapid succession, constituting a fast-TIPL procedure with color detection being the explicit task. In five experiments, Greek children in Grades 4-5 showed increased recognition of words and images that had appeared in red, both during and after the training procedure, regardless of within-training testing, and also when targets appeared in blue instead of red. Significant transfer to reading and spelling emerged only after increased training intensity. In a sixth experiment, children in Grades 2-3 showed generalization to words not presented during training that carried the same derivational affixes as in the training set. We suggest that reinforcement signals related to detection of the target stimuli contribute to the strengthening of orthography-phonology connections beyond earlier levels of visually-based orthographic representation learning. These results highlight the potential of perceptual learning procedures for the reinforcement of higher-level orthographic representations. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of haptic guidance and visual feedback on learning a complex tennis task.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchal-Crespo, Laura; van Raai, Mark; Rauter, Georg; Wolf, Peter; Riener, Robert

2013-11-01

While haptic guidance can improve ongoing performance of a motor task, several studies have found that it ultimately impairs motor learning. However, some recent studies suggest that the haptic demonstration of optimal timing, rather than movement magnitude, enhances learning in subjects trained with haptic guidance. Timing of an action plays a crucial role in the proper accomplishment of many motor skills, such as hitting a moving object (discrete timing task) or learning a velocity profile (time-critical tracking task). The aim of the present study is to evaluate which feedback conditions-visual or haptic guidance-optimize learning of the discrete and continuous elements of a timing task. The experiment consisted in performing a fast tennis forehand stroke in a virtual environment. A tendon-based parallel robot connected to the end of a racket was used to apply haptic guidance during training. In two different experiments, we evaluated which feedback condition was more adequate for learning: (1) a time-dependent discrete task-learning to start a tennis stroke and (2) a tracking task-learning to follow a velocity profile. The effect that the task difficulty and subject's initial skill level have on the selection of the optimal training condition was further evaluated. Results showed that the training condition that maximizes learning of the discrete time-dependent motor task depends on the subjects' initial skill level. Haptic guidance was especially suitable for less-skilled subjects and in especially difficult discrete tasks, while visual feedback seems to benefit more skilled subjects. Additionally, haptic guidance seemed to promote learning in a time-critical tracking task, while visual feedback tended to deteriorate the performance independently of the task difficulty and subjects' initial skill level. Haptic guidance outperformed visual feedback, although additional studies are needed to further analyze the effect of other types of feedback visualization on

Robust visual tracking via structured multi-task sparse learning

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Tianzhu

2012-11-09

In this paper, we formulate object tracking in a particle filter framework as a structured multi-task sparse learning problem, which we denote as Structured Multi-Task Tracking (S-MTT). Since we model particles as linear combinations of dictionary templates that are updated dynamically, learning the representation of each particle is considered a single task in Multi-Task Tracking (MTT). By employing popular sparsity-inducing lp,q mixed norms (specifically p∈2,∞ and q=1), we regularize the representation problem to enforce joint sparsity and learn the particle representations together. As compared to previous methods that handle particles independently, our results demonstrate that mining the interdependencies between particles improves tracking performance and overall computational complexity. Interestingly, we show that the popular L1 tracker (Mei and Ling, IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intel 33(11):2259-2272, 2011) is a special case of our MTT formulation (denoted as the L11 tracker) when p=q=1. Under the MTT framework, some of the tasks (particle representations) are often more closely related and more likely to share common relevant covariates than other tasks. Therefore, we extend the MTT framework to take into account pairwise structural correlations between particles (e.g. spatial smoothness of representation) and denote the novel framework as S-MTT. The problem of learning the regularized sparse representation in MTT and S-MTT can be solved efficiently using an Accelerated Proximal Gradient (APG) method that yields a sequence of closed form updates. As such, S-MTT and MTT are computationally attractive. We test our proposed approach on challenging sequences involving heavy occlusion, drastic illumination changes, and large pose variations. Experimental results show that S-MTT is much better than MTT, and both methods consistently outperform state-of-the-art trackers. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

[Connectionist models of social learning: a case of learning by observing a simple task].

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Paignon, A; Desrichard, O; Bollon, T

2004-03-01

This article proposes a connectionist model of the social learning theory developed by Bandura (1977). The theory posits that an individual in an interactive situation is capable of learning new behaviours merely by observing them in others. Such learning is acquired through an initial phase in which the individual memorizes what he has observed (observation phase), followed by a second phase where he puts the recorded observations to use as a guide for adjusting his own behaviour (reproduction phase). We shall refer to the two above-mentioned phases to demonstrate that it is conceivable to simulate learning by observation otherwise than through the recording of perceived information using symbolic representation. To this end we shall rely on the formalism of ecological neuron networks (Parisi, Cecconi, & Nolfi, 1990) to implement an agent provided with the major processes identified as essential to learning through observation. The connectionist model so designed shall implement an agent capable of recording perceptive information and producing motor behaviours. The learning situation we selected associates an agent demonstrating goal-achievement behaviour and an observer agent learning the same behaviour by observation. Throughout the acquisition phase, the demonstrator supervises the observer's learning process based on association between spatial information (input) and behavioural information (output). Representation thus constructed then serves as an adjustment guide during the production phase, involving production by the observer of a sequence of actions which he compares to the representation stored in distributed form as constructed through observation. An initial simulation validates model architecture by confirming the requirement for both phases identified in the literature (Bandura, 1977) to simulate learning through observation. The representation constructed over the observation phase evidences acquisition of observed behaviours, although this phase

Motivated Learning with Digital Learning Tasks: What about Autonomy and Structure?

Science.gov (United States)

van Loon, Anne-Marieke; Ros, Anje; Martens, Rob

2012-01-01

In the present study, the ways in which digital learning tasks contribute to students' intrinsic motivation and learning outcomes were examined. In particular, this study explored the relative contributions of autonomy support and the provision of structure in digital learning tasks. Participants were 320 fifth- and sixth-grade students from eight…

Training Self-Regulated Learning Skills with Video Modeling Examples: Do Task-Selection Skills Transfer?

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Raaijmakers, Steven F.; Baars, Martine; Schaap, Lydia; Paas, Fred; van Merriënboer, Jeroen; van Gog, Tamara

2018-01-01

Self-assessment and task-selection skills are crucial in self-regulated learning situations in which students can choose their own tasks. Prior research suggested that training with video modeling examples, in which another person (the model) demonstrates and explains the cyclical process of problem-solving task performance, self-assessment, and…

The effect of encoding conditions on learning in the prototype distortion task.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jessica C; Livesey, Evan J

2017-06-01

The prototype distortion task demonstrates that it is possible to learn about a category of physically similar stimuli through mere observation. However, there have been few attempts to test whether different encoding conditions affect learning in this task. This study compared prototypicality gradients produced under incidental learning conditions in which participants performed a visual search task, with those produced under intentional learning conditions in which participants were required to memorize the stimuli. Experiment 1 showed that similar prototypicality gradients could be obtained for category endorsement and familiarity ratings, but also found (weaker) prototypicality gradients in the absence of exposure. In Experiments 2 and 3, memorization was found to strengthen prototypicality gradients in familiarity ratings in comparison to visual search, but there were no group differences in participants' ability to discriminate between novel and presented exemplars. Although the Search groups in Experiments 2 and 3 produced prototypicality gradients, they were no different in magnitude to those produced in the absence of stimulus exposure in Experiment 1, suggesting that incidental learning during visual search was not conducive to producing prototypicality gradients. This study suggests that learning in the prototype distortion task is not implicit in the sense of resulting automatically from exposure, is affected by the nature of encoding, and should be considered in light of potential learning-at-test effects.

Task-irrelevant emotion facilitates face discrimination learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenzino, Martina; Caudek, Corrado

2015-03-01

We understand poorly how the ability to discriminate faces from one another is shaped by visual experience. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether face discrimination learning can be facilitated by facial emotions. To answer this question, we used a task-irrelevant perceptual learning paradigm because it closely mimics the learning processes that, in daily life, occur without a conscious intention to learn and without an attentional focus on specific facial features. We measured face discrimination thresholds before and after training. During the training phase (4 days), participants performed a contrast discrimination task on face images. They were not informed that we introduced (task-irrelevant) subtle variations in the face images from trial to trial. For the Identity group, the task-irrelevant features were variations along a morphing continuum of facial identity. For the Emotion group, the task-irrelevant features were variations along an emotional expression morphing continuum. The Control group did not undergo contrast discrimination learning and only performed the pre-training and post-training tests, with the same temporal gap between them as the other two groups. Results indicate that face discrimination improved, but only for the Emotion group. Participants in the Emotion group, moreover, showed face discrimination improvements also for stimulus variations along the facial identity dimension, even if these (task-irrelevant) stimulus features had not been presented during training. The present results highlight the importance of emotions for face discrimination learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-Efficacy, Task Complexity and Task Performance: Exploring Interactions in Two Versions of Vocabulary Learning Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

2012-01-01

The present study aimed for better understanding of the interactions between task complexity and students' self-efficacy beliefs and students' use of learning strategies, and finally their interacting effects on task performance. This investigation was carried out in the context of Chinese students learning English as a foreign language in a…

Self-Control of Task Difficulty During Early Practice Promotes Motor Skill Learning.

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Andrieux, Mathieu; Boutin, Arnaud; Thon, Bernard

2016-01-01

This study was designed to determine whether the effect of self-control of task difficulty on motor learning is a function of the period of self-control administration. In a complex anticipation-coincidence task that required participants to intercept 3 targets with a virtual racquet, the task difficulty was either self-controlled or imposed to the participants in the two phases of the acquisition session. First, the results confirmed the beneficial effects of self-control over fully prescribed conditions. Second, the authors also demonstrated that a partial self-control of task difficulty better promotes learning than does a complete self-controlled procedure. Overall, the results revealed that these benefits are increased when this choice is allowed during early practice. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and applied perspectives.

Self-regulated learning processes of medical students during an academic learning task.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandomkar, Roghayeh; Mirzazadeh, Azim; Jalili, Mohammad; Yazdani, Kamran; Fata, Ladan; Sandars, John

2016-10-01

This study was designed to identify the self-regulated learning (SRL) processes of medical students during a biomedical science learning task and to examine the associations of the SRL processes with previous performance in biomedical science examinations and subsequent performance on a learning task. A sample of 76 Year 1 medical students were recruited based on their performance in biomedical science examinations and stratified into previous high and low performers. Participants were asked to complete a biomedical science learning task. Participants' SRL processes were assessed before (self-efficacy, goal setting and strategic planning), during (metacognitive monitoring) and after (causal attributions and adaptive inferences) their completion of the task using an SRL microanalytic interview. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the means and frequencies of SRL processes. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations of SRL processes with previous examination performance and the learning task performance. Most participants (from 88.2% to 43.4%) reported task-specific processes for SRL measures. Students who exhibited higher self-efficacy (odds ratio [OR] 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.90) and reported task-specific processes for metacognitive monitoring (OR 6.61, 95% CI 1.68-25.93) and causal attributions (OR 6.75, 95% CI 2.05-22.25) measures were more likely to be high previous performers. Multiple analysis revealed that similar SRL measures were associated with previous performance. The use of task-specific processes for causal attributions (OR 23.00, 95% CI 4.57-115.76) and adaptive inferences (OR 27.00, 95% CI 3.39-214.95) measures were associated with being a high learning task performer. In multiple analysis, only the causal attributions measure was associated with high learning task performance. Self-efficacy, metacognitive monitoring and causal attributions measures were associated

Monetary reward modulates task-irrelevant perceptual learning for invisible stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Pascucci, David; Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2015-01-01

Task Irrelevant Perceptual Learning (TIPL) shows that the brain's discriminative capacity can improve also for invisible and unattended visual stimuli. It has been hypothesized that this form of "unconscious" neural plasticity is mediated by an endogenous reward mechanism triggered by the correct task performance. Although this result has challenged the mandatory role of attention in perceptual learning, no direct evidence exists of the hypothesized link between target recognition, reward and TIPL. Here, we manipulated the reward value associated with a target to demonstrate the involvement of reinforcement mechanisms in sensory plasticity for invisible inputs. Participants were trained in a central task associated with either high or low monetary incentives, provided only at the end of the experiment, while subliminal stimuli were presented peripherally. Our results showed that high incentive-value targets induced a greater degree of perceptual improvement for the subliminal stimuli, supporting the role of reinforcement mechanisms in TIPL.

Showing a model's eye movements in examples does not improve learning of problem-solving tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Marlen, Tim; van Wermeskerken, Margot; Jarodzka, Halszka; van Gog, Tamara

2016-01-01

Eye movement modeling examples (EMME) are demonstrations of a computer-based task by a human model (e.g., a teacher), with the model's eye movements superimposed on the task to guide learners' attention. EMME have been shown to enhance learning of perceptual classification tasks; however, it is an

Cortical ensemble activity increasingly predicts behaviour outcomes during learning of a motor task

Science.gov (United States)

Laubach, Mark; Wessberg, Johan; Nicolelis, Miguel A. L.

2000-06-01

When an animal learns to make movements in response to different stimuli, changes in activity in the motor cortex seem to accompany and underlie this learning. The precise nature of modifications in cortical motor areas during the initial stages of motor learning, however, is largely unknown. Here we address this issue by chronically recording from neuronal ensembles located in the rat motor cortex, throughout the period required for rats to learn a reaction-time task. Motor learning was demonstrated by a decrease in the variance of the rats' reaction times and an increase in the time the animals were able to wait for a trigger stimulus. These behavioural changes were correlated with a significant increase in our ability to predict the correct or incorrect outcome of single trials based on three measures of neuronal ensemble activity: average firing rate, temporal patterns of firing, and correlated firing. This increase in prediction indicates that an association between sensory cues and movement emerged in the motor cortex as the task was learned. Such modifications in cortical ensemble activity may be critical for the initial learning of motor tasks.

Monetary reward modulates task-irrelevant perceptual learning for invisible stimuli.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Pascucci

Full Text Available Task Irrelevant Perceptual Learning (TIPL shows that the brain's discriminative capacity can improve also for invisible and unattended visual stimuli. It has been hypothesized that this form of "unconscious" neural plasticity is mediated by an endogenous reward mechanism triggered by the correct task performance. Although this result has challenged the mandatory role of attention in perceptual learning, no direct evidence exists of the hypothesized link between target recognition, reward and TIPL. Here, we manipulated the reward value associated with a target to demonstrate the involvement of reinforcement mechanisms in sensory plasticity for invisible inputs. Participants were trained in a central task associated with either high or low monetary incentives, provided only at the end of the experiment, while subliminal stimuli were presented peripherally. Our results showed that high incentive-value targets induced a greater degree of perceptual improvement for the subliminal stimuli, supporting the role of reinforcement mechanisms in TIPL.

Spatial Programming for Industrial Robots Through Task Demonstration

OpenAIRE

Jens Lambrecht; Martin Kleinsorge; Martin Rosenstrauch; Jörg Krüger

2013-01-01

Abstract We present an intuitive system for the programming of industrial robots using markerless gesture recognition and mobile augmented reality in terms of programming by demonstration. The approach covers gesture-based task definition and adaption by human demonstration, as well as task evaluation through augmented reality. A 3D motion tracking system and a handheld device establish the basis for the presented spatial programming system. In this publication, we present a prototype toward ...

Investigating Antecedents of Task Commitment and Task Attraction in Service Learning Team Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Schaffer, Bryan S.; Manegold, Jennifer G.

2018-01-01

The authors investigated the antecedents of team task cohesiveness in service learning classroom environments. Focusing on task commitment and task attraction as key dependent variables representing cohesiveness, and task interdependence as the primary independent variable, the authors position three important task action phase processes as…

Emergence of motor synergy in vertical reaching task via tacit learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro; Shimoda, Shingo

2013-01-01

The dynamics of multijoint limbs often causes complex dynamic interaction torques which are the inertial effect of other joints motion. It is known that Cerebellum takes important role in a motor learning by developing the internal model. In this paper, we propose a novel computational control paradigm in vertical reaching task which involves the management of interaction torques and gravitational effect. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed method is valid for acquiring motor synergy in the system with actuation redundancy and resulted in the energy efficient solutions. It is highlighted that the tacit learning in vertical reaching task can bring computational adaptability and optimality with model-free and cost-function-free approach differently from previous studies.

Applications of Task-Based Learning in TESOL

Science.gov (United States)

Shehadeh, Ali, Ed.; Coombe, Christine, Ed.

2010-01-01

Why are many teachers around the world moving toward task-based learning (TBL)? This shift is based on the strong belief that TBL facilitates second language acquisition and makes second language learning and teaching more principled and effective. Based on insights gained from using tasks as research tools, this volume shows how teachers can use…

Dreaming of a Learning Task is Associated with Enhanced Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation

Science.gov (United States)

Wamsley, Erin J.; Tucker, Matthew; Payne, Jessica D.; Benavides, Joseph; Stickgold, Robert

2010-01-01

Summary It is now well established that post-learning sleep is beneficial for human memory performance [1–5]. Meanwhile, human and animal studies demonstrate that learning-related neural activity is re-expressed during post-training non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) [6–9]. NREM sleep processes appear to be particularly beneficial for hippocampus-dependent forms of memory [1–3, 10]. These observations suggest that learning triggers the reactivation and reorganization of memory traces during sleep, a systems-level process that in turn enhances behavioral performance. Here, we hypothesized that dreaming about a learning experience during NREM sleep would be associated with improved performance on a hippocampus-dependent spatial memory task. Subjects (n=99) were trained on a virtual navigation task, and then retested on the same task 5 hours after initial training. Improved performance at retest was strongly associated with task-related dream imagery during an intervening afternoon nap. Task-related thoughts during wakefulness, in contrast, did not predict improved performance. These observations suggest that sleep-dependent memory consolidation in humans is facilitated by the offline reactivation of recently formed memories, and furthermore, that dream experiences reflect this memory processing. That similar effects were not seen during wakefulness suggests that these mnemonic processes are specific to the sleep state. PMID:20417102

Multi-task transfer learning deep convolutional neural network: application to computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer on mammograms

Science.gov (United States)

Samala, Ravi K.; Chan, Heang-Ping; Hadjiiski, Lubomir M.; Helvie, Mark A.; Cha, Kenny H.; Richter, Caleb D.

2017-12-01

Transfer learning in deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) is an important step in its application to medical imaging tasks. We propose a multi-task transfer learning DCNN with the aim of translating the ‘knowledge’ learned from non-medical images to medical diagnostic tasks through supervised training and increasing the generalization capabilities of DCNNs by simultaneously learning auxiliary tasks. We studied this approach in an important application: classification of malignant and benign breast masses. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, digitized screen-film mammograms (SFMs) and digital mammograms (DMs) were collected from our patient files and additional SFMs were obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography. The data set consisted of 2242 views with 2454 masses (1057 malignant, 1397 benign). In single-task transfer learning, the DCNN was trained and tested on SFMs. In multi-task transfer learning, SFMs and DMs were used to train the DCNN, which was then tested on SFMs. N-fold cross-validation with the training set was used for training and parameter optimization. On the independent test set, the multi-task transfer learning DCNN was found to have significantly (p  =  0.007) higher performance compared to the single-task transfer learning DCNN. This study demonstrates that multi-task transfer learning may be an effective approach for training DCNN in medical imaging applications when training samples from a single modality are limited.

Algorithm-Dependent Generalization Bounds for Multi-Task Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tongliang; Tao, Dacheng; Song, Mingli; Maybank, Stephen J

2017-02-01

Often, tasks are collected for multi-task learning (MTL) because they share similar feature structures. Based on this observation, in this paper, we present novel algorithm-dependent generalization bounds for MTL by exploiting the notion of algorithmic stability. We focus on the performance of one particular task and the average performance over multiple tasks by analyzing the generalization ability of a common parameter that is shared in MTL. When focusing on one particular task, with the help of a mild assumption on the feature structures, we interpret the function of the other tasks as a regularizer that produces a specific inductive bias. The algorithm for learning the common parameter, as well as the predictor, is thereby uniformly stable with respect to the domain of the particular task and has a generalization bound with a fast convergence rate of order O(1/n), where n is the sample size of the particular task. When focusing on the average performance over multiple tasks, we prove that a similar inductive bias exists under certain conditions on the feature structures. Thus, the corresponding algorithm for learning the common parameter is also uniformly stable with respect to the domains of the multiple tasks, and its generalization bound is of the order O(1/T), where T is the number of tasks. These theoretical analyses naturally show that the similarity of feature structures in MTL will lead to specific regularizations for predicting, which enables the learning algorithms to generalize fast and correctly from a few examples.

Contingency learning is not affected by conflict experience: Evidence from a task conflict-free, item-specific Stroop paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Yulia; Tzelgov, Joseph

2016-02-01

A contingency learning account of the item-specific proportion congruent effect has been described as an associative stimulus-response learning process that has nothing to do with controlling the Stroop conflict. As supportive evidence, contingency learning has been demonstrated with response conflict-free stimuli, such as neutral words. However, what gives rise to response conflict and to Stroop interference in general is task conflict. The present study investigated whether task conflict can constitute a trigger or, alternatively, a booster to the contingency learning process. This was done by employing a "task conflict-free" condition (i.e., geometric shapes) and comparing it with a "task conflict" condition (i.e., neutral words). The results showed a significant contingency learning effect in both conditions, refuting the possibility that contingency learning is triggered by the presence of a task conflict. Contingency learning was also not enhanced by the task conflict experience, indicating its complete insensitivity to Stroop conflict(s). Thus, the results showed no evidence that performance optimization as a result of contingency learning is greater under conflict, implying that contingency learning is not recruited to assist the control system to overcome conflict. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Not all choices are created equal: Task-relevant choices enhance motor learning compared to task-irrelevant choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Michael J; Ste-Marie, Diane M

2017-12-01

Lewthwaite et al. (2015) reported that the learning benefits of exercising choice (i.e., their self-controlled condition) are not restricted to task-relevant features (e.g., feedback). They found that choosing one's golf ball color (Exp. 1) or choosing which of two tasks to perform at a later time plus which of two artworks to hang (Exp. 2) resulted in better retention than did being denied these same choices (i.e., yoked condition). The researchers concluded that the learning benefits derived from choice, whether irrelevant or relevant to the to-be-learned task, are predominantly motivational because choice is intrinsically rewarding and satisfies basic psychological needs. However, the absence of a group that made task-relevant choices and the lack of psychological measures significantly weakened their conclusions. Here, we investigated how task-relevant and task-irrelevant choices affect motor-skill learning. Participants practiced a spatiotemporal motor task in either a task-relevant group (choice over feedback schedule), a task-irrelevant group (choice over the color of an arm-wrap plus game selection), or a no-choice group. The results showed significantly greater learning in the task-relevant group than in both the task-irrelevant and no-choice groups, who did not differ significantly. Critically, these learning differences were not attributed to differences in perceptions of competence or autonomy, but instead to superior error-estimation abilities. These results challenge the perspective that motivational influences are the root cause of self-controlled learning advantages. Instead, the findings add to the growing evidence highlighting that the informational value gained from task-relevant choices makes a greater relative contribution to these advantages than motivational influences do.

Differences in perceptual learning transfer as a function of training task.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, C Shawn; Kattner, Florian; Siegel, Max H; Kersten, Daniel; Schrater, Paul R

2015-01-01

A growing body of research--including results from behavioral psychology, human structural and functional imaging, single-cell recordings in nonhuman primates, and computational modeling--suggests that perceptual learning effects are best understood as a change in the ability of higher-level integration or association areas to read out sensory information in the service of particular decisions. Work in this vein has argued that, depending on the training experience, the "rules" for this read-out can either be applicable to new contexts (thus engendering learning generalization) or can apply only to the exact training context (thus resulting in learning specificity). Here we contrast learning tasks designed to promote either stimulus-specific or stimulus-general rules. Specifically, we compare learning transfer across visual orientation following training on three different tasks: an orientation categorization task (which permits an orientation-specific learning solution), an orientation estimation task (which requires an orientation-general learning solution), and an orientation categorization task in which the relevant category boundary shifts on every trial (which lies somewhere between the two tasks above). While the simple orientation-categorization training task resulted in orientation-specific learning, the estimation and moving categorization tasks resulted in significant orientation learning generalization. The general framework tested here--that task specificity or generality can be predicted via an examination of the optimal learning solution--may be useful in building future training paradigms with certain desired outcomes.

Task-specificity of unilateral anodal and dual-M1 tDCS effects on motor learning.

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Karok, Sophia; Fletcher, David; Witney, Alice G

2017-01-08

Task-specific effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor learning were investigated in 30 healthy participants. In a sham-controlled, mixed design, participants trained on 3 different motor tasks (Purdue Pegboard Test, Visuomotor Grip Force Tracking Task and Visuomotor Wrist Rotation Speed Control Task) over 3 consecutive days while receiving either unilateral anodal over the right primary motor cortex (M1), dual-M1 or sham stimulation. Retention sessions were administered 7 and 28 days after the end of training. In the Purdue Pegboard Test, both anodal and dual-M1 stimulation reduced average completion time approximately equally, an improvement driven by online learning effects and maintained for about 1 week. The Visuomotor Grip Force Tracking Task and the Visuomotor Wrist Rotation Speed Control Task were associated with an advantage of dual-M1 tDCS in consolidation processes both between training sessions and when testing at long-term retention; both were maintained for at least 1 month. This study demonstrates that M1-tDCS enhances and sustains motor learning with different electrode montages. Stimulation-induced effects emerged at different learning phases across the tasks, which strongly suggests that the influence of tDCS on motor learning is dynamic with respect to the functional recruitment of the distributed motor system at the time of stimulation. Divergent findings regarding M1-tDCS effects on motor learning may partially be ascribed to task-specific consequences and the effects of offline consolidation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Considerations for Task Analysis Methods and Rapid E-Learning Development Techniques

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Dr. Ismail Ipek

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to provide basic dimensions for rapid training development in e-learning courses in education and business. Principally, it starts with defining task analysis and how to select tasks for analysis and task analysis methods for instructional design. To do this, first, learning and instructional technologies as visions of the future were discussed. Second, the importance of task analysis methods in rapid e-learning was considered, with learning technologies as asynchronous and synchronous e-learning development. Finally, rapid instructional design concepts and e-learning design strategies were defined and clarified with examples, that is, all steps for effective task analysis and rapid training development techniques based on learning and instructional design approaches were discussed, such as m-learning and other delivery systems. As a result, the concept of task analysis, rapid e-learning development strategies and the essentials of online course design were discussed, alongside learner interface design features for learners and designers.

Exploring the role of task performance and learning style on prefrontal hemodynamics during a working memory task.

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Anderson, Afrouz A; Parsa, Kian; Geiger, Sydney; Zaragoza, Rachel; Kermanian, Riley; Miguel, Helga; Dashtestani, Hadis; Chowdhry, Fatima A; Smith, Elizabeth; Aram, Siamak; Gandjbakhche, Amir H

2018-01-01

Existing literature outlines the quality and location of activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during working memory (WM) tasks. However, the effects of individual differences on the underlying neural process of WM tasks are still unclear. In this functional near infrared spectroscopy study, we administered a visual and auditory n-back task to examine activation in the PFC while considering the influences of task performance, and preferred learning strategy (VARK score). While controlling for age, results indicated that high performance (HP) subjects (accuracy > 90%) showed task dependent lower activation compared to normal performance subjects in PFC region Specifically HP groups showed lower activation in left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) region during performance of auditory task whereas during visual task they showed lower activation in the right DLPFC. After accounting for learning style, we found a correlation between visual and aural VARK score and level of activation in the PFC. Subjects with higher visual VARK scores displayed lower activation during auditory task in left DLPFC, while those with higher visual scores exhibited higher activation during visual task in bilateral DLPFC. During performance of auditory task, HP subjects had higher visual VARK scores compared to NP subjects indicating an effect of learning style on the task performance and activation. The results of this study show that learning style and task performance can influence PFC activation, with applications toward neurological implications of learning style and populations with deficits in auditory or visual processing.

Spatial Programming for Industrial Robots through Task Demonstration

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Jens Lambrecht

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present an intuitive system for the programming of industrial robots using markerless gesture recognition and mobile augmented reality in terms of programming by demonstration. The approach covers gesture-based task definition and adaption by human demonstration, as well as task evaluation through augmented reality. A 3D motion tracking system and a handheld device establish the basis for the presented spatial programming system. In this publication, we present a prototype toward the programming of an assembly sequence consisting of several pick-and-place tasks. A scene reconstruction provides pose estimation of known objects with the help of the 2D camera of the handheld. Therefore, the programmer is able to define the program through natural bare-hand manipulation of these objects with the help of direct visual feedback in the augmented reality application. The program can be adapted by gestures and transmitted subsequently to an arbitrary industrial robot controller using a unified interface. Finally, we discuss an application of the presented spatial programming approach toward robot-based welding tasks.

Minimal groups increase young children's motivation and learning on group-relevant tasks.

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Master, Allison; Walton, Gregory M

2013-01-01

Three experiments (N = 130) used a minimal group manipulation to show that just perceived membership in a social group boosts young children's motivation for and learning from group-relevant tasks. In Experiment 1, 4-year-old children assigned to a minimal "puzzles group" persisted longer on a challenging puzzle than children identified as the "puzzles child" or children in a control condition. Experiment 2 showed that this boost in motivation occurred only when the group was associated with the task. In Experiment 3, children assigned to a minimal group associated with word learning learned more words than children assigned an analogous individual identity. The studies demonstrate that fostering shared motivations may be a powerful means by which to shape young children's academic outcomes. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

The Effects of Study Tasks in a Computer-Based Chemistry Learning Environment

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Urhahne, Detlef; Nick, Sabine; Poepping, Anna Christin; Schulz , Sarah Jayne

2013-01-01

The present study examines the effects of different study tasks on the acquisition of knowledge about acids and bases in a computer-based learning environment. Three different task formats were selected to create three treatment conditions: learning with gap-fill and matching tasks, learning with multiple-choice tasks, and learning only from text…

Deep Multi-Task Learning for Tree Genera Classification

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Ko, C.; Kang, J.; Sohn, G.

2018-05-01

The goal for our paper is to classify tree genera using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data with Convolution Neural Network (CNN) - Multi-task Network (MTN) implementation. Unlike Single-task Network (STN) where only one task is assigned to the learning outcome, MTN is a deep learning architect for learning a main task (classification of tree genera) with other tasks (in our study, classification of coniferous and deciduous) simultaneously, with shared classification features. The main contribution of this paper is to improve classification accuracy from CNN-STN to CNN-MTN. This is achieved by introducing a concurrence loss (Lcd) to the designed MTN. This term regulates the overall network performance by minimizing the inconsistencies between the two tasks. Results show that we can increase the classification accuracy from 88.7 % to 91.0 % (from STN to MTN). The second goal of this paper is to solve the problem of small training sample size by multiple-view data generation. The motivation of this goal is to address one of the most common problems in implementing deep learning architecture, the insufficient number of training data. We address this problem by simulating training dataset with multiple-view approach. The promising results from this paper are providing a basis for classifying a larger number of dataset and number of classes in the future.

Task-based incidental vocabulary learning in L2 Arabic: The role of proficiency and task performance

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Ayman A. Mohamed

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This study tests the claim that word learning in a second language are contingent upon a task’s involvement load (i.e. the amount of need, search, and evaluation it imposes, as proposed by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001. Fifty-three English-speaking learners of Arabic were assigned to one of three vocabulary learning tasks that varied in the degree of involvement: reading comprehension with glosses (low, fill-in-the-gap task (medium, and sentence writing (high. Ten words, selected based on a pretest, were targeted in the tasks. Results showed a main effect of task, with the sentence writing task yielding the highest rates of vocabulary learning, followed by the gap-fill task, and finally the reading comprehension task. A significant correlation was found between accuracy of performance across participants and their subsequent vocabulary acquisition in the immediate posttest. Within groups, only the performance of the writing group correlated significantly with their posttest scores. Results of the present study validate the hypothesis and point to multiple factors at play in incidental vocabulary acquisition. The study provides further arguments to refine the hypothesis and implement pedagogical practices that accommodate incidental learning in foreign language settings.

Stress before extinction learning enhances and generalizes extinction memory in a predictive learning task.

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Meir Drexler, Shira; Hamacher-Dang, Tanja C; Wolf, Oliver T

2017-05-01

In extinction learning, the individual learns that a previously acquired association (e.g. between a threat and its predictor) is no longer valid. This learning is the principle underlying many cognitive-behavioral psychotherapeutic treatments, e.g. 'exposure therapy'. However, extinction is often highly-context dependent, leading to renewal (relapse of extinguished conditioned response following context change). We have previously shown that post-extinction stress leads to a more context-dependent extinction memory in a predictive learning task. Yet as stress prior to learning can impair the integration of contextual cues, here we aim to create a more generalized extinction memory by inducing stress prior to extinction. Forty-nine men and women learned the associations between stimuli and outcomes in a predictive learning task (day 1), extinguished them shortly after an exposure to a stress/control condition (day 2), and were tested for renewal (day 3). No group differences were seen in acquisition and extinction learning, and a renewal effect was present in both groups. However, the groups differed in the strength and context-dependency of the extinction memory. Compared to the control group, the stress group showed an overall reduced recovery of responding to the extinguished stimuli, in particular in the acquisition context. These results, together with our previous findings, demonstrate that the effects of stress exposure on extinction memory depend on its timing. While post-extinction stress makes the memory more context-bound, pre-extinction stress strengthens its consolidation for the acquisition context as well, making it potentially more resistant to relapse. These results have implications for the use of glucocorticoids as extinction-enhancers in exposure therapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thrive or overload? The effect of task complexity on novices' simulation-based learning.

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Haji, Faizal A; Cheung, Jeffrey J H; Woods, Nicole; Regehr, Glenn; de Ribaupierre, Sandrine; Dubrowski, Adam

2016-09-01

Fidelity is widely viewed as an important element of simulation instructional design based on its purported relationship with transfer of learning. However, higher levels of fidelity may increase task complexity to a point at which novices' cognitive resources become overloaded. In this experiment, we investigate the effects of variations in task complexity on novices' cognitive load and learning during simulation-based procedural skills training. Thirty-eight medical students were randomly assigned to simulation training on a simple or complex lumbar puncture (LP) task. Participants completed four practice trials on this task (skill acquisition). After 10 days of rest, all participants completed one additional trial on their assigned task (retention) and one trial on a 'very complex' simulation designed to be similar to the complex task (transfer). We assessed LP performance and cognitive load on each trial using multiple measures. In both groups, LP performance improved significantly during skill acquisition (p ≤ 0.047, f = 0.29-0.96) and was maintained at retention. The simple task group demonstrated superior performance compared with the complex task group throughout these phases (p ≤ 0.002, d = 1.13-2.31). Cognitive load declined significantly in the simple task group (p Education.

Learning and transfer of category knowledge in an indirect categorization task.

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Helie, Sebastien; Ashby, F Gregory

2012-05-01

Knowledge representations acquired during category learning experiments are 'tuned' to the task goal. A useful paradigm to study category representations is indirect category learning. In the present article, we propose a new indirect categorization task called the "same"-"different" categorization task. The same-different categorization task is a regular same-different task, but the question asked to the participants is about the stimulus category membership instead of stimulus identity. Experiment 1 explores the possibility of indirectly learning rule-based and information-integration category structures using the new paradigm. The results suggest that there is little learning about the category structures resulting from an indirect categorization task unless the categories can be separated by a one-dimensional rule. Experiment 2 explores whether a category representation learned indirectly can be used in a direct classification task (and vice versa). The results suggest that previous categorical knowledge acquired during a direct classification task can be expressed in the same-different categorization task only when the categories can be separated by a rule that is easily verbalized. Implications of these results for categorization research are discussed.

The Effect of MALL-Based Tasks on EFL Learners' Grammar Learning

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Khodabandeh, Farzaneh; Alian, Jalal ed-din; Soleimani, Hassan

2017-01-01

Many studies have confirmed the importance of tasks on language learning. Nowadays, many teachers apply different kinds of tasks in their classrooms. The current study investigated the effect of mobile assisted language learning tasks (MALL) on participants' English grammar learning. The researcher administered a pre-validated grammar test to 90…

Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration lessons learned: 1993 technology demonstrations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostelnik, K.M.; Owens, K.J.

1994-01-01

An integrated technology demonstration was conducted by the Buried Waste Integrated Demonstration (BWID) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Cold Test Pit in the summer of 1993. This program and demonstration was sponsored by the US Department of Energy Office of Technology Development. The demonstration included six technologies representing a synergistic system for the characterization and retrieval of a buried hazardous waste site. The integrated technology demonstration proved very successful and a summary of the technical accomplishments is presented. Upon completion of the integrated technology demonstration, cognizant program personnel participated in a lessons learned exercise. This exercise was conducted at the Simplot Decision Support Center at Idaho State University and lessons learned activity captured additional information relative to the integration of technologies for demonstration purposes. This information will be used by BWID to enhance program planning and strengthen future technology demonstrations

Embedded interruptions and task complexity influence schema-related cognitive load progression in an abstract learning task.

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Wirzberger, Maria; Esmaeili Bijarsari, Shirin; Rey, Günter Daniel

2017-09-01

Cognitive processes related to schema acquisition comprise an essential source of demands in learning situations. Since the related amount of cognitive load is supposed to change over time, plausible temporal models of load progression based on different theoretical backgrounds are inspected in this study. A total of 116 student participants completed a basal symbol sequence learning task, which provided insights into underlying cognitive dynamics. Two levels of task complexity were determined by the amount of elements within the symbol sequence. In addition, interruptions due to an embedded secondary task occurred at five predefined stages over the task. Within the resulting 2x5-factorial mixed between-within design, the continuous monitoring of efficiency in learning performance enabled assumptions on relevant resource investment. From the obtained results, a nonlinear change of learning efficiency over time seems most plausible in terms of cognitive load progression. Moreover, different effects of the induced interruptions show up in conditions of task complexity, which indicate the activation of distinct cognitive mechanisms related to structural aspects of the task. Findings are discussed in the light of evidence from research on memory and information processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interleaved Practice in Multi-Dimensional Learning Tasks: Which Dimension Should We Interleave?

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Rau, Martina A.; Aleven, Vincent; Rummel, Nikol

2013-01-01

Research shows that multiple representations can enhance student learning. Many curricula use multiple representations across multiple task types. The temporal sequence of representations and task types is likely to impact student learning. Research on contextual interference shows that interleaving learning tasks leads to better learning results…

Leadership for Learning: Tasks of Learning Culture

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Corrigan, Joe

2012-01-01

This is a comparative analysis of leadership related to organizational culture and change that occurred at a large Canadian university during a twenty year period 1983-2003. From an institutional development perspective, leadership is characterized as a culture creation and development responsibility. By centering on the tasks of learning culture,…

ITER TASK T299 (1995): HITEX demonstration tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodrigo, L.; Miller, J.M.; Senohrabek, J.A.; Busigin, A.; Gierszewski, P.

1996-01-01

The objective of this task is to demonstrate processes for different cleanup and detritiation of the plasma exhaust. In this subtask, the objectives were to provide further design data on the HITEX process, and to build and demonstrate 2-stage high-detritiation HITEX performance. (author). 5 refs., 10 tabs., 21 figs

Position-aware deep multi-task learning for drug-drug interaction extraction.

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Zhou, Deyu; Miao, Lei; He, Yulan

2018-05-01

A drug-drug interaction (DDI) is a situation in which a drug affects the activity of another drug synergistically or antagonistically when being administered together. The information of DDIs is crucial for healthcare professionals to prevent adverse drug events. Although some known DDIs can be found in purposely-built databases such as DrugBank, most information is still buried in scientific publications. Therefore, automatically extracting DDIs from biomedical texts is sorely needed. In this paper, we propose a novel position-aware deep multi-task learning approach for extracting DDIs from biomedical texts. In particular, sentences are represented as a sequence of word embeddings and position embeddings. An attention-based bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network is used to encode each sentence. The relative position information of words with the target drugs in text is combined with the hidden states of BiLSTM to generate the position-aware attention weights. Moreover, the tasks of predicting whether or not two drugs interact with each other and further distinguishing the types of interactions are learned jointly in multi-task learning framework. The proposed approach has been evaluated on the DDIExtraction challenge 2013 corpus and the results show that with the position-aware attention only, our proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art method by 0.99% for binary DDI classification, and with both position-aware attention and multi-task learning, our approach achieves a micro F-score of 72.99% on interaction type identification, outperforming the state-of-the-art approach by 1.51%, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mapping Learning Outcomes and Assignment Tasks for SPIDER Activities

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Lyn Brodie

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Modern engineering programs have to address rapidly changing technical content and have to enable students to develop transferable skills such as critical evaluation, communication skills and lifelong learning. This paper introduces a combined learning and assessment activity that provides students with opportunities to develop and practice their soft skills, but also extends their theoretical knowledge base. Key tasks included self directed inquiry, oral and written communication as well as peer assessment. To facilitate the SPIDER activities (Select, Prepare and Investigate, Discuss, Evaluate, Reflect, a software tool has been implemented in the learning management system Moodle. Evidence shows increased student engagement and better learning outcomes for both transferable as well as technical skills. The study focuses on generalising the relationship between learning outcomes and assignment tasks as well as activities that drive these tasks. Trail results inform the approach. Staff evaluations and their views of assignments and intended learning outcomes also supported this analysis.

Learning by Demonstration for Motion Planning of Upper-Limb Exoskeletons

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Lauretti, Clemente; Cordella, Francesca; Ciancio, Anna Lisa; Trigili, Emilio; Catalan, Jose Maria; Badesa, Francisco Javier; Crea, Simona; Pagliara, Silvio Marcello; Sterzi, Silvia; Vitiello, Nicola; Garcia Aracil, Nicolas; Zollo, Loredana

2018-01-01

The reference joint position of upper-limb exoskeletons is typically obtained by means of Cartesian motion planners and inverse kinematics algorithms with the inverse Jacobian; this approach allows exploiting the available Degrees of Freedom (i.e. DoFs) of the robot kinematic chain to achieve the desired end-effector pose; however, if used to operate non-redundant exoskeletons, it does not ensure that anthropomorphic criteria are satisfied in the whole human-robot workspace. This paper proposes a motion planning system, based on Learning by Demonstration, for upper-limb exoskeletons that allow successfully assisting patients during Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) in unstructured environment, while ensuring that anthropomorphic criteria are satisfied in the whole human-robot workspace. The motion planning system combines Learning by Demonstration with the computation of Dynamic Motion Primitives and machine learning techniques to construct task- and patient-specific joint trajectories based on the learnt trajectories. System validation was carried out in simulation and in a real setting with a 4-DoF upper-limb exoskeleton, a 5-DoF wrist-hand exoskeleton and four patients with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. Validation was addressed to (i) compare the performance of the proposed motion planning with traditional methods; (ii) assess the generalization capabilities of the proposed method with respect to the environment variability. Three ADLs were chosen to validate the system: drinking, pouring and lifting a light sphere. The achieved results showed a 100% success rate in the task fulfillment, with a high level of generalization with respect to the environment variability. Moreover, an anthropomorphic configuration of the exoskeleton is always ensured. PMID:29527161

Learning by Demonstration for Motion Planning of Upper-Limb Exoskeletons

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Clemente Lauretti

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The reference joint position of upper-limb exoskeletons is typically obtained by means of Cartesian motion planners and inverse kinematics algorithms with the inverse Jacobian; this approach allows exploiting the available Degrees of Freedom (i.e. DoFs of the robot kinematic chain to achieve the desired end-effector pose; however, if used to operate non-redundant exoskeletons, it does not ensure that anthropomorphic criteria are satisfied in the whole human-robot workspace. This paper proposes a motion planning system, based on Learning by Demonstration, for upper-limb exoskeletons that allow successfully assisting patients during Activities of Daily Living (ADLs in unstructured environment, while ensuring that anthropomorphic criteria are satisfied in the whole human-robot workspace. The motion planning system combines Learning by Demonstration with the computation of Dynamic Motion Primitives and machine learning techniques to construct task- and patient-specific joint trajectories based on the learnt trajectories. System validation was carried out in simulation and in a real setting with a 4-DoF upper-limb exoskeleton, a 5-DoF wrist-hand exoskeleton and four patients with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. Validation was addressed to (i compare the performance of the proposed motion planning with traditional methods; (ii assess the generalization capabilities of the proposed method with respect to the environment variability. Three ADLs were chosen to validate the system: drinking, pouring and lifting a light sphere. The achieved results showed a 100% success rate in the task fulfillment, with a high level of generalization with respect to the environment variability. Moreover, an anthropomorphic configuration of the exoskeleton is always ensured.

Distraction during learning with hypermedia: Difficult tasks help to keep task goals on track

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Katharina eScheiter

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In educational hypermedia environments, students are often confronted with potential sources of distraction arising from additional information that, albeit interesting, is unrelated to their current task goal. The paper investigates the conditions under which distraction occurs and hampers performance. Based on theories of volitional action control it was hypothesized that interesting information, especially if related to a pending goal, would interfere with task performance only when working on easy, but not on difficult tasks. In Experiment 1, 66 students learned about probability theory using worked examples and solved corresponding test problems, whose task difficulty was manipulated. As a second factor, the presence of interesting information unrelated to the primary task was varied. Results showed that students solved more easy than difficult probability problems correctly. However, the presence of interesting, but task-irrelevant information did not interfere with performance. In Experiment 2, 68 students again engaged in example-based learning and problem solving in the presence of task-irrelevant information. Problem-solving difficulty was varied as a first factor. Additionally, the presence of a pending goal related to the task-irrelevant information was manipulated. As expected, problem-solving performance declined when a pending goal was present during working on easy problems, whereas no interference was observed for difficult problems. Moreover, the presence of a pending goal reduced the time on task-relevant information and increased the time on task-irrelevant information while working on easy tasks. However, as revealed by mediation analyses these changes in overt information processing behavior did not explain the decline in problem-solving performance. As an alternative explanation it is suggested that goal conflicts resulting from pending goals claim cognitive resources, which are then no longer available for learning and

Can Task-based Learning Approach Help Attract Students with Diverse Backgrounds Learn Chinese at A Danish University?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruan, Youjin; Duan, Xiaoju; Wang, Li

2013-01-01

Task-based method is regarded as a meaningful approach for promoting interaction and collaboration in language learning. In an elective Chinese language beginner course at Aalborg University, Denmark, a selection of tasks are designed and used to attract the students’ interests in learning a new...... and study programs showed good interests in this method and the course itself. Nevertheless, it is necessary to study the concrete effect of various types of tasks to maximize the learning outcome....... foreign language. Chinese culture elements are also integrated into the tasks and the learning process. By analyzing seven items of a post-course survey, this paper investigates the learners’ opinions towards the Task-based language teaching and learning method and toward the method of integrating culture...

High variability impairs motor learning regardless of whether it affects task performance.

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Cardis, Marco; Casadio, Maura; Ranganathan, Rajiv

2018-01-01

Motor variability plays an important role in motor learning, although the exact mechanisms of how variability affects learning are not well understood. Recent evidence suggests that motor variability may have different effects on learning in redundant tasks, depending on whether it is present in the task space (where it affects task performance) or in the null space (where it has no effect on task performance). We examined the effect of directly introducing null and task space variability using a manipulandum during the learning of a motor task. Participants learned a bimanual shuffleboard task for 2 days, where their goal was to slide a virtual puck as close as possible toward a target. Critically, the distance traveled by the puck was determined by the sum of the left- and right-hand velocities, which meant that there was redundancy in the task. Participants were divided into five groups, based on both the dimension in which the variability was introduced and the amount of variability that was introduced during training. Results showed that although all groups were able to reduce error with practice, learning was affected more by the amount of variability introduced rather than the dimension in which variability was introduced. Specifically, groups with higher movement variability during practice showed larger errors at the end of practice compared with groups that had low variability during learning. These results suggest that although introducing variability can increase exploration of new solutions, this may adversely affect the ability to retain the learned solution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We examined the role of introducing variability during motor learning in a redundant task. The presence of redundancy allows variability to be introduced in different dimensions: the task space (where it affects task performance) or the null space (where it does not affect task performance). We found that introducing variability affected learning adversely, but the amount of

Heuristic for Task-Worker Assignment with Varying Learning Slopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wipawee Tharmmaphornphilas

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Fashion industry has variety products, so the multi-skilled workers are required to improve flexibility in production and assignment. Generally the supervisor will assign task to the workers based on skill and skill levels of worker. Since in fashion industry new product styles are launched more frequently and the order size tends to be smaller, the workers always learn when the raw material and the production process changes. Consequently they require less time to produce the succeeding units of a task based on their learning ability. Since the workers have both experience and inexperience workers, so each worker has different skill level and learning ability. Consequently, the assignment which assumed constant skill level is not proper to use. This paper proposes a task-worker assignment considering worker skill levels and learning abilities. Processing time of each worker changes along production period due to a worker learning ability. We focus on a task-worker assignment in a fashion industry where tasks are ordered in series; the number of tasks is greater than the number of workers. Therefore, workers can perform multiple assignments followed the precedence restriction as an assembly line balancing problem. The problem is formulated in an integer linear programming model with objective to minimize makespan. A heuristic is proposed to determine the lower bound (LB and the upper bound (UB of the problem and the best assignment is determined. The performance of the heuristic method is tested by comparing quality of solution and computational time to optimal solutions.

Tasks and learner motivation in learning Chinese as a foreign language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruan, Youjin; Duan, Xiaoju; Du, Xiangyun

2015-01-01

This study focuses on how beginner learners in a task-based teaching and learning (TBTL) environment perceive what is motivating to them in the process of learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) at Aalborg University (AAU), Denmark. Drawing upon empirical data from surveys, group interviews...... and participant observation, this study explores which kinds of tasks are perceived as motivating from the students’ perspective and which characteristics the learners associate with motivating tasks. The study indicates that it is important to consider the learners’ affective factors and learning situation...... factors, which can boost learners’ intrinsic motivation, when designing a task, especially at a beginning stage of foreign language learning, and to integrate cultural elements into tasks as an added value to motivate learners. Finally, this study identifies challenges and barriers related to TBTL...

Upper Extremity Motor Learning among Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-Analysis Evaluating Movement Time in Simple Tasks

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K. Felix

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Motor learning has been found to occur in the rehabilitation of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD. Through repetitive structured practice of motor tasks, individuals show improved performance, confirming that motor learning has probably taken place. Although a number of studies have been completed evaluating motor learning in people with PD, the sample sizes were small and the improvements were variable. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine the ability of people with PD to learn motor tasks. Studies which measured movement time in upper extremity reaching tasks and met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Results of the meta-analysis indicated that people with PD and neurologically healthy controls both demonstrated motor learning, characterized by a decrease in movement time during upper extremity movements. Movement time improvements were greater in the control group than in individuals with PD. These results support the findings that the practice of upper extremity reaching tasks is beneficial in reducing movement time in persons with PD and has important implications for rehabilitation.

Optimizing the number of steps in learning tasks for complex skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadolski, Rob J; Kirschner, Paul A; van Merriënboer, Jeroen J G

2005-06-01

Carrying out whole tasks is often too difficult for novice learners attempting to acquire complex skills. The common solution is to split up the tasks into a number of smaller steps. The number of steps must be optimized for efficient and effective learning. The aim of the study is to investigate the relation between the number of steps provided to learners and the quality of their learning of complex skills. It is hypothesized that students receiving an optimized number of steps will learn better than those receiving either the whole task in only one step or those receiving a large number of steps. Participants were 35 sophomore law students studying at Dutch universities, mean age=22.8 years (SD=3.5), 63% were female. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 computer-delivered versions of a multimedia programme on how to prepare and carry out a law plea. The versions differed only in the number of learning steps provided. Videotaped plea-performance results were determined, various related learning measures were acquired and all computer actions were logged and analyzed. Participants exposed to an intermediate (i.e. optimized) number of steps outperformed all others on the compulsory learning task. No differences in performance on a transfer task were found. A high number of steps proved to be less efficient for carrying out the learning task. An intermediate number of steps is the most effective, proving that the number of steps can be optimized for improving learning.

End-task versus in-task feedback to increase procedural learning retention during spinal anaesthesia training of novices.

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Lean, Lyn Li; Hong, Ryan Yee Shiun; Ti, Lian Kah

2017-08-01

Communication of feedback during teaching of practical procedures is a fine balance of structure and timing. We investigate if continuous in-task (IT) or end-task feedback (ET) is more effective in teaching spinal anaesthesia to medical students. End-task feedback was hypothesized to improve both short-term and long-term procedural learning retention as experiential learning promotes active learning after encountering errors during practice. Upon exposure to a 5-min instructional video, students randomized to IT or ET feedbacks were trained using a spinal simulator mannequin. A blinded expert tested the students using a spinal anaesthesia checklist in the short term (immediate) and long-term (average 4 months). Sixty-five students completed the training and testing. There were no differences in demographics of age or gender within IT or ET distributions. Both short-term and long-term learning retention of spinal anaesthesia ET feedback proved to be better (P feedback. The time taken for ET students was shorter at long-term testing. End-task feedback improves both short-term and long-term procedural learning retention.

Asymmetrical learning between a tactile and visual serial RT task

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Abrahamse, E.L.; van der Lubbe, Robert Henricus Johannes; Verwey, Willem B.

2007-01-01

According to many researchers, implicit learning in the serial reaction-time task is predominantly motor based and therefore should be independent of stimulus modality. Previous research on the task, however, has focused almost completely on the visual domain. Here we investigated sequence learning

FMRQ-A Multiagent Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Fully Cooperative Tasks.

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Zhang, Zhen; Zhao, Dongbin; Gao, Junwei; Wang, Dongqing; Dai, Yujie

2017-06-01

In this paper, we propose a multiagent reinforcement learning algorithm dealing with fully cooperative tasks. The algorithm is called frequency of the maximum reward Q-learning (FMRQ). FMRQ aims to achieve one of the optimal Nash equilibria so as to optimize the performance index in multiagent systems. The frequency of obtaining the highest global immediate reward instead of immediate reward is used as the reinforcement signal. With FMRQ each agent does not need the observation of the other agents' actions and only shares its state and reward at each step. We validate FMRQ through case studies of repeated games: four cases of two-player two-action and one case of three-player two-action. It is demonstrated that FMRQ can converge to one of the optimal Nash equilibria in these cases. Moreover, comparison experiments on tasks with multiple states and finite steps are conducted. One is box-pushing and the other one is distributed sensor network problem. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms others with higher performance.

Task-specific effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on motor learning

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Cinthia Maria Saucedo Marquez

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS is a relatively new non-invasive brain stimulation technique that modulates neural processes. When applied to the human primary motor cortex (M1, tDCS has beneficial effects on motor skill learning and consolidation in healthy controls and in patients. However, it remains unclear whether tDCS improves motor learning in a general manner or whether these effects depend on which motor task is acquired. Here we compare whether the effect of tDCS differs when the same individual acquires (1 a Sequential Finger Tapping Task (SEQTAP and (2 a Visual Isometric Pinch Force Task (FORCE. Both tasks have been shown to be sensitive to tDCS applied over M1, however, the underlying processes mediating learning and memory formation might benefit differently from anodal-tDCS. Thirty healthy subjects were randomly assigned to an anodal-tDCS group or sham-group. Using a double-blind, sham-controlled cross-over design, tDCS was applied over M1 while subjects acquired each of the motor tasks over 3 consecutive days, with the order being randomized across subjects. We found that anodal-tDCS affected each task differently: The SEQTAP task benefited from anodal-tDCS during learning, whereas the FORCE task showed improvements only at retention. These findings suggest that anodal tDCS applied over M1 appears to have a task-dependent effect on learning and memory formation.

Robust visual tracking via multi-task sparse learning

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Tianzhu; Ghanem, Bernard; Liu, Si; Ahuja, Narendra

2012-01-01

In this paper, we formulate object tracking in a particle filter framework as a multi-task sparse learning problem, which we denote as Multi-Task Tracking (MTT). Since we model particles as linear combinations of dictionary templates

Studying different tasks of implicit learning across multiple test sessions conducted on the web

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Werner eSævland

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Implicit learning is usually studied through individual performance on a single task, with the most common tasks being Serial Reaction Time task (SRT; Nissen and Bullemer, 1987, Dynamic System Control task (DSC; (Berry and Broadbent, 1984 and artificial Grammar Learning task (AGL; (Reber, 1967. Few attempts have been made to compare performance across different implicit learning tasks within the same experiment. The current experiment was designed study the relationship between performance on the DSC Sugar factory task (Berry and Broadbent, 1984 and the Alternating Serial Reaction Time task (ASRT; (Howard and Howard, 1997. We also addressed another limitation to traditional implicit learning experiments, namely that implicit learning is usually studied in laboratory settings over a restricted time span lasting for less than an hour (Berry and Broadbent, 1984; Nissen and Bullemer, 1987; Reber, 1967. In everyday situations, implicit learning is assumed to involve a gradual accumulation of knowledge across several learning episodes over a larger time span (Norman and Price, 2012. One way to increase the ecological validity of implicit learning experiments could be to present the learning material repeatedly across shorter experimental sessions (Howard and Howard, 1997; Cleeremans and McClelland, 1991. This can most easily be done by using a web-based setup that participants can access from home. We therefore created an online web-based system for measuring implicit learning that could be administered in either single or multiple sessions. Participants (n = 66 were assigned to either a single-session or a multi-session condition. Learning and the degree of conscious awareness of the learned regularities was compared across condition (single vs. multiple sessions and tasks (DSC vs. ASRT. Results showed that learning on the two tasks was not related. However, participants in the multiple sessions condition did show greater improvements in reaction

Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching: An Action-Research Study

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Calvert, Megan; Sheen, Younghee

2015-01-01

The creation, implementation, and evaluation of language learning tasks remain a challenge for many teachers, especially those with limited experience with using tasks in their teaching. This action-research study reports on one teacher's experience of developing, implementing, critically reflecting on, and modifying a language learning task…

Multi-layer network utilizing rewarded spike time dependent plasticity to learn a foraging task.

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Pavel Sanda

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Neural networks with a single plastic layer employing reward modulated spike time dependent plasticity (STDP are capable of learning simple foraging tasks. Here we demonstrate advanced pattern discrimination and continuous learning in a network of spiking neurons with multiple plastic layers. The network utilized both reward modulated and non-reward modulated STDP and implemented multiple mechanisms for homeostatic regulation of synaptic efficacy, including heterosynaptic plasticity, gain control, output balancing, activity normalization of rewarded STDP and hard limits on synaptic strength. We found that addition of a hidden layer of neurons employing non-rewarded STDP created neurons that responded to the specific combinations of inputs and thus performed basic classification of the input patterns. When combined with a following layer of neurons implementing rewarded STDP, the network was able to learn, despite the absence of labeled training data, discrimination between rewarding patterns and the patterns designated as punishing. Synaptic noise allowed for trial-and-error learning that helped to identify the goal-oriented strategies which were effective in task solving. The study predicts a critical set of properties of the spiking neuronal network with STDP that was sufficient to solve a complex foraging task involving pattern classification and decision making.

Elementary School Students' Strategic Learning: Does Task-Type Matter?

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Malmberg, Jonna; Järvelä, Sanna; Kirschner, Paul A.

2014-01-01

This study investigated what types of learning patterns and strategies elementary school students use to carry out ill- and well-structured tasks. Specifically, it was investigated which and when learning patterns actually emerge with respect to students' task solutions. The present study uses computer log file traces to investigate how…

Tool Choice for E-Learning: Task-Technology Fit through Media Synchronicity

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Sun, Jun; Wang, Ying

2014-01-01

One major challenge in online education is how to select appropriate e-learning tools for different learning tasks. Based on the premise of Task-Technology Fit Theory, this study suggests that the effectiveness of student learning in online courses depends on the alignment between two. Furthermore, it conceptualizes the formation of such a fit…

Task design for improving students’ engagement in mathematics learning

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Khairunnisa

2018-01-01

This article analysed the importance of task design as one of the instruments in the learning and its application in several studies. Through task design, students engage in learning caused them enthusiastically in expressing ideas, opinion or knowledge of them. Thus, the teacher was able to gain an idea of knowledge belonging to students. By using this information, teachers are able to develop the thinking ability of students.

Integration of Teaching Processes and Learning Assessment in the Prefrontal Cortex during a Video Game Teaching-learning Task.

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Takeuchi, Naoyuki; Mori, Takayuki; Suzukamo, Yoshimi; Izumi, Shin-Ichi

2016-01-01

Human teaching is a social interaction that supports reciprocal and dynamical feedback between the teacher and the student. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a region of particular interest due to its demonstrated role in social interaction. In the present study, we evaluated the PFC activity simultaneously in two individuals playing the role of a teacher and student in a video game teaching-learning task. For that, we used two wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices in order to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive interactions between teachers and students. Fifteen teacher-student pairs in total ( N = 30) participated in this study. Each teacher was instructed to teach the video game to their student partner, without speaking. The PFC activity was simultaneously evaluated in both participants using a wearable 16-channel NIRS system during the video game teaching-learning task. Two sessions, each including a triplet of a 30-s teaching-learning task, were performed in order to evaluate changes in PFC activity after advancement of teaching-learning state. Changes in the teachers' left PFC activity between the first and second session positively correlated with those observed in students ( r = 0.694, p = 0.004). Moreover, among teachers, multiple regression analysis revealed a correlation between the left PFC activity and the assessment gap between one's own teaching and the student's understanding ( β = 0.649, p = 0.009). Activity in the left PFC changed synchronously in both teachers and students after advancement of the teaching-learning state. The left PFC of teachers may be involved in integrating information regarding one's own teaching process and the student's learning state. The present observations indicate that simultaneous recording and analysis of brain activity data during teacher-student interactions may be useful in the field of educational neuroscience.

A New Semantic List Learning Task to Probe Functioning of the Papez Circuit

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Schallmo, Michael-Paul; Kassel, Michelle T.; Weisenbach, Sara L.; Walker, Sara J.; Guidotti-Breting, Leslie M.; Rao, Julia A.; Hazlett, Kathleen E.; Considine, Ciaran M.; Sethi, Gurpriya; Vats, Naalti; Pecina, Marta; Welsh, Robert C.; Starkman, Monica N.; Giordani, Bruno; Langenecker, Scott A.

2016-01-01

Introduction List learning tasks are powerful clinical tools for studying memory, yet have been relatively underutilized within the functional imaging literature. This limits understanding of regions such as the Papez circuit which support memory performance in healthy, non-demented adults. Method The current study characterized list learning performance in 40 adults who completed a Semantic List Learning Task (SLLT) with a Brown-Peterson manipulation during functional MRI (fMRI). Cued recall with semantic cues, and recognition memory were assessed after imaging. Internal reliability and convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated. Results Subjects averaged 38% accuracy in recall (62% for recognition), with primacy but no recency effects observed. Validity and reliability were demonstrated by showing that the SLLT was correlated with the California Verbal Learning test (CVLT), but not with executive functioning tests, and high intraclass correlation coefficient across lists for recall (.91). fMRI measurements during Encoding (vs. Silent Rehearsal) revealed significant activation in bilateral hippocampus, parahippocampus, and bilateral anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Post-hoc analyses showed increased activation in anterior and middle hippocampus, subgenual cingulate, and mammillary bodies specific to Encoding. In addition, increasing age was positively associated with increased activation in a diffuse network, particularly frontal cortex and specific Papez regions for correctly recalled words. Gender differences were specific to left inferior and superior frontal cortex. Conclusions This is a clinically relevant list learning task that can be used in studies of groups for which the Papez circuit is damaged or disrupted, in mixed or crossover studies at imaging and clinical sites. PMID:26313512

E-learning, dual-task, and cognitive load: The anatomy of a failed experiment.

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Van Nuland, Sonya E; Rogers, Kem A

2016-01-01

The rising popularity of commercial anatomy e-learning tools has been sustained, in part, due to increased annual enrollment and a reduction in laboratory hours across educational institutions. While e-learning tools continue to gain popularity, the research methodologies used to investigate their impact on learning remain imprecise. As new user interfaces are introduced, it is critical to understand how functionality can influence the load placed on a student's memory resources, also known as cognitive load. To study cognitive load, a dual-task paradigm wherein a learner performs two tasks simultaneously is often used, however, its application within educational research remains uncommon. Using previous paradigms as a guide, a dual-task methodology was developed to assess the cognitive load imposed by two commercial anatomical e-learning tools. Results indicate that the standard dual-task paradigm, as described in the literature, is insensitive to the cognitive load disparities across e-learning tool interfaces. Confounding variables included automation of responses, task performance tradeoff, and poor understanding of primary task cognitive load requirements, leading to unreliable quantitative results. By modifying the secondary task from a basic visual response to a more cognitively demanding task, such as a modified Stroop test, the automation of secondary task responses can be reduced. Furthermore, by recording baseline measures for the primary task as well as the secondary task, it is possible for task performance tradeoff to be detected. Lastly, it is imperative that the cognitive load of the primary task be designed such that it does not overwhelm the individual's ability to learn new material. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

Using Goal Setting and Task Analysis to Enhance Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching

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Rubin, Joan

2015-01-01

Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching has received sustained attention from teachers and researchers for over thirty years. It is a well-established pedagogy that includes the following characteristics: major focus on authentic and real-world tasks, choice of linguistic resources by learners, and a clearly defined non-linguistic outcome. This…

Addressing grammar in the interaction task-based learning environment

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Davis Brent M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available One of the major problems in language teaching is developing grammatical accuracy. This paper proposes that using error correction based on a functional grammar in a task-based learning approach may be a suitable solution. Towards this end an emic (using categories intrinsic to the language functional grammar of the verb phrase is proposed and a description of how this fits into the focus on form component of task-based learning is provided.

Learning and inference using complex generative models in a spatial localization task.

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Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Knill, David C; Aslin, Richard N

2016-01-01

A large body of research has established that, under relatively simple task conditions, human observers integrate uncertain sensory information with learned prior knowledge in an approximately Bayes-optimal manner. However, in many natural tasks, observers must perform this sensory-plus-prior integration when the underlying generative model of the environment consists of multiple causes. Here we ask if the Bayes-optimal integration seen with simple tasks also applies to such natural tasks when the generative model is more complex, or whether observers rely instead on a less efficient set of heuristics that approximate ideal performance. Participants localized a "hidden" target whose position on a touch screen was sampled from a location-contingent bimodal generative model with different variances around each mode. Over repeated exposure to this task, participants learned the a priori locations of the target (i.e., the bimodal generative model), and integrated this learned knowledge with uncertain sensory information on a trial-by-trial basis in a manner consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior. In particular, participants rapidly learned the locations of the two modes of the generative model, but the relative variances of the modes were learned much more slowly. Taken together, our results suggest that human performance in a more complex localization task, which requires the integration of sensory information with learned knowledge of a bimodal generative model, is consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior, but involves a much longer time-course than in simpler tasks.

H2Oh!: Classroom demonstrations and activities for improving student learning of water concepts

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Chan-Hilton, A.; Neupauer, R. M.; Burian, S. J.; Lauer, J. W.; Mathisen, P. P.; Mays, D. C.; Olson, M. S.; Pomeroy, C. A.; Ruddell, B. L.; Sciortino, A.

2012-12-01

Research has shown that the use of demonstrations and hands-on activities in the classroom enhances student learning. Students learn more and enjoy classes more when visual and active learning are incorporated into the lecture. Most college-aged students prefer visual modes of learning, while most instruction is conducted in a lecture, or auditory, format. The use of classroom demonstrations provides opportunities for incorporating visual and active learning into the classroom environment. However, while most instructors acknowledge the benefits of these teaching methods, they typically do not have the time and resources to develop and test such activities and to develop plans to incorporate them into their lectures. Members of the Excellence in Water Resources Education Task Committee of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) have produced a publication that contains a collection of activities aimed to foster excellence in water resources and hydrology education and improve student learning of principles. The book contains forty-five demonstrations and activities that can be used in water-related classes with topics in fluid mechanics, hydraulics, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, and water quality. We present examples of these activities, including topics such as conservation of momentum, buoyancy, Bernoulli's principle, drag force, pipe flow, watershed delineation, reservoir networks, head distribution in aquifers, and molecular diffusion in a porous medium. Unlike full laboratory exercises, these brief demonstrations and activities (most of which take less than fifteen minutes) can be easily incorporated into classroom lectures. For each demonstration, guidance for preparing and conducting the activity, along with a brief overview of the principles that are demonstrated, is provided. The target audience of the activities is undergraduate students, although the activities also may be

The importance of task appropriateness in computer-supported collaborative learning

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Kathy Buckner

1999-12-01

Full Text Available The study of learning in collaborative electronic environments is becoming established as Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL - an emergent sub-discipline of the more established Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW discipline (Webb, 1995. Using computers for the development of shared understanding through collaboration has been explored by Crook who suggests that success may depend partly on having a clearly specified purpose or goal (Crook, 1994. It is our view that the appropriateness of the task given to the student is central to the success or otherwise of the learning experience. However, the tasks that are given to facilitate collaborative learning in face-toface situations are not always suitable for direct transfer to the electronic medium. It may be necessary to consider redesigning these tasks in relation to the medium in which they are to be undertaken and the functionality of the electronic conferencing software used.

Active controllers and the time duration to learn a task

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Repperger, D. W.; Goodyear, C.

1986-01-01

An active controller was used to help train naive subjects involved in a compensatory tracking task. The controller is called active in this context because it moves the subject's hand in a direction to improve tracking. It is of interest here to question whether the active controller helps the subject to learn a task more rapidly than the passive controller. Six subjects, inexperienced to compensatory tracking, were run to asymptote root mean square error tracking levels with an active controller or a passive controller. The time required to learn the task was defined several different ways. The results of the different measures of learning were examined across pools of subjects and across controllers using statistical tests. The comparison between the active controller and the passive controller as to their ability to accelerate the learning process as well as reduce levels of asymptotic tracking error is reported here.

A Developmental Perspective in Learning the Mirror-Drawing Task

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Mona Sharon Julius

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Is there late maturation of skill learning? This notion has been raised to explain an adult advantage in learning a variety of tasks, such as auditory temporal-interval discrimination, locomotion adaptation, and drawing visually-distorted spatial patterns (mirror-drawing. Here, we test this assertion by following the practice of the mirror-drawing task in two 5 min daily sessions separated by a 10 min break, over the course of two days, in 5–6-year-old kindergarten children, 7–8-year-old second-graders, and young adults. In the mirror-drawing task, participants were required to trace a square while looking at their hand only as a reflection in a mirror. Kindergarteners did not show learning of the visual-motor mapping, and on average, did not produce even one full side of a square correctly. Second-graders showed increased online movement control with longer strokes, and robust learning of the visual-motor mapping, resulting in a between-day increase in the number of correctly drawn sides with no loss in accuracy. Overall, kindergarteners and second-graders producing at least one correct polygon-side on Day 1 were more likely to improve their performance between days. Adults showed better performance with greater improvements in the number of correctly drawn sides between- and within-days, and in accuracy between days. It has been suggested that 5-year-olds cannot learn the task due to their inability to detect and encapsulate previously produced accurate movements. Our findings suggest, instead, that these children did not have initial, accurate performance that could be enhanced through training. Recently, it has been shown that in a simple grapho-motor task the three age-groups improved their speed of performance within a session and between-days, while maintaining accuracy scores. Taken together, these data suggest that children's motor skill learning depends on the task’s characteristics and their adopting an efficient performance

Learning a locomotor task: with or without errors?

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Marchal-Crespo, Laura; Schneider, Jasmin; Jaeger, Lukas; Riener, Robert

2014-03-04

Robotic haptic guidance is the most commonly used robotic training strategy to reduce performance errors while training. However, research on motor learning has emphasized that errors are a fundamental neural signal that drive motor adaptation. Thus, researchers have proposed robotic therapy algorithms that amplify movement errors rather than decrease them. However, to date, no study has analyzed with precision which training strategy is the most appropriate to learn an especially simple task. In this study, the impact of robotic training strategies that amplify or reduce errors on muscle activation and motor learning of a simple locomotor task was investigated in twenty two healthy subjects. The experiment was conducted with the MAgnetic Resonance COmpatible Stepper (MARCOS) a special robotic device developed for investigations in the MR scanner. The robot moved the dominant leg passively and the subject was requested to actively synchronize the non-dominant leg to achieve an alternating stepping-like movement. Learning with four different training strategies that reduce or amplify errors was evaluated: (i) Haptic guidance: errors were eliminated by passively moving the limbs, (ii) No guidance: no robot disturbances were presented, (iii) Error amplification: existing errors were amplified with repulsive forces, (iv) Noise disturbance: errors were evoked intentionally with a randomly-varying force disturbance on top of the no guidance strategy. Additionally, the activation of four lower limb muscles was measured by the means of surface electromyography (EMG). Strategies that reduce or do not amplify errors limit muscle activation during training and result in poor learning gains. Adding random disturbing forces during training seems to increase attention, and therefore improve motor learning. Error amplification seems to be the most suitable strategy for initially less skilled subjects, perhaps because subjects could better detect their errors and correct them

The Effect of Haptic Guidance on Learning a Hybrid Rhythmic-Discrete Motor Task.

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Marchal-Crespo, Laura; Bannwart, Mathias; Riener, Robert; Vallery, Heike

2015-01-01

Bouncing a ball with a racket is a hybrid rhythmic-discrete motor task, combining continuous rhythmic racket movements with discrete impact events. Rhythmicity is exceptionally important in motor learning, because it underlies fundamental movements such as walking. Studies suggested that rhythmic and discrete movements are governed by different control mechanisms at different levels of the Central Nervous System. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of fixed/fading haptic guidance on learning to bounce a ball to a desired apex in virtual reality with varying gravity. Changing gravity changes dominance of rhythmic versus discrete control: The higher the value of gravity, the more rhythmic the task; lower values reduce the bouncing frequency and increase dwell times, eventually leading to a repetitive discrete task that requires initiation and termination, resembling target-oriented reaching. Although motor learning in the ball-bouncing task with varying gravity has been studied, the effect of haptic guidance on learning such a hybrid rhythmic-discrete motor task has not been addressed. We performed an experiment with thirty healthy subjects and found that the most effective training condition depended on the degree of rhythmicity: Haptic guidance seems to hamper learning of continuous rhythmic tasks, but it seems to promote learning for repetitive tasks that resemble discrete movements.

Effect of methylphenidate on enhancement of spatial learning by novel alternated dual task.

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Veetil, Praveen Kottath; Mukkadan, Joseph Kurian

2011-01-01

The novel alternated dual task (ADT) arranged rats to learn T-maze spontaneous alternation task and radial arm maze (RAM) task alternatively, and by doing ADT, rats could acquire the tasks more easily than non alternated dual task (NADT) group. Also retention capacity of ADT group was significantly more and ADT help to learn a complex task faster than learning it in isolation from other tasks. In the present study effect of methylphenidate (MPD), a mood elevator, known to enhance learning and memory, on ADT procedure is assessed. Also effect of ADT procedure and MPD on spatial learning and memory are compared. Different groups were assigned by administering MPD (intraperitoneal injection at a dose of 3 mg/kg body weight) during different phases of behavioural experiments, and control groups received saline injection. MPD administration increased both acquisition and retention capacities. The amelioration attained for retention of complex task by ADT procedure, could be achieved by NADT rats only by administration of MPD. The influence of ADT procedure on acquisition and retention of TM and RAM tasks were similar to the effects of MPD, especially for the RAM task. MPD at low dose is found to enhance the learning and memory capacity in rats, than deteriorating it, supporting the use of MPD as a drug to treat attention deficit hyperactive disorder. The recent reports suggesting the effect of MPD only on retention and not on acquisition could not be confirmed, as enhancement for both acquisition and retention was found in this study.

PENGGUNAAN METODE TASK-BASED LEARNING UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KETERAMPILAN MENULIS MAHASISWA

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Tri Kusnawati

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study aims to increase the writing skills of students of French Education Department of Language and Art Faculty of Yogyakarta State University by using the task-based learning method in Expression Ecrite IV teaching. This is a classroom action research project consisting of two cycles. The subjects’ of the study were 15 students who took Writing IV (Expression Ecrite IV including the lecturer. Data were collected using a test, an observation, and a questionnaire. The data of the use of teaching method of task-based learning in Expression Ecrite IV obtained by using an observation and a questionnaire was interpreted qualitatively, while the data of students’ learning achievement in writing was analyzed quantitatively. Findings show that the use of learning method of task-based learning in Expression Ecrite IV could increase writing skills of the students. It was shown by the better comprehension and the mastery of materials. It was proven by the increase of the means in the posttest, that were 6.3 in cycle 1 and 7.2 in cycle 2. Besides, there was an improvement of learning process of writing skill IV as indicated by decreasing students’ passivity and increasing participation in meaningful learning activities.

How do task characteristics affect learning and performance? The roles of variably mapped and dynamic tasks.

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Macnamara, Brooke N; Frank, David J

2018-05-01

For well over a century, scientists have investigated individual differences in performance. The majority of studies have focused on either differences in practice, or differences in cognitive resources. However, the predictive ability of either practice or cognitive resources varies considerably across tasks. We are the first to examine task characteristics' impact on learning and performance in a complex task while controlling for other task characteristics. In 2 experiments we test key theoretical task characteristic thought to moderate the relationship between practice, cognitive resources, and performance. We devised a task where each of several key task characteristics can be manipulated independently. Participants played 5 rounds of a game similar to the popular tower defense videogame Plants vs. Zombies where both cognitive load and game characteristics were manipulated. In Experiment 1, participants either played a consistently mapped version-the stimuli and the associated meaning of their properties were constant across the 5 rounds-or played a variably mapped version-the stimuli and the associated meaning of their properties changed every few minutes. In Experiment 2, participants either played a static version-that is, turn taking with no time pressure-or played a dynamic version-that is, the stimuli moved regardless of participants' response rates. In Experiment 1, participants' accuracy and efficiency were substantially hindered in the variably mapped conditions. In Experiment 2, learning and performance accuracy were hindered in the dynamic conditions, especially when under cognitive load. Our results suggest that task characteristics impact the relative importance of cognitive resources and practice on predicting learning and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Robust visual tracking via structured multi-task sparse learning

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Tianzhu; Ghanem, Bernard; Liu, Si; Ahuja, Narendra

2012-01-01

In this paper, we formulate object tracking in a particle filter framework as a structured multi-task sparse learning problem, which we denote as Structured Multi-Task Tracking (S-MTT). Since we model particles as linear combinations of dictionary

A specific implicit sequence learning deficit as an underlying cause of dyslexia? Investigating the role of attention in implicit learning tasks.

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Staels, Eva; Van den Broeck, Wim

2017-05-01

Recently, a general implicit sequence learning deficit was proposed as an underlying cause of dyslexia. This new hypothesis was investigated in the present study by including a number of methodological improvements, for example, the inclusion of appropriate control conditions. The second goal of the study was to explore the role of attentional functioning in implicit and explicit learning tasks. In a 2 × 2 within-subjects design 4 tasks were administered in 30 dyslexic and 38 control children: an implicit and explicit serial reaction time (RT) task and an implicit and explicit contextual cueing task. Attentional functioning was also administered. The entire learning curves of all tasks were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling in order to compare performances between groups and to examine the role of attentional functioning on the learning curves. The amount of implicit learning was similar for both groups. However, the dyslexic group showed slower RTs throughout the entire task. This group difference reduced and became nonsignificant after controlling for attentional functioning. Both implicit learning tasks, but none of the explicit learning tasks, were significantly affected by attentional functioning. Dyslexic children do not suffer from a specific implicit sequence learning deficit. The slower RTs of the dyslexic children throughout the entire implicit sequence learning process are caused by their comorbid attention problems and overall slowness. A key finding of the present study is that, in contrast to what was assumed for a long time, implicit learning relies on attentional resources, perhaps even more than explicit learning does. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Autonomous Learning through Task-Based Instruction in Fully Online Language Courses

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Lee, Lina

2016-01-01

This study investigated the affordances for autonomous learning in a fully online learning environment involving the implementation of task-based instruction in conjunction with Web 2.0 technologies. To that end, four-skill-integrated tasks and digital tools were incorporated into the coursework. Data were collected using midterm reflections,…

A Neural Network Model to Learn Multiple Tasks under Dynamic Environments

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Tsumori, Kenji; Ozawa, Seiichi

When environments are dynamically changed for agents, the knowledge acquired in an environment might be useless in future. In such dynamic environments, agents should be able to not only acquire new knowledge but also modify old knowledge in learning. However, modifying all knowledge acquired before is not efficient because the knowledge once acquired may be useful again when similar environment reappears and some knowledge can be shared among different environments. To learn efficiently in such environments, we propose a neural network model that consists of the following modules: resource allocating network, long-term & short-term memory, and environment change detector. We evaluate the model under a class of dynamic environments where multiple function approximation tasks are sequentially given. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model possesses stable incremental learning, accurate environmental change detection, proper association and recall of old knowledge, and efficient knowledge transfer.

Task-Based Language Teaching and Expansive Learning Theory

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Robertson, Margaret

2014-01-01

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has become increasingly recognized as an effective pedagogy, but its location in generalized sociocultural theories of learning has led to misunderstandings and criticism. The purpose of this article is to explain the congruence between TBLT and Expansive Learning Theory and the benefits of doing so. The merit…

THE ROLE OF TASK-INDUCED INVOLVEMENT IN VOCABULARY LEARNING OF IRANIAN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Khonamri

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated Laufer and Hustijn’s (2001 Involvement Load Hypothesis in vocabulary learning. It comprised two experiments. Experiment 1 examined whether two tasks with equal involvement load but different distribution of components would yield the same result in initial learning and retention of target words. Experiment 2 investigated whether two tasks, one input and another output, with equal involvement load and the same distribution of components would result in equivalent initial learning and retention of target words. 126 advanced English learners completed one of three vocabulary learning tasks that equated in the amount of involvement they induced: sentence writing, fill-in, and translation (L2-L1. Receptive knowledge of the target words was assessed immediately after treatment and two weeks later, and one month interval after the first delayed posttest. The result of t-test for Experiment 1 showed that when two tasks had equal involvement load but different distribution of components they resulted in similar amounts of initial learning and retention of new words. The findings of Experiment 2 indicated when two tasks, one input and another output, had equal involvement load and the same distribution of components, they led to superiority of fill-in task over translation task in initial vocabulary learning, however, not in retention of new words.

Collaborative Tasks in Wiki-Based Environment in EFL Learning

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Zou, Bin; Wang, Dongshuo; Xing, Minjie

2016-01-01

Wikis provide users with opportunities to post and edit messages to collaborate in the language learning process. Many studies have offered findings to show positive impact of Wiki-based language learning for learners. This paper explores the effect of collaborative task in error correction for English as a Foreign Language learning in an online…

Perceptual learning of basic visual features remains task specific with Training-Plus-Exposure (TPE) training.

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Cong, Lin-Juan; Wang, Ru-Jie; Yu, Cong; Zhang, Jun-Yun

2016-01-01

Visual perceptual learning is known to be specific to the trained retinal location, feature, and task. However, location and feature specificity can be eliminated by double-training or TPE training protocols, in which observers receive additional exposure to the transfer location or feature dimension via an irrelevant task besides the primary learning task Here we tested whether these new training protocols could even make learning transfer across different tasks involving discrimination of basic visual features (e.g., orientation and contrast). Observers practiced a near-threshold orientation (or contrast) discrimination task. Following a TPE training protocol, they also received exposure to the transfer task via performing suprathreshold contrast (or orientation) discrimination in alternating blocks of trials in the same sessions. The results showed no evidence for significant learning transfer to the untrained near-threshold contrast (or orientation) discrimination task after discounting the pretest effects and the suprathreshold practice effects. These results thus do not support a hypothetical task-independent component in perceptual learning of basic visual features. They also set the boundary of the new training protocols in their capability to enable learning transfer.

The effect of the external regulator's absence on children's speech use, manifested self-regulation, and task performance during learning tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Agina, Adel M.; Agina, Adel Masaud; Kommers, Petrus A.M.; Steehouder, M.F.

2011-01-01

The present study was conducted to explore the effect of the absence of the external regulators on children’s use of speech (private/social), task performance, and self-regulation during learning tasks. A novel methodology was employed through a computer-based learning environment that proposed

Informal learning of secondary-school students and learning tasks of the family

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanja Berčnik

2006-12-01

Full Text Available The' author speaks about the role of informal learning for young people and their family, differences about spending free-time and possibilities of using free-time for informal learning. The presupposition is that while learning scope is constantly expanding, also learning tasks of the family are increasing. Because of different social environments of young people, there is a question, what are actual possibilities for informal learning in their domestic environment and how this affects their development. The most important question, which must be asked according to the author is, whether parents are ware of their influence, of the influence of their actions on development and learning of their children.

Learning-induced uncertainty reduction in perceptual decisions is task-dependent

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Feitong eYang

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Perceptual decision making in which decisions are reached primarily from extracting and evaluating sensory information requires close interactions between the sensory system and decision-related networks in the brain. Uncertainty pervades every aspect of this process and can be considered related to either the stimulus signal or decision criterion. Here, we investigated the learning-induced reduction of both the signal and criterion uncertainty in two perceptual decision tasks based on two Glass pattern stimulus sets. This was achieved by manipulating spiral angle and signal level of radial and concentric Glass patterns. The behavioral results showed that the participants trained with a task based on criterion comparison improved their categorization accuracy for both tasks, whereas the participants who were trained on a task based on signal detection improved their categorization accuracy only on their trained task. We fitted the behavioral data with a computational model that can dissociate the contribution of the signal and criterion uncertainties. The modeling results indicated that the participants trained on the criterion comparison task reduced both the criterion and signal uncertainty. By contrast, the participants who were trained on the signal detection task only reduced their signal uncertainty after training. Our results suggest that the signal uncertainty can be resolved by training participants to extract signals from noisy environments and to discriminate between clear signals, which are evidenced by reduced perception variance after both training procedures. Conversely, the criterion uncertainty can only be resolved by the training of fine discrimination. These findings demonstrate that uncertainty in perceptual decision-making can be reduced with training but that the reduction of different types of uncertainty is task-dependent.

Robust Online Multi-Task Learning with Correlative and Personalized Structures

KAUST Repository

Yang, Peng

2017-06-29

Multi-Task Learning (MTL) can enhance a classifier\\'s generalization performance by learning multiple related tasks simultaneously. Conventional MTL works under the offline setting and suffers from expensive training cost and poor scalability. To address such issues, online learning techniques have been applied to solve MTL problems. However, most existing algorithms of online MTL constrain task relatedness into a presumed structure via a single weight matrix, which is a strict restriction that does not always hold in practice. In this paper, we propose a robust online MTL framework that overcomes this restriction by decomposing the weight matrix into two components: the first one captures the low-rank common structure among tasks via a nuclear norm; the second one identifies the personalized patterns of outlier tasks via a group lasso. Theoretical analysis shows the proposed algorithm can achieve a sub-linear regret with respect to the best linear model in hindsight. However, the nuclear norm that simply adds all nonzero singular values together may not be a good low-rank approximation. To improve the results, we use a log-determinant function as a non-convex rank approximation. Experimental results on a number of real-world applications also verify the efficacy of our approaches.

Robust Online Multi-Task Learning with Correlative and Personalized Structures

KAUST Repository

Yang, Peng; Zhao, Peilin; Gao, Xin

2017-01-01

Multi-Task Learning (MTL) can enhance a classifier's generalization performance by learning multiple related tasks simultaneously. Conventional MTL works under the offline setting and suffers from expensive training cost and poor scalability. To address such issues, online learning techniques have been applied to solve MTL problems. However, most existing algorithms of online MTL constrain task relatedness into a presumed structure via a single weight matrix, which is a strict restriction that does not always hold in practice. In this paper, we propose a robust online MTL framework that overcomes this restriction by decomposing the weight matrix into two components: the first one captures the low-rank common structure among tasks via a nuclear norm; the second one identifies the personalized patterns of outlier tasks via a group lasso. Theoretical analysis shows the proposed algorithm can achieve a sub-linear regret with respect to the best linear model in hindsight. However, the nuclear norm that simply adds all nonzero singular values together may not be a good low-rank approximation. To improve the results, we use a log-determinant function as a non-convex rank approximation. Experimental results on a number of real-world applications also verify the efficacy of our approaches.

Task type and incidental L2 vocabulary learning: Repetition versus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the effect of task type on incidental L2 vocabulary learning. The different tasks investigated in this study differed in terms of repetition of encounters and task involvement load. In a within-subjects design, 72 Iranian learners of English practised 18 target words in three exercise conditions: three ...

Identifying beneficial task relations for multi-task learning in deep neural networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bingel, Joachim; Søgaard, Anders

2017-01-01

Multi-task learning (MTL) in deep neural networks for NLP has recently received increasing interest due to some compelling benefits, including its potential to efficiently regularize models and to reduce the need for labeled data. While it has brought significant improvements in a number of NLP...

Designing Digital Problem Based Learning Tasks that Motivate Students

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van Loon, Anne-Marieke; Ros, Anje; Martens, Rob

2013-01-01

This study examines whether teachers are able to apply the principles of autonomy support and structure support in designing digital problem based learning (PBL) tasks. We examine whether these tasks are more autonomy- and structure-supportive and whether primary and secondary school students experience greater autonomy, competence, and motivation…

Concurrent Learning of Control in Multi agent Sequential Decision Tasks

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2018-04-17

Concurrent Learning of Control in Multi-agent Sequential Decision Tasks The overall objective of this project was to develop multi-agent reinforcement... learning (MARL) approaches for intelligent agents to autonomously learn distributed control policies in decentral- ized partially observable... learning of policies in Dec-POMDPs, established performance bounds, evaluated these algorithms both theoretically and empirically, The views

Training self-assessment and task-selection skills : A cognitive approach to improving self-regulated learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kostons, Danny; van Gog, Tamara; Paas, Fred

For self-regulated learning to be effective, students need to be able to accurately assess their own performance on a learning task and use this assessment for the selection of a new learning task. Evidence suggests, however, that students have difficulties with accurate self-assessment and task

Multi-population genomic prediction using a multi-task Bayesian learning model.

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Chen, Liuhong; Li, Changxi; Miller, Stephen; Schenkel, Flavio

2014-05-03

Genomic prediction in multiple populations can be viewed as a multi-task learning problem where tasks are to derive prediction equations for each population and multi-task learning property can be improved by sharing information across populations. The goal of this study was to develop a multi-task Bayesian learning model for multi-population genomic prediction with a strategy to effectively share information across populations. Simulation studies and real data from Holstein and Ayrshire dairy breeds with phenotypes on five milk production traits were used to evaluate the proposed multi-task Bayesian learning model and compare with a single-task model and a simple data pooling method. A multi-task Bayesian learning model was proposed for multi-population genomic prediction. Information was shared across populations through a common set of latent indicator variables while SNP effects were allowed to vary in different populations. Both simulation studies and real data analysis showed the effectiveness of the multi-task model in improving genomic prediction accuracy for the smaller Ayshire breed. Simulation studies suggested that the multi-task model was most effective when the number of QTL was small (n = 20), with an increase of accuracy by up to 0.09 when QTL effects were lowly correlated between two populations (ρ = 0.2), and up to 0.16 when QTL effects were highly correlated (ρ = 0.8). When QTL genotypes were included for training and validation, the improvements were 0.16 and 0.22, respectively, for scenarios of the low and high correlation of QTL effects between two populations. When the number of QTL was large (n = 200), improvement was small with a maximum of 0.02 when QTL genotypes were not included for genomic prediction. Reduction in accuracy was observed for the simple pooling method when the number of QTL was small and correlation of QTL effects between the two populations was low. For the real data, the multi-task model achieved an

Continuing Robot Skill Learning after Demonstration with Human Feedback

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Argall Brenna D.

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Though demonstration-based approaches have been successfully applied to learning a variety of robot behaviors, there do exist some limitations. The ability to continue learning after demonstration, based on execution experience with the learned policy, therefore has proven to be an asset to many demonstration-based learning systems. This paper discusses important considerations for interfaces that provide feedback to adapt and improve demonstrated behaviors. Feedback interfaces developed for two robots with very different motion capabilities - a wheeled mobile robot and high degree-of-freedom humanoid - are highlighted.

Paired-Associate and Feedback-Based Weather Prediction Tasks Support Multiple Category Learning Systems

OpenAIRE

Li, Kaiyun; Fu, Qiufang; Sun, Xunwei; Zhou, Xiaoyan; Fu, Xiaolan

2016-01-01

It remains unclear whether probabilistic category learning in the feedback-based weather prediction task (FB-WPT) can be mediated by a non-declarative or procedural learning system. To address this issue, we compared the effects of training time and verbal working memory, which influence the declarative learning system but not the non-declarative learning system, in the FB and paired-associate (PA) WPTs, as the PA task recruits a declarative learning system. The results of Experiment 1 showed...

Probabilistic Category Learning in Developmental Dyslexia: Evidence from Feedback and Paired-Associate Weather Prediction Tasks

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Gabay, Yafit; Vakil, Eli; Schiff, Rachel; Holt, Lori L.

2015-01-01

Objective Developmental dyslexia is presumed to arise from specific phonological impairments. However, an emerging theoretical framework suggests that phonological impairments may be symptoms stemming from an underlying dysfunction of procedural learning. Method We tested procedural learning in adults with dyslexia (n=15) and matched-controls (n=15) using two versions of the Weather Prediction Task: Feedback (FB) and Paired-associate (PA). In the FB-based task, participants learned associations between cues and outcomes initially by guessing and subsequently through feedback indicating the correctness of response. In the PA-based learning task, participants viewed the cue and its associated outcome simultaneously without overt response or feedback. In both versions, participants trained across 150 trials. Learning was assessed in a subsequent test without presentation of the outcome, or corrective feedback. Results The Dyslexia group exhibited impaired learning compared with the Control group on both the FB and PA versions of the weather prediction task. Conclusions The results indicate that the ability to learn by feedback is not selectively impaired in dyslexia. Rather it seems that the probabilistic nature of the task, shared by the FB and PA versions of the weather prediction task, hampers learning in those with dyslexia. Results are discussed in light of procedural learning impairments among participants with dyslexia. PMID:25730732

Implicit and Explicit Knowledge Both Improve Dual Task Performance in a Continuous Pursuit Tracking Task.

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Ewolds, Harald E; Bröker, Laura; de Oliveira, Rita F; Raab, Markus; Künzell, Stefan

2017-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of predictability on dual-task performance in a continuous tracking task. Participants practiced either informed (explicit group) or uninformed (implicit group) about a repeated segment in the curves they had to track. In Experiment 1 participants practices the tracking task only, dual-task performance was assessed after by combining the tracking task with an auditory reaction time task. Results showed both groups learned equally well and tracking performance on a predictable segment in the dual-task condition was better than on random segments. However, reaction times did not benefit from a predictable tracking segment. To investigate the effect of learning under dual-task situation participants in Experiment 2 practiced the tracking task while simultaneously performing the auditory reaction time task. No learning of the repeated segment could be demonstrated for either group during the training blocks, in contrast to the test-block and retention test, where participants performed better on the repeated segment in both dual-task and single-task conditions. Only the explicit group improved from test-block to retention test. As in Experiment 1, reaction times while tracking a predictable segment were no better than reaction times while tracking a random segment. We concluded that predictability has a positive effect only on the predictable task itself possibly because of a task-shielding mechanism. For dual-task training there seems to be an initial negative effect of explicit instructions, possibly because of fatigue, but the advantage of explicit instructions was demonstrated in a retention test. This might be due to the explicit memory system informing or aiding the implicit memory system.

Concrete and abstract visualizations in history learning tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prangsma, Maaike; Van Boxtel, Carla; Kanselaar, Gellof; Kirschner, Paul A.

2010-01-01

Prangsma, M. E., Van Boxtel, C. A. M., Kanselaar, G., & Kirschner, P. A. (2009). Concrete and abstract visualizations in history learning tasks. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 371-387.

Explicit goal-driven attention, unlike implicitly learned attention, spreads to secondary tasks.

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Addleman, Douglas A; Tao, Jinyi; Remington, Roger W; Jiang, Yuhong V

2018-03-01

To what degree does spatial attention for one task spread to all stimuli in the attended region, regardless of task relevance? Most models imply that spatial attention acts through a unitary priority map in a task-general manner. We show that implicit learning, unlike endogenous spatial cuing, can bias spatial attention within one task without biasing attention to a spatially overlapping secondary task. Participants completed a visual search task superimposed on a background containing scenes, which they were told to encode for a later memory task. Experiments 1 and 2 used explicit instructions to bias spatial attention to one region for visual search; Experiment 3 used location probability cuing to implicitly bias spatial attention. In location probability cuing, a target appeared in one region more than others despite participants not being told of this. In all experiments, search performance was better in the cued region than in uncued regions. However, scene memory was better in the cued region only following endogenous guidance, not after implicit biasing of attention. These data support a dual-system view of top-down attention that dissociates goal-driven and implicitly learned attention. Goal-driven attention is task general, amplifying processing of a cued region across tasks, whereas implicit statistical learning is task-specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Effect of tDCS on task relevant and irrelevant perceptual learning of complex objects.

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Van Meel, Chayenne; Daniels, Nicky; de Beeck, Hans Op; Baeck, Annelies

2016-01-01

During perceptual learning the visual representations in the brain are altered, but these changes' causal role has not yet been fully characterized. We used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to investigate the role of higher visual regions in lateral occipital cortex (LO) in perceptual learning with complex objects. We also investigated whether object learning is dependent on the relevance of the objects for the learning task. Participants were trained in two tasks: object recognition using a backward masking paradigm and an orientation judgment task. During both tasks, an object with a red line on top of it were presented in each trial. The crucial difference between both tasks was the relevance of the object: the object was relevant for the object recognition task, but not for the orientation judgment task. During training, half of the participants received anodal tDCS stimulation targeted at the lateral occipital cortex (LO). Afterwards, participants were tested on how well they recognized the trained objects, the irrelevant objects presented during the orientation judgment task and a set of completely new objects. Participants stimulated with tDCS during training showed larger improvements of performance compared to participants in the sham condition. No learning effect was found for the objects presented during the orientation judgment task. To conclude, this study suggests a causal role of LO in relevant object learning, but given the rather low spatial resolution of tDCS, more research on the specificity of this effect is needed. Further, mere exposure is not sufficient to train object recognition in our paradigm.

Task-Oriented Spoken Dialog System for Second-Language Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Oh-Woog; Kim, Young-Kil; Lee, Yunkeun

2016-01-01

This paper introduces a Dialog-Based Computer Assisted second-Language Learning (DB-CALL) system using task-oriented dialogue processing technology. The system promotes dialogue with a second-language learner for a specific task, such as purchasing tour tickets, ordering food, passing through immigration, etc. The dialog system plays a role of a…

The relationship between explicit learning and consciousness-raising tasks within a communicative language context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roscioli, Deise Caldart

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims at investigating whether consciousness-raising tasks, used in a communicative learning environment of EFL, can be considered a valid instrument for eliciting explicit learning in that context. Five participants enrolled in the second level of a language course answered a cycle of tasks that intended to teach the use of comparatives. The materials used in this study consisted of a pre-task, consciousness-raising tasks, an untimed grammaticality judgment test, and a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that the instruments used in this research were of a valid nature for eliciting explicit learning. The findings also provide empirical support regarding the importance of consciousness-raising tasks to assist students’ second language learning in a communicative classroom environment. Despite being a small scale research, this study may contribute to a greater understanding of the SLA processes within a communicative context and highlight the importance of explicit knowledge learning within a meaning focused approach

How well do elderly people cope with uncertainty in a learning task?

Science.gov (United States)

Chasseigne, G; Grau, S; Mullet, E; Cama, V

1999-11-01

The relation between age, task complexity and learning performance in a Multiple Cue Probability Learning task was studied by systematically varying the level of uncertainty present in the task, keeping constant the direction of relationships. Four age groups were constituted: young adults (mean age = 21), middle-aged adults (45), elderly people (69) and very elderly people (81). Five uncertainty levels were considered: predictability = 0.96, 0.80, 0.64, 0.48, and 0.32. All relationships involved were direct ones. A strong effect of uncertainty on 'control', a measure of the subject's consistency with respect to a linear model, was found. This effect was essentially a linear one. To each decrement in predictability of the task corresponded an equal decrement in participants' level of control. This level of decrement was the same, regardless of the age of the participant. It can be concluded that elderly people cope with uncertainty in probability learning tasks as well as young adults.

Dizocilpine (MK-801) impairs learning in the active place avoidance task but has no effect on the performance during task/context alternation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vojtechova, Iveta; Petrasek, Tomas; Hatalova, Hana; Pistikova, Adela; Vales, Karel; Stuchlik, Ales

2016-05-15

The prevention of engram interference, pattern separation, flexibility, cognitive coordination and spatial navigation are usually studied separately at the behavioral level. Impairment in executive functions is often observed in patients suffering from schizophrenia. We have designed a protocol for assessing these functions all together as behavioral separation. This protocol is based on alternated or sequential training in two tasks testing different hippocampal functions (the Morris water maze and active place avoidance), and alternated or sequential training in two similar environments of the active place avoidance task. In Experiment 1, we tested, in adult rats, whether the performance in two different spatial tasks was affected by their order in sequential learning, or by their day-to-day alternation. In Experiment 2, rats learned to solve the active place avoidance task in two environments either alternately or sequentially. We found that rats are able to acquire both tasks and to discriminate both similar contexts without obvious problems regardless of the order or the alternation. We used two groups of rats, controls and a rat model of psychosis induced by a subchronic intraperitoneal application of 0.08mg/kg of dizocilpine (MK-801), a non-competitive antagonist of NMDA receptors. Dizocilpine had no selective effect on parallel/sequential learning of tasks/contexts. However, it caused hyperlocomotion and a significant deficit in learning in the active place avoidance task regardless of the task alternation. Cognitive coordination tested by this task is probably more sensitive to dizocilpine than spatial orientation because no hyperactivity or learning impairment was observed in the Morris water maze. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measuring learning potential in people with schizophrenia: A comparison of two tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Rempfer, Melisa V; McDowd, Joan M; Brown, Catana E

2017-12-01

Learning potential measures utilize dynamic assessment methods to capture performance changes following training on a cognitive task. Learning potential has been explored in schizophrenia research as a predictor of functional outcome and there have been calls for psychometric development in this area. Because the majority of learning potential studies have utilized the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), we extended this work using a novel measure, the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT). This study had the following aims: 1) to examine relationships among different learning potential indices for two dynamic assessment tasks, 2) to examine the association between WCST and ROCFT learning potential measures, and 3) to address concurrent validity with a performance-based measure of functioning (Test of Grocery Shopping Skills; TOGSS). Eighty-one adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder completed WCST and ROCFT learning measures and the TOGSS. Results indicated the various learning potential computational indices are intercorrelated and, similar to other studies, we found support for regression residuals and post-test scores as optimal indices. Further, we found modest relationships between the two learning potential measures and the TOGSS. These findings suggest learning potential includes both general and task-specific constructs but future research is needed to further explore this question. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment for Learning Tasks and the Peer Assessment Process

Science.gov (United States)

Lauf, Lorraine; Dole, Shelley

2010-01-01

A program of Assessment for Learning (AfL) was implemented with 107 Year 12 students as part of their preparation for a major external test. Students completed extended mathematics tasks and selected student responses were used for peer assessment purposes. This paper reports on two of the AfL elements, namely task selection and peer assessment as…

An investigation of fMRI time series stationarity during motor sequence learning foot tapping tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Muhei-aldin, Othman; VanSwearingen, Jessie; Karim, Helmet; Huppert, Theodore; Sparto, Patrick J; Erickson, Kirk I; Sejdić, Ervin

2014-04-30

Understanding complex brain networks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is of great interest to clinical and scientific communities. To utilize advanced analysis methods such as graph theory for these investigations, the stationarity of fMRI time series needs to be understood as it has important implications on the choice of appropriate approaches for the analysis of complex brain networks. In this paper, we investigated the stationarity of fMRI time series acquired from twelve healthy participants while they performed a motor (foot tapping sequence) learning task. Since prior studies have documented that learning is associated with systematic changes in brain activation, a sequence learning task is an optimal paradigm to assess the degree of non-stationarity in fMRI time-series in clinically relevant brain areas. We predicted that brain regions involved in a "learning network" would demonstrate non-stationarity and may violate assumptions associated with some advanced analysis approaches. Six blocks of learning, and six control blocks of a foot tapping sequence were performed in a fixed order. The reverse arrangement test was utilized to investigate the time series stationarity. Our analysis showed some non-stationary signals with a time varying first moment as a major source of non-stationarity. We also demonstrated a decreased number of non-stationarities in the third block as a result of priming and repetition. Most of the current literature does not examine stationarity prior to processing. The implication of our findings is that future investigations analyzing complex brain networks should utilize approaches robust to non-stationarities, as graph-theoretical approaches can be sensitive to non-stationarities present in data. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relationships among Individual Task Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulated Learning Strategy Use and Academic Performance in a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Kimberly; Narayan, Anupama

2016-01-01

This study investigates relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance. Participants were 96 undergraduate students working on projects with three subtasks (idea generation task, methodical task and data collection) in a blended learning environment. Task self-efficacy was measured with…

Pretraining Cortical Thickness Predicts Subsequent Perceptual Learning Rate in a Visual Search Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Sebastian M; Reavis, Eric A; Greenlee, Mark W; Tse, Peter U

2016-03-01

We report that preexisting individual differences in the cortical thickness of brain areas involved in a perceptual learning task predict the subsequent perceptual learning rate. Participants trained in a motion-discrimination task involving visual search for a "V"-shaped target motion trajectory among inverted "V"-shaped distractor trajectories. Motion-sensitive area MT+ (V5) was functionally identified as critical to the task: after 3 weeks of training, activity increased in MT+ during task performance, as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We computed the cortical thickness of MT+ from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging volumes collected before training started, and found that it significantly predicted subsequent perceptual learning rates in the visual search task. Participants with thicker neocortex in MT+ before training learned faster than those with thinner neocortex in that area. A similar association between cortical thickness and training success was also found in posterior parietal cortex (PPC). © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of linearly solvable Markov decision process with dynamic model learning in a mobile robot navigation task.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinjo, Ken; Uchibe, Eiji; Doya, Kenji

2013-01-01

Linearly solvable Markov Decision Process (LMDP) is a class of optimal control problem in which the Bellman's equation can be converted into a linear equation by an exponential transformation of the state value function (Todorov, 2009b). In an LMDP, the optimal value function and the corresponding control policy are obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem in a discrete state space or an eigenfunction problem in a continuous state using the knowledge of the system dynamics and the action, state, and terminal cost functions. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of the LMDP framework in real robot control, in which the dynamics of the body and the environment have to be learned from experience. We first perform a simulation study of a pole swing-up task to evaluate the effect of the accuracy of the learned dynamics model on the derived the action policy. The result shows that a crude linear approximation of the non-linear dynamics can still allow solution of the task, despite with a higher total cost. We then perform real robot experiments of a battery-catching task using our Spring Dog mobile robot platform. The state is given by the position and the size of a battery in its camera view and two neck joint angles. The action is the velocities of two wheels, while the neck joints were controlled by a visual servo controller. We test linear and bilinear dynamic models in tasks with quadratic and Guassian state cost functions. In the quadratic cost task, the LMDP controller derived from a learned linear dynamics model performed equivalently with the optimal linear quadratic regulator (LQR). In the non-quadratic task, the LMDP controller with a linear dynamics model showed the best performance. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the LMDP framework in real robot control even when simple linear models are used for dynamics learning.

Baseline performance and learning rate of conceptual and perceptual skill-learning tasks: the effect of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Vakil, Eli; Lev-Ran Galon, Carmit

2014-01-01

Existing literature presents a complex and inconsistent picture of the specific deficiencies involved in skill learning following traumatic brain injury (TBI). In an attempt to address this difficulty, individuals with moderate to severe TBI (n = 29) and a control group (n = 29) were tested with two different skill-learning tasks: conceptual (i.e., Tower of Hanoi Puzzle, TOHP) and perceptual (i.e., mirror reading, MR). Based on previous studies of the effect of divided attention on these tasks and findings regarding the effect of TBI on conceptual and perceptual priming tasks, it was predicted that the group with TBI would show impaired baseline performance compared to controls in the TOHP task though their learning rate would be maintained, while both baseline performance and learning rate on the MR task would be maintained. Consistent with our predictions, overall baseline performance of the group with TBI was impaired in the TOHP test, while the learning rate was not. The learning rate on the MR task was preserved but, contrary to our prediction, response time of the group with TBI was slower than that of controls. The pattern of results observed in the present study was interpreted to possibly reflect an impairment of both the frontal lobes as well as that of diffuse axonal injury, which is well documented as being affected by TBI. The former impairment affects baseline performance of the conceptual learning skill, while the latter affects the overall slower performance of the perceptual learning skill.

Autonomous Inter-Task Transfer in Reinforcement Learning Domains

Science.gov (United States)

2008-08-01

Mountain Car. However, because the source task uses a car with a motor more than twice as powerful as in the 3D task, the tran- sition function learned in...powerful car motor or changing the surface friction of the hill • s: changing the range of the state variables • si: changing where the car starts...Aamodt and Enric Plaza. Case-based reasoning: Foundational issues, methodological variations, and system approaches, 1994. Mazda Ahmadi, Matthew E

Learning stochastic reward distributions in a speeded pointing task.

Science.gov (United States)

Seydell, Anna; McCann, Brian C; Trommershäuser, Julia; Knill, David C

2008-04-23

Recent studies have shown that humans effectively take into account task variance caused by intrinsic motor noise when planning fast hand movements. However, previous evidence suggests that humans have greater difficulty accounting for arbitrary forms of stochasticity in their environment, both in economic decision making and sensorimotor tasks. We hypothesized that humans can learn to optimize movement strategies when environmental randomness can be experienced and thus implicitly learned over several trials, especially if it mimics the kinds of randomness for which subjects might have generative models. We tested the hypothesis using a task in which subjects had to rapidly point at a target region partly covered by three stochastic penalty regions introduced as "defenders." At movement completion, each defender jumped to a new position drawn randomly from fixed probability distributions. Subjects earned points when they hit the target, unblocked by a defender, and lost points otherwise. Results indicate that after approximately 600 trials, subjects approached optimal behavior. We further tested whether subjects simply learned a set of stimulus-contingent motor plans or the statistics of defenders' movements by training subjects with one penalty distribution and then testing them on a new penalty distribution. Subjects immediately changed their strategy to achieve the same average reward as subjects who had trained with the second penalty distribution. These results indicate that subjects learned the parameters of the defenders' jump distributions and used this knowledge to optimally plan their hand movements under conditions involving stochastic rewards and penalties.

Accuracy Feedback Improves Word Learning from Context: Evidence from a Meaning-Generation Task

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Frishkoff, Gwen A.; Collins-Thompson, Kevyn; Hodges, Leslie; Crossley, Scott

2016-01-01

The present study asked whether accuracy feedback on a meaning generation task would lead to improved contextual word learning (CWL). Active generation can facilitate learning by increasing task engagement and memory retrieval, which strengthens new word representations. However, forced generation results in increased errors, which can be…

Integrating the Use of Interdisciplinary Learning Activity Task in Creating Students' Mathematical Knowledge

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Mahanin, Hajah Umisuzimah Haji; Shahrill, Masitah; Tan, Abby; Mahadi, Mar Aswandi

2017-01-01

This study investigated the use of interdisciplinary learning activity task to construct students' knowledge in Mathematics, specifically on the topic of scale drawing application. The learning activity task involved more than one academic discipline, which is Mathematics, English Language, Art, Geography and integrating the Brunei Darussalam…

Measurement of functional task difficulty during motor learning: What level of difficulty corresponds to the optimal challenge point?

Science.gov (United States)

Akizuki, Kazunori; Ohashi, Yukari

2015-10-01

The relationship between task difficulty and learning benefit was examined, as was the measurability of task difficulty. Participants were required to learn a postural control task on an unstable surface at one of four different task difficulty levels. Results from the retention test showed an inverted-U relationship between task difficulty during acquisition and motor learning. The second-highest level of task difficulty was the most effective for motor learning, while learning was delayed at the most and least difficult levels. Additionally, the results indicate that salivary α-amylase and the performance dimension of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) are useful indices of task difficulty. Our findings suggested that instructors may be able to adjust task difficulty based on salivary α-amylase and the performance dimension of the NASA-TLX to enhance learning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Learning Task Knowledge from Dialog and Web Access

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Vittorio Perera

2015-06-01

Full Text Available We present KnoWDiaL, an approach for Learning and using task-relevant Knowledge from human-robot Dialog and access to the Web. KnoWDiaL assumes that there is an autonomous agent that performs tasks, as requested by humans through speech. The agent needs to “understand” the request, (i.e., to fully ground the task until it can proceed to plan for and execute it. KnoWDiaL contributes such understanding by using and updating a Knowledge Base, by dialoguing with the user, and by accessing the web. We believe that KnoWDiaL, as we present it, can be applied to general autonomous agents. However, we focus on our work with our autonomous collaborative robot, CoBot, which executes service tasks in a building, moving around and transporting objects between locations. Hence, the knowledge acquired and accessed consists of groundings of language to robot actions, and building locations, persons, and objects. KnoWDiaL handles the interpretation of voice commands, is robust regarding speech recognition errors, and is able to learn commands involving referring expressions in an open domain, (i.e., without requiring a lexicon. We present in detail the multiple components of KnoWDiaL, namely a frame-semantic parser, a probabilistic grounding model, a web-based predicate evaluator, a dialog manager, and the weighted predicate-based Knowledge Base. We illustrate the knowledge access and updates from the dialog and Web access, through detailed and complete examples. We further evaluate the correctness of the predicate instances learned into the Knowledge Base, and show the increase in dialog efficiency as a function of the number of interactions. We have extensively and successfully used KnoWDiaL in CoBot dialoguing and accessing the Web, and extract a few corresponding example sequences from captured videos.

Understanding Human Hand Gestures for Learning Robot Pick-and-Place Tasks

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Hsien-I Lin

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Programming robots by human demonstration is an intuitive approach, especially by gestures. Because robot pick-and-place tasks are widely used in industrial factories, this paper proposes a framework to learn robot pick-and-place tasks by understanding human hand gestures. The proposed framework is composed of the module of gesture recognition and the module of robot behaviour control. For the module of gesture recognition, transport empty (TE, transport loaded (TL, grasp (G, and release (RL from Gilbreth's therbligs are the hand gestures to be recognized. A convolution neural network (CNN is adopted to recognize these gestures from a camera image. To achieve the robust performance, the skin model by a Gaussian mixture model (GMM is used to filter out non-skin colours of an image, and the calibration of position and orientation is applied to obtain the neutral hand pose before the training and testing of the CNN. For the module of robot behaviour control, the corresponding robot motion primitives to TE, TL, G, and RL, respectively, are implemented in the robot. To manage the primitives in the robot system, a behaviour-based programming platform based on the Extensible Agent Behavior Specification Language (XABSL is adopted. Because the XABSL provides the flexibility and re-usability of the robot primitives, the hand motion sequence from the module of gesture recognition can be easily used in the XABSL programming platform to implement the robot pick-and-place tasks. The experimental evaluation of seven subjects performing seven hand gestures showed that the average recognition rate was 95.96%. Moreover, by the XABSL programming platform, the experiment showed the cube-stacking task was easily programmed by human demonstration.

Concrete and abstract visualizations in history learning tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prangsma, M.E.; van Boxtel, C.A.M.; Kanselaar, G.; Kirschner, P.A.

2009-01-01

Background: History learning requires that students understand historical phenomena, abstract concepts and the relations between them. Students have problems grasping, using and relating complex historical developments and structures. Aims: A study was conducted to determine the effects of tasks

Extendable supervised dictionary learning for exploring diverse and concurrent brain activities in task-based fMRI.

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Zhao, Shijie; Han, Junwei; Hu, Xintao; Jiang, Xi; Lv, Jinglei; Zhang, Tuo; Zhang, Shu; Guo, Lei; Liu, Tianming

2018-06-01

Recently, a growing body of studies have demonstrated the simultaneous existence of diverse brain activities, e.g., task-evoked dominant response activities, delayed response activities and intrinsic brain activities, under specific task conditions. However, current dominant task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (tfMRI) analysis approach, i.e., the general linear model (GLM), might have difficulty in discovering those diverse and concurrent brain responses sufficiently. This subtraction-based model-driven approach focuses on the brain activities evoked directly from the task paradigm, thus likely overlooks other possible concurrent brain activities evoked during the information processing. To deal with this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel hybrid framework, called extendable supervised dictionary learning (E-SDL), to explore diverse and concurrent brain activities under task conditions. A critical difference between E-SDL framework and previous methods is that we systematically extend the basic task paradigm regressor into meaningful regressor groups to account for possible regressor variation during the information processing procedure in the brain. Applications of the proposed framework on five independent and publicly available tfMRI datasets from human connectome project (HCP) simultaneously revealed more meaningful group-wise consistent task-evoked networks and common intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs). These results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed framework in identifying the diversity of concurrent brain activities in tfMRI datasets.

Enhanced motor learning following task-concurrent dual transcranial direct current stimulation.

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Sophia Karok

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS of the primary motor cortex (M1 has beneficial effects on motor performance and motor learning in healthy subjects and is emerging as a promising tool for motor neurorehabilitation. Applying tDCS concurrently with a motor task has recently been found to be more effective than applying stimulation before the motor task. This study extends this finding to examine whether such task-concurrent stimulation further enhances motor learning on a dual M1 montage. METHOD: Twenty healthy, right-handed subjects received anodal tDCS to the right M1, dual tDCS (anodal current over right M1 and cathodal over left M1 and sham tDCS in a repeated-measures design. Stimulation was applied for 10 mins at 1.5 mA during an explicit motor learning task. Response times (RT and accuracy were measured at baseline, during, directly after and 15 mins after stimulation. Motor cortical excitability was recorded from both hemispheres before and after stimulation using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. RESULTS: Task-concurrent stimulation with a dual M1 montage significantly reduced RTs by 23% as early as with the onset of stimulation (p<0.01 with this effect increasing to 30% at the final measurement. Polarity-specific changes in cortical excitability were observed with MEPs significantly reduced by 12% in the left M1 and increased by 69% in the right M1. CONCLUSION: Performance improvement occurred earliest in the dual M1 condition with a stable and lasting effect. Unilateral anodal stimulation resulted only in trendwise improvement when compared to sham. Therefore, task-concurrent dual M1 stimulation is most suited for obtaining the desired neuromodulatory effects of tDCS in explicit motor learning.

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

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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.

Using dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic from nonautomatic processes involved in artificial grammar learning.

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Hendricks, Michelle A; Conway, Christopher M; Kellogg, Ronald T

2013-09-01

Previous studies have suggested that both automatic and intentional processes contribute to the learning of grammar and fragment knowledge in artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks. To explore the relative contribution of automatic and intentional processes to knowledge gained in AGL, we utilized dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic and intentional grammar- and fragment-based knowledge in AGL at both acquisition and at test. Both experiments used a balanced chunk strength grammar to assure an equal proportion of fragment cues (i.e., chunks) in grammatical and nongrammatical test items. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in a working memory dual-task either during acquisition, test, or both acquisition and test. The results showed that participants performing the dual-task during acquisition learned the artificial grammar as well as the single-task group, presumably by relying on automatic learning mechanisms. A working memory dual-task at test resulted in attenuated grammar performance, suggesting a role for intentional processes for the expression of grammatical learning at test. Experiment 2 explored the importance of perceptual cues by changing letters between the acquisition and test phase; unlike Experiment 1, there was no significant learning of grammatical information for participants under dual-task conditions in Experiment 2, suggesting that intentional processing is necessary for successful acquisition and expression of grammar-based knowledge under transfer conditions. In sum, it appears that some aspects of learning in AGL are indeed relatively automatic, although the expression of grammatical information and the learning of grammatical patterns when perceptual similarity is eliminated both appear to require explicit resources. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Semi-supervised Learning for Phenotyping Tasks.

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Dligach, Dmitriy; Miller, Timothy; Savova, Guergana K

2015-01-01

Supervised learning is the dominant approach to automatic electronic health records-based phenotyping, but it is expensive due to the cost of manual chart review. Semi-supervised learning takes advantage of both scarce labeled and plentiful unlabeled data. In this work, we study a family of semi-supervised learning algorithms based on Expectation Maximization (EM) in the context of several phenotyping tasks. We first experiment with the basic EM algorithm. When the modeling assumptions are violated, basic EM leads to inaccurate parameter estimation. Augmented EM attenuates this shortcoming by introducing a weighting factor that downweights the unlabeled data. Cross-validation does not always lead to the best setting of the weighting factor and other heuristic methods may be preferred. We show that accurate phenotyping models can be trained with only a few hundred labeled (and a large number of unlabeled) examples, potentially providing substantial savings in the amount of the required manual chart review.

Technology-enhanced learning on campus: insights from EUNIS e-Learning Task Force

OpenAIRE

Ferrell, Gill; Alves, Paulo; Bubas, Goran; Engert, Steffi; Epelboin, Yves; Madey, Jan; Palma, José; Piteira, Martinha; Restivo, T.M.; Ribeiro, Ligia; Sidelmann Rossen, Dorte; Soares, Filomena; Uhomoibhi, James

2011-01-01

In 2010 the EUNIS e-Learning Task Force (ELTF) members collaborated on a review of tools and technologies in use across our member institutions. One of the key features of that paper was the use of technology to give off-campus learners, such as distance learners, those undertaking field studies and learners in the workplace a richly supported learning experience. Building on the success of that collaboration, the ELTF members have turned their attention this year to the use of technology on ...

Presentation-Practice-Production and Task-Based Learning in the Light of Second Language Learning Theories.

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Ritchie, Graeme

2003-01-01

Features of presentation-practice-production (PPP) and task-based learning (TBL) models for language teaching are discussed with reference to language learning theories. Pre-selection of target structures, use of controlled repetition, and explicit grammar instruction in a PPP lesson are given. Suggests TBL approaches afford greater learning…

Investigating Language Learning Activity Using a CALL Task in the Self-access Centre

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Carlos Montoro

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This article describes a small study of the language learning activity of individual learners using a CALL task in a self-access environment. The research focuses on the nature of the language learning activity, the most salient elements that make up its structure and major disturbances observed between and within some of those elements. It is set in the context of computer-assisted language learning (CALL and activity theory. A CALL task designed by the authors was made available online to be used as a research and learning tool. Empirical data was collected from two participants using ethnographic tools, such as participant observation and stimulated recall sessions. The analysis focuses on disturbances mainly involving the subject (i.e., the learner, mediating artefacts (e.g., the CALL task, the community (e.g., management and other self-access centre users and the object of the activity (i.e., learning English. It is recommended that future studies should look deeper into contradictions in the learning activity from a cultural-historical perspective.

Expectancy-value theory in persistence of learning effects in schizophrenia: role of task value and perceived competency.

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Choi, Jimmy; Fiszdon, Joanna M; Medalia, Alice

2010-09-01

Expectancy-value theory, a widely accepted model of motivation, posits that expectations of success on a learning task and the individual value placed on the task are central determinants of motivation to learn. This is supported by research in healthy controls suggesting that beliefs of self-and-content mastery can be so influential they can predict the degree of improvement on challenging cognitive tasks even more so than general cognitive ability. We examined components of expectancy-value theory (perceived competency and task value), along with baseline arithmetic performance and neuropsychological performance, as possible predictors of learning outcome in a sample of 70 outpatients with schizophrenia randomized to 1 of 2 different arithmetic learning conditions and followed up after 3 months. Results indicated that as with nonpsychiatric samples, perceived self-competency for the learning task was significantly related to perceptions of task value attributed to the learning task. Baseline expectations of success predicted persistence of learning on the task at 3-month follow-up, even after accounting for variance attributable to different arithmetic instruction, baseline arithmetic ability, attention, and self-reports of task interest and task value. We also found that expectation of success is a malleable construct, with posttraining improvements persisting at follow-up. These findings support the notion that expectancy-value theory is operative in schizophrenia. Thus, similar to the nonpsychiatric population, treatment benefits may be enhanced and better maintained if remediation programs also focus on perceptions of self-competency for the training tasks. Treatment issues related to instilling self-efficacy in cognitive recovery programs are discussed.

Task plan for TARA-II compaction and grouting demonstration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spalding, B.P.

1991-11-01

This task directly supports the corrective measures evaluation for the closure of Solid Waste Storage Area (SWSA) 6 but also supports technology development for the closure of other Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) SWSAs and waste management units. Previous demonstrations have established the effectiveness of dynamic compaction and in situ grouting in stabilizing burial trenches against subsidence, which would otherwise compromise the support of infiltration barrier structures designed to protect buried waste from leaching. In situ grouting with polyacrylamide has also been demonstrated to improve the hydrologic isolation of buried waste. Both of these stabilization techniques have been demonstrated on burial trenches that are situated well above the water table and, hence, are in a chronic unsaturated moisture regime. Further demonstrations of these shallow-land burial trench stabilization techniques are necessary to establish their effectiveness and safety when applied to burial trenches that are chronically inundated with groundwater

Elementary school students’ strategic learning and quality of strategy use: Does task type matter?

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Malmberg, Jonna; Järvelä, Sanna; Kirschner, Paul A.

2018-01-01

This study investigated what types of learning patterns and strategies elementary school students use to carry out ill- and- well-structured tasks. Specifically, it was investigated which and when learning patterns actually emerge with respect to students’ task solutions. The present study uses

How attention can create synaptic tags for the learning of working memories in sequential tasks.

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Jaldert O Rombouts

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Intelligence is our ability to learn appropriate responses to new stimuli and situations. Neurons in association cortex are thought to be essential for this ability. During learning these neurons become tuned to relevant features and start to represent them with persistent activity during memory delays. This learning process is not well understood. Here we develop a biologically plausible learning scheme that explains how trial-and-error learning induces neuronal selectivity and working memory representations for task-relevant information. We propose that the response selection stage sends attentional feedback signals to earlier processing levels, forming synaptic tags at those connections responsible for the stimulus-response mapping. Globally released neuromodulators then interact with tagged synapses to determine their plasticity. The resulting learning rule endows neural networks with the capacity to create new working memory representations of task relevant information as persistent activity. It is remarkably generic: it explains how association neurons learn to store task-relevant information for linear as well as non-linear stimulus-response mappings, how they become tuned to category boundaries or analog variables, depending on the task demands, and how they learn to integrate probabilistic evidence for perceptual decisions.

Sonification and haptic feedback in addition to visual feedback enhances complex motor task learning.

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Sigrist, Roland; Rauter, Georg; Marchal-Crespo, Laura; Riener, Robert; Wolf, Peter

2015-03-01

Concurrent augmented feedback has been shown to be less effective for learning simple motor tasks than for complex tasks. However, as mostly artificial tasks have been investigated, transfer of results to tasks in sports and rehabilitation remains unknown. Therefore, in this study, the effect of different concurrent feedback was evaluated in trunk-arm rowing. It was then investigated whether multimodal audiovisual and visuohaptic feedback are more effective for learning than visual feedback only. Naïve subjects (N = 24) trained in three groups on a highly realistic virtual reality-based rowing simulator. In the visual feedback group, the subject's oar was superimposed to the target oar, which continuously became more transparent when the deviation between the oars decreased. Moreover, a trace of the subject's trajectory emerged if deviations exceeded a threshold. The audiovisual feedback group trained with oar movement sonification in addition to visual feedback to facilitate learning of the velocity profile. In the visuohaptic group, the oar movement was inhibited by path deviation-dependent braking forces to enhance learning of spatial aspects. All groups significantly decreased the spatial error (tendency in visual group) and velocity error from baseline to the retention tests. Audiovisual feedback fostered learning of the velocity profile significantly more than visuohaptic feedback. The study revealed that well-designed concurrent feedback fosters complex task learning, especially if the advantages of different modalities are exploited. Further studies should analyze the impact of within-feedback design parameters and the transferability of the results to other tasks in sports and rehabilitation.

Heuristic Task Analysis on E-Learning Course Development: A Formative Research Study

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Lee, Ji-Yeon; Reigeluth, Charles M.

2009-01-01

Utilizing heuristic task analysis (HTA), a method developed for eliciting, analyzing, and representing expertise in complex cognitive tasks, a formative research study was conducted on the task of e-learning course development to further improve the HTA process. Three instructional designers from three different post-secondary institutions in the…

Task-Driven Dictionary Learning Based on Mutual Information for Medical Image Classification.

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Diamant, Idit; Klang, Eyal; Amitai, Michal; Konen, Eli; Goldberger, Jacob; Greenspan, Hayit

2017-06-01

We present a novel variant of the bag-of-visual-words (BoVW) method for automated medical image classification. Our approach improves the BoVW model by learning a task-driven dictionary of the most relevant visual words per task using a mutual information-based criterion. Additionally, we generate relevance maps to visualize and localize the decision of the automatic classification algorithm. These maps demonstrate how the algorithm works and show the spatial layout of the most relevant words. We applied our algorithm to three different tasks: chest x-ray pathology identification (of four pathologies: cardiomegaly, enlarged mediastinum, right consolidation, and left consolidation), liver lesion classification into four categories in computed tomography (CT) images and benign/malignant clusters of microcalcifications (MCs) classification in breast mammograms. Validation was conducted on three datasets: 443 chest x-rays, 118 portal phase CT images of liver lesions, and 260 mammography MCs. The proposed method improves the classical BoVW method for all tested applications. For chest x-ray, area under curve of 0.876 was obtained for enlarged mediastinum identification compared to 0.855 using classical BoVW (with p-value 0.01). For MC classification, a significant improvement of 4% was achieved using our new approach (with p-value = 0.03). For liver lesion classification, an improvement of 6% in sensitivity and 2% in specificity were obtained (with p-value 0.001). We demonstrated that classification based on informative selected set of words results in significant improvement. Our new BoVW approach shows promising results in clinically important domains. Additionally, it can discover relevant parts of images for the task at hand without explicit annotations for training data. This can provide computer-aided support for medical experts in challenging image analysis tasks.

Optimizing learning of a locomotor task: amplifying errors as needed.

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Marchal-Crespo, Laura; López-Olóriz, Jorge; Jaeger, Lukas; Riener, Robert

2014-01-01

Research on motor learning has emphasized that errors drive motor adaptation. Thereby, several researchers have proposed robotic training strategies that amplify movement errors rather than decrease them. In this study, the effect of different robotic training strategies that amplify errors on learning a complex locomotor task was investigated. The experiment was conducted with a one degree-of freedom robotic stepper (MARCOS). Subjects were requested to actively coordinate their legs in a desired gait-like pattern in order to track a Lissajous figure presented on a visual display. Learning with three different training strategies was evaluated: (i) No perturbation: the robot follows the subjects' movement without applying any perturbation, (ii) Error amplification: existing errors were amplified with repulsive forces proportional to errors, (iii) Noise disturbance: errors were evoked with a randomly-varying force disturbance. Results showed that training without perturbations was especially suitable for a subset of initially less-skilled subjects, while error amplification seemed to benefit more skilled subjects. Training with error amplification, however, limited transfer of learning. Random disturbing forces benefited learning and promoted transfer in all subjects, probably because it increased attention. These results suggest that learning a locomotor task can be optimized when errors are randomly evoked or amplified based on subjects' initial skill level.

Better and Faster: Knowledge Transfer from Multiple Self-supervised Learning Tasks via Graph Distillation for Video Classification

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Chenrui; Peng, Yuxin

2018-01-01

Video representation learning is a vital problem for classification task. Recently, a promising unsupervised paradigm termed self-supervised learning has emerged, which explores inherent supervisory signals implied in massive data for feature learning via solving auxiliary tasks. However, existing methods in this regard suffer from two limitations when extended to video classification. First, they focus only on a single task, whereas ignoring complementarity among different task-specific feat...

Changes in prefrontal neuronal activity after learning to perform a spatial working memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Xue-Lian; Meyer, Travis; Stanford, Terrence R; Constantinidis, Christos

2011-12-01

The prefrontal cortex is considered essential for learning to perform cognitive tasks though little is known about how the representation of stimulus properties is altered by learning. To address this issue, we recorded neuronal activity in monkeys before and after training on a task that required visual working memory. After the subjects learned to perform the task, we observed activation of more prefrontal neurons and increased activity during working memory maintenance. The working memory-related increase in firing rate was due mostly to regular-spiking putative pyramidal neurons. Unexpectedly, the selectivity of neurons for stimulus properties and the ability of neurons to discriminate between stimuli decreased as the information about stimulus properties was apparently present in neural firing prior to training and neuronal selectivity degraded after training in the task. The effect was robust and could not be accounted for by differences in sampling sites, selection of neurons, level of performance, or merely the elapse of time. The results indicate that, in contrast to the effects of perceptual learning, mastery of a cognitive task degrades the apparent stimulus selectivity as neurons represent more abstract information related to the task. This effect is countered by the recruitment of more neurons after training.

Learning and Correcting Robot Trajectory Keypoints from a Single Demonstration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juan, Iñigo Iturrate San; Østergaard, Esben Hallundbæk; Rytter, Martin

2017-01-01

of a trajectory from a single demonstration. Additionally, by utilizing velocity information in the task space, the method is able to achieve a level of precision that is sufficient for industrial assembly tasks. Along with this, we present a user study that shows that our method enables non-expert robot users......Kinesthetic teaching provides an accessible way for non-experts to quickly and easily program a robot system by demonstration. A crucial aspect of this technique is to obtain an accurate approximation of the robot’s intended trajectory for the task, while filtering out spurious aspects...... of the demonstration. While several methods to this end have been proposed, they either rely on several demonstrations or on the user explicitly indicating relevant trajectory waypoints. We propose a method, based on the Douglas-Peucker line simplification algorithm that is able to extract the notable points...

Paired-Associate and Feedback-Based Weather Prediction Tasks Support Multiple Category Learning Systems.

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Li, Kaiyun; Fu, Qiufang; Sun, Xunwei; Zhou, Xiaoyan; Fu, Xiaolan

2016-01-01

It remains unclear whether probabilistic category learning in the feedback-based weather prediction task (FB-WPT) can be mediated by a non-declarative or procedural learning system. To address this issue, we compared the effects of training time and verbal working memory, which influence the declarative learning system but not the non-declarative learning system, in the FB and paired-associate (PA) WPTs, as the PA task recruits a declarative learning system. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the optimal accuracy in the PA condition was significantly decreased when the training time was reduced from 7 to 3 s, but this did not occur in the FB condition, although shortened training time impaired the acquisition of explicit knowledge in both conditions. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the concurrent working memory task impaired the optimal accuracy and the acquisition of explicit knowledge in the PA condition but did not influence the optimal accuracy or the acquisition of self-insight knowledge in the FB condition. The apparent dissociation results between the FB and PA conditions suggested that a non-declarative or procedural learning system is involved in the FB-WPT and provided new evidence for the multiple-systems theory of human category learning.

Didactical design based on sharing and jumping tasks for senior high school chemistry learning

Science.gov (United States)

Fatimah, I.; Hendayana, S.; Supriatna, A.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this research is to develop the didactical design of senior high school chemistry learning based on sharing and jumping tasks in shift equilibrium chemistry. Sharing tasks used to facilitate students slow learners with help by other students of fast learners so they engage in learning. While jumping tasks used to challenge fast learners students so they didn’t feel bored in learning. In developing the didactic design, teacher activity is not only to focus on students and learning materials but also on the relationship between students and learning materials. The results of the analysis teaching plan of shift equilibrium chemistry in attached Senior High School to Indonesia University of Education showed that the learning activities more focus on how the teacher teaches instead of how the process of students’ learning. The use of research method is didactical design research (DDR). Didactical design consisted of three steps i.e. (a) analysing didactical condition before learning, (b) analyzing metapedadidactical, and (c) analyzing retrospective. Data were collected by test, observations, interviews, documentation and recordings (audio and video).The result showed that the didactical design on shift equilibrium chemistry was valid.

Valence of Facial Cues Influences Sheep Learning in a Visual Discrimination Task

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Lucille G. A. Bellegarde

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Sheep are one of the most studied farm species in terms of their ability to process information from faces, but little is known about their face-based emotion recognition abilities. We investigated (a whether sheep could use images of sheep faces taken in situation of varying valence as cues in a simultaneous discrimination task and (b whether the valence of the situation affects their learning performance. To accomplish this, we photographed faces of sheep in three situations inducing emotional states of neutral (ruminating in the home pen or negative valence (social isolation or aggressive interaction. Sheep (n = 35 first had to learn a discrimination task with colored cards. Animals that reached the learning criterion (n = 16 were then presented with pairs of images of the face of a single individual taken in the neutral situation and in one of the negative situations. Finally, sheep had to generalize what they had learned to new pairs of images of faces taken in the same situation, but of a different conspecific. All sheep that learned the discrimination task with colored cards reached the learning criterion with images of faces. Sheep that had to associate a negative image with a food reward learned faster than sheep that had to associate a neutral image with a reward. With the exception of sheep from the aggression-rewarded group, sheep generalized this discrimination to images of faces of different individuals. Our results suggest that sheep can perceive the emotional valence displayed on faces of conspecifics and that this valence affects learning processes.

The Impact of Students' Temporal Perspectives on Time-on-Task and Learning Performance in Game Based Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Romero, Margarida; Usart, Mireia

2013-01-01

The use of games for educational purposes has been considered as a learning methodology that attracts the students' attention and may allow focusing individuals on the learning activity through the [serious games] SG game dynamic. Based on the hypothesis that students' Temporal Perspective has an impact on learning performance and time-on-task,…

E-learning task analysis making temporal evolution graphics on symptoms of waves and the ability to solve problems

Science.gov (United States)

Rosdiana, L.; Widodo, W.; Nurita, T.; Fauziah, A. N. M.

2018-04-01

This study aimed to describe the ability of pre-service teachers to create graphs, solve the problem of spatial and temporal evolution on the symptoms of vibrations and waves. The learning was conducted using e-learning method. The research design is a quasi-experimental design with one-shot case study. The e-learning contained learning materials and tasks involving answering tasks, making questions, solving their own questions, and making graphs. The participants of the study was 28 students of Science Department, Universitas Negeri Surabaya. The results obtained by using the e-learning were that the students’ ability increase gradually from task 1 to task 3 (the tasks consisted of three tasks). Additionally, based on the questionnaire with 28 respondents, it showed that 24 respondents stated that making graphs via e-learning were still difficult. Four respondents said that it was easy to make graphs via e-learning. Nine respondents stated that the e-learning did not help them in making graphs and 19 respondents stated that the e-learning help in creating graphs. The conclusion of the study is that the students was able to make graphs on paper sheet, but they got difficulty to make the graphs in e-learning (the virtual form).

Incidental Learning of Rewarded Associations Bolsters Learning on an Associative Task

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Freedberg, Michael; Schacherer, Jonathan; Hazeltine, Eliot

2016-01-01

Reward has been shown to change behavior as a result of incentive learning (by motivating the individual to increase their effort) and instrumental learning (by increasing the frequency of a particular behavior). However, Palminteri et al. (2011) demonstrated that reward can also improve the incidental learning of a motor skill even when…

The Impact of Learning Task Design on Students' Situational Interest in Physical Education

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Roure, Cédric; Pasco, Denis

2018-01-01

Purpose: Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that teachers can enhance students' situational interest (SI) by manipulating the components of learning tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of learning task design on students' SI in physical education (PE). Method: The participants were 167 secondary school…

Optimizing the number of steps in learning tasks for complex skills.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nadolski, Rob; Kirschner, Paul A.; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen

2007-01-01

Background. Carrying out whole tasks is often too difficult for novice learners attempting to acquire complex skills. The common solution is to split up the tasks into a number of smaller steps. The number of steps must be optimised for efficient and effective learning. Aim. The aim of the study is

Performance of children with developmental dyslexia on high and low topological entropy artificial grammar learning task.

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Katan, Pesia; Kahta, Shani; Sasson, Ayelet; Schiff, Rachel

2017-07-01

Graph complexity as measured by topological entropy has been previously shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning tasks among typically developing children. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of graph complexity on implicit sequential learning among children with developmental dyslexia. Our goal was to determine whether children's performance depends on the complexity level of the grammar system learned. We conducted two artificial grammar learning experiments that compared performance of children with developmental dyslexia with that of age- and reading level-matched controls. Experiment 1 was a high topological entropy artificial grammar learning task that aimed to establish implicit learning phenomena in children with developmental dyslexia using previously published experimental conditions. Experiment 2 is a lower topological entropy variant of that task. Results indicated that given a high topological entropy grammar system, children with developmental dyslexia who were similar to the reading age-matched control group had substantial difficulty in performing the task as compared to typically developing children, who exhibited intact implicit learning of the grammar. On the other hand, when tested on a lower topological entropy grammar system, all groups performed above chance level, indicating that children with developmental dyslexia were able to identify rules from a given grammar system. The results reinforced the significance of graph complexity when experimenting with artificial grammar learning tasks, particularly with dyslexic participants.

Procedural learning in Tourette syndrome, ADHD, and comorbid Tourette-ADHD: Evidence from a probabilistic sequence learning task.

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Takács, Ádám; Shilon, Yuval; Janacsek, Karolina; Kóbor, Andrea; Tremblay, Antoine; Németh, Dezső; Ullman, Michael T

2017-10-01

Procedural memory, which is rooted in the basal ganglia, plays an important role in the implicit learning of motor and cognitive skills. Few studies have examined procedural learning in either Tourette syndrome (TS) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), despite basal ganglia abnormalities in both of these neurodevelopmental disorders. We aimed to assess procedural learning in children with TS (n=13), ADHD (n=22), and comorbid TS-ADHD (n=20), as well as in typically developing children (n=21). Procedural learning was measured with a well-studied implicit probabilistic sequence learning task, the alternating serial reaction time task. All four groups showed evidence of sequence learning, and moreover did not differ from each other in sequence learning. This result, from the first study to examine procedural memory across TS, ADHD and comorbid TS-ADHD, is consistent with previous findings of intact procedural learning of sequences in both TS and ADHD. In contrast, some studies have found impaired procedural learning of non-sequential probabilistic categories in TS. This suggests that sequence learning may be spared in TS and ADHD, while at least some other forms of learning in procedural memory are impaired, at least in TS. Our findings indicate that disorders associated with basal ganglia abnormalities do not necessarily show procedural learning deficits, and provide a possible path for more effective diagnostic tools, and educational and training programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Training self-assessment and task-selection skills to foster self-regulated learning: Do trained skills transfer across domains?

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Raaijmakers, Steven F; Baars, Martine; Paas, Fred; van Merriënboer, Jeroen J G; van Gog, Tamara

2018-01-01

Students' ability to accurately self-assess their performance and select a suitable subsequent learning task in response is imperative for effective self-regulated learning. Video modeling examples have proven effective for training self-assessment and task-selection skills, and-importantly-such training fostered self-regulated learning outcomes. It is unclear, however, whether trained skills would transfer across domains. We investigated whether skills acquired from training with either a specific, algorithmic task-selection rule or a more general heuristic task-selection rule in biology would transfer to self-regulated learning in math. A manipulation check performed after the training confirmed that both algorithmic and heuristic training improved task-selection skills on the biology problems compared with the control condition. However, we found no evidence that students subsequently applied the acquired skills during self-regulated learning in math. Future research should investigate how to support transfer of task-selection skills across domains.

Learning an operant conditioning task differentially induces gliogenesis in the medial prefrontal cortex and neurogenesis in the hippocampus.

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Maximiliano Rapanelli

Full Text Available Circuit modification associated with learning and memory involves multiple events, including the addition and remotion of newborn cells trough adulthood. Adult neurogenesis and gliogenesis were mainly described in models of voluntary exercise, enriched environments, spatial learning and memory task; nevertheless, it is unknown whether it is a common mechanism among different learning paradigms, like reward dependent tasks. Therefore, we evaluated cell proliferation, neurogenesis, astrogliogenesis, survival and neuronal maturation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC and the hippocampus (HIPP during learning an operant conditioning task. This was performed by using endogenous markers of cell proliferation, and a bromodeoxiuridine (BrdU injection schedule in two different phases of learning. Learning an operant conditioning is divided in two phases: a first phase when animals were considered incompletely trained (IT, animals that were learning the task when they performed between 50% and 65% of the responses, and a second phase when animals were considered trained (Tr, animals that completely learned the task when they reached 100% of the responses with a latency time lower than 5 seconds. We found that learning an operant conditioning task promoted cell proliferation in both phases of learning in the mPFC and HIPP. Additionally, the results presented showed that astrogliogenesis was induced in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC in both phases, however, the first phase promoted survival of these new born astrocytes. On the other hand, an increased number of new born immature neurons was observed in the HIPP only in the first phase of learning, whereas, decreased values were observed in the second phase. Finally, we found that neuronal maturation was induced only during the first phase. This study shows for the first time that learning a reward-dependent task, like the operant conditioning, promotes neurogenesis, astrogliogenesis, survival and

Individual personality differences in goats predict their performance in visual learning and non-associative cognitive tasks.

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Nawroth, Christian; Prentice, Pamela M; McElligott, Alan G

2017-01-01

Variation in common personality traits, such as boldness or exploration, is often associated with risk-reward trade-offs and behavioural flexibility. To date, only a few studies have examined the effects of consistent behavioural traits on both learning and cognition. We investigated whether certain personality traits ('exploration' and 'sociability') of individuals were related to cognitive performance, learning flexibility and learning style in a social ungulate species, the goat (Capra hircus). We also investigated whether a preference for feature cues rather than impaired learning abilities can explain performance variation in a visual discrimination task. We found that personality scores were consistent across time and context. Less explorative goats performed better in a non-associative cognitive task, in which subjects had to follow the trajectory of a hidden object (i.e. testing their ability for object permanence). We also found that less sociable subjects performed better compared to more sociable goats in a visual discrimination task. Good visual learning performance was associated with a preference for feature cues, indicating personality-dependent learning strategies in goats. Our results suggest that personality traits predict the outcome in visual discrimination and non-associative cognitive tasks in goats and that impaired performance in a visual discrimination tasks does not necessarily imply impaired learning capacities, but rather can be explained by a varying preference for feature cues. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Role of CLEAR Thinking in Learning Science from Multiple-Document Inquiry Tasks

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Thomas D. GRIFFIN

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The main goal for the current study was to investigate whether individual differences in domaingeneral thinking dispositions might affect learning from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science.Middle school students were given a set of documents and were tasked with understanding how and why recent patterns in global temperature might be different from what has been observed in the past from those documents. Understanding was assessed with two measures: an essay task and an inference verification task. Domain-general thinking dispositions were assessed with a Commitment to Logic, Evidence, and Reasoning (CLEAR thinking scale. The measures of understanding wereuniquely predicted by both reading skills and CLEAR thinking scores, and these effects were not attributable to prior knowledge or interest. The results suggest independent roles for thinkingdispositions and reading ability when students read to learn from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science.

Task Experience as a Boundary Condition for the Negative Effects of Irrelevant Information on Learning

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Rop, Gertjan; van Wermeskerken, Margot; de Nooijer, Jacqueline A.; Verkoeijen, Peter P. J. L.; van Gog, Tamara

2018-01-01

Research on multimedia learning has shown that learning is hampered when a multimedia message includes extraneous information that is not relevant for the task, because processing the extraneous information uses up scarce attention and working memory resources. However, eye-tracking research suggests that task experience might be a boundary…

Sucrose Responsiveness, Learning Success, and Task Specialization in Ants

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Perez, Margot; Rolland, Uther; Giurfa,, Martin; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

2013-01-01

Social insects possess remarkable learning capabilities, which are crucial for their ecological success. They also exhibit interindividual differences in responsiveness to environmental stimuli, which underlie task specialization and division of labor. Here we investigated for the first time the relationships between sucrose responsiveness,…

Implementation of a Surface Electromyography-Based Upper Extremity Exoskeleton Controller Using Learning from Demonstration

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Arenas, Ana M.; Sun, Tingxiao

2018-01-01

Upper-extremity exoskeletons have demonstrated potential as augmentative, assistive, and rehabilitative devices. Typical control of upper-extremity exoskeletons have relied on switches, force/torque sensors, and surface electromyography (sEMG), but these systems are usually reactionary, and/or rely on entirely hand-tuned parameters. sEMG-based systems may be able to provide anticipatory control, since they interface directly with muscle signals, but typically require expert placement of sensors on muscle bodies. We present an implementation of an adaptive sEMG-based exoskeleton controller that learns a mapping between muscle activation and the desired system state during interaction with a user, generating a personalized sEMG feature classifier to allow for anticipatory control. This system is robust to novice placement of sEMG sensors, as well as subdermal muscle shifts. We validate this method with 18 subjects using a thumb exoskeleton to complete a book-placement task. This learning-from-demonstration system for exoskeleton control allows for very short training times, as well as the potential for improvement in intent recognition over time, and adaptation to physiological changes in the user, such as those due to fatigue. PMID:29401754

Implementation of a Surface Electromyography-Based Upper Extremity Exoskeleton Controller Using Learning from Demonstration

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Ho Chit Siu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Upper-extremity exoskeletons have demonstrated potential as augmentative, assistive, and rehabilitative devices. Typical control of upper-extremity exoskeletons have relied on switches, force/torque sensors, and surface electromyography (sEMG, but these systems are usually reactionary, and/or rely on entirely hand-tuned parameters. sEMG-based systems may be able to provide anticipatory control, since they interface directly with muscle signals, but typically require expert placement of sensors on muscle bodies. We present an implementation of an adaptive sEMG-based exoskeleton controller that learns a mapping between muscle activation and the desired system state during interaction with a user, generating a personalized sEMG feature classifier to allow for anticipatory control. This system is robust to novice placement of sEMG sensors, as well as subdermal muscle shifts. We validate this method with 18 subjects using a thumb exoskeleton to complete a book-placement task. This learning-from-demonstration system for exoskeleton control allows for very short training times, as well as the potential for improvement in intent recognition over time, and adaptation to physiological changes in the user, such as those due to fatigue.

Task Complexity Modulates Sleep-Related Offline Learning in Sequential Motor Skills

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Klaus Blischke

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Recently, a number of authors have advocated the introduction of gross motor tasks into research on sleep-related motor offline learning. Such tasks are often designed to be more complex than traditional key-pressing tasks. However, until now, little effort has been undertaken to scrutinize the role of task complexity in any systematic way. Therefore, the effect of task complexity on the consolidation of gross motor sequence memory was examined by our group in a series of three experiments. Criterion tasks always required participants to produce unrestrained arm movement sequences by successively fitting a small peg into target holes on a pegboard. The sequences always followed a certain spatial pattern in the horizontal plane. The targets were visualized prior to each transport movement on a computer screen. The tasks differed with respect to sequence length and structural complexity. In each experiment, half of the participants initially learned the task in the morning and were retested 12 h later following a wake retention interval. The other half of the subjects underwent practice in the evening and was retested 12 h later following a night of sleep. The dependent variables were the error rate and total sequence execution time (inverse to the sequence execution speed. Performance generally improved during acquisition. The error rate was always low and remained stable during retention. The sequence execution time significantly decreased again following sleep but not after waking when the sequence length was long and structural complexity was high. However, sleep-related offline improvements were absent when the sequence length was short or when subjects performed a highly regular movement pattern. It is assumed that the occurrence of sleep-related offline performance improvements in sequential motor tasks is associated with a sufficient amount of motor task complexity.

Video-task assessment of learning and memory in Macaques (Macaca mulatta) - Effects of stimulus movement on performance

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Washburn, David A.; Hopkins, William D.; Rumbaugh, Duane M.

1989-01-01

Effects of stimulus movement on learning, transfer, matching, and short-term memory performance were assessed with 2 monkeys using a video-task paradigm in which the animals responded to computer-generated images by manipulating a joystick. Performance on tests of learning set, transfer index, matching to sample, and delayed matching to sample in the video-task paradigm was comparable to that obtained in previous investigations using the Wisconsin General Testing Apparatus. Additionally, learning, transfer, and matching were reliably and significantly better when the stimuli or discriminanda moved than when the stimuli were stationary. External manipulations such as stimulus movement may increase attention to the demands of a task, which in turn should increase the efficiency of learning. These findings have implications for the investigation of learning in other populations, as well as for the application of the video-task paradigm to comparative study.

Canonical Correlational Models of Students’ Perceptions of Assessment Tasks, Motivational Orientations, and Learning Strategies

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Hussain Alkharusi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The present study aims at deriving correlational models of students' perceptions of assessment tasks, motivational orientations, and learning strategies using canonical analyses. Data were collected from 198 Omani tenth grade students. Results showed that high degrees of authenticity and transparency in assessment were associated with positive students' self-efficacy and task value. Also, high degrees of authenticity, transparency, and diversity in assessment were associated with a strong reliance on deep learning strategies; whereas a high degree of congruence with planned learning and a low degree of authenticity were associated with more reliance on surface learning strategies. Implications for classroom assessment practice and research were discussed.

Stroop-like effects in a new-code learning task: A cognitive load theory perspective.

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Hazan-Liran, Batel; Miller, Paul

2017-09-01

To determine whether and how learning is biased by competing task-irrelevant information that creates extraneous cognitive load, we assessed the efficiency of university students with a learning paradigm in two experiments. The paradigm asked participants to learn associations between eight words and eight digits. We manipulated congruity of the digits' ink colour with the words' semantics. In Experiment 1 word stimuli were colour words (e.g., blue, yellow) and in Experiment 2 colour-related word concepts (e.g., sky, banana). Marked benefits and costs on learning due to variation in extraneous cognitive load originating from processing task-irrelevant information were evident. Implications for cognitive load theory and schooling are discussed.

EEG correlates of task engagement and mental workload in vigilance, learning, and memory tasks.

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Berka, Chris; Levendowski, Daniel J; Lumicao, Michelle N; Yau, Alan; Davis, Gene; Zivkovic, Vladimir T; Olmstead, Richard E; Tremoulet, Patrice D; Craven, Patrick L

2007-05-01

The ability to continuously and unobtrusively monitor levels of task engagement and mental workload in an operational environment could be useful in identifying more accurate and efficient methods for humans to interact with technology. This information could also be used to optimize the design of safer, more efficient work environments that increase motivation and productivity. The present study explored the feasibility of monitoring electroencephalo-graphic (EEG) indices of engagement and workload acquired unobtrusively and quantified during performance of cognitive tests. EEG was acquired from 80 healthy participants with a wireless sensor headset (F3-F4,C3-C4,Cz-POz,F3-Cz,Fz-C3,Fz-POz) during tasks including: multi-level forward/backward-digit-span, grid-recall, trails, mental-addition, 20-min 3-Choice Vigilance, and image-learning and memory tests. EEG metrics for engagement and workload were calculated for each 1 -s of EEG. Across participants, engagement but not workload decreased over the 20-min vigilance test. Engagement and workload were significantly increased during the encoding period of verbal and image-learning and memory tests when compared with the recognition/ recall period. Workload but not engagement increased linearly as level of difficulty increased in forward and backward-digit-span, grid-recall, and mental-addition tests. EEG measures correlated with both subjective and objective performance metrics. These data in combination with previous studies suggest that EEG engagement reflects information-gathering, visual processing, and allocation of attention. EEG workload increases with increasing working memory load and during problem solving, integration of information, analytical reasoning, and may be more reflective of executive functions. Inspection of EEG on a second-by-second timescale revealed associations between workload and engagement levels when aligned with specific task events providing preliminary evidence that second

Effects of practice schedule and task specificity on the adaptive process of motor learning.

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Barros, João Augusto de Camargo; Tani, Go; Corrêa, Umberto Cesar

2017-10-01

This study investigated the effects of practice schedule and task specificity based on the perspective of adaptive process of motor learning. For this purpose, tasks with temporal and force control learning requirements were manipulated in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Specifically, the task consisted of touching with the dominant hand the three sequential targets with specific movement time or force for each touch. Participants were children (N=120), both boys and girls, with an average age of 11.2years (SD=1.0). The design in both experiments involved four practice groups (constant, random, constant-random, and random-constant) and two phases (stabilisation and adaptation). The dependent variables included measures related to the task goal (accuracy and variability of error of the overall movement and force patterns) and movement pattern (macro- and microstructures). Results revealed a similar error of the overall patterns for all groups in both experiments and that they adapted themselves differently in terms of the macro- and microstructures of movement patterns. The study concludes that the effects of practice schedules on the adaptive process of motor learning were both general and specific to the task. That is, they were general to the task goal performance and specific regarding the movement pattern. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-10-01

In its final report reviewing the Three Mile Island accident, the TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force has suggested change in several fundamental aspects of basic safety policy for nuclear power plants. Changes in nuclear power plant design and operations and in the regulatory process are discussed in terms of general goals. The appendix sets forth specific recommendations for reaching these goals

The impact of goal-oriented task design on neurofeedback learning for brain-computer interface control.

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McWhinney, S R; Tremblay, A; Boe, S G; Bardouille, T

2018-02-01

Neurofeedback training teaches individuals to modulate brain activity by providing real-time feedback and can be used for brain-computer interface control. The present study aimed to optimize training by maximizing engagement through goal-oriented task design. Participants were shown either a visual display or a robot, where each was manipulated using motor imagery (MI)-related electroencephalography signals. Those with the robot were instructed to quickly navigate grid spaces, as the potential for goal-oriented design to strengthen learning was central to our investigation. Both groups were hypothesized to show increased magnitude of these signals across 10 sessions, with the greatest gains being seen in those navigating the robot due to increased engagement. Participants demonstrated the predicted increase in magnitude, with no differentiation between hemispheres. Participants navigating the robot showed stronger left-hand MI increases than those with the computer display. This is likely due to success being reliant on maintaining strong MI-related signals. While older participants showed stronger signals in early sessions, this trend later reversed, suggesting greater natural proficiency but reduced flexibility. These results demonstrate capacity for modulating neurofeedback using MI over a series of training sessions, using tasks of varied design. Importantly, the more goal-oriented robot control task resulted in greater improvements.

No effects of transcranial DLPFC stimulation on implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

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Savic, Branislav; Cazzoli, Dario; Müri, René; Meier, Beat

2017-08-29

Neurostimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can modulate performance in cognitive tasks. In a recent study, however, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the DLPFC did not affect implicit task sequence learning and consolidation in a paradigm that involved bimanual responses. Because bimanual performance increases the coupling between homologous cortical areas of the hemispheres and left and right DLPFC were stimulated separately the null findings may have been due to the bimanual setup. The aim of the present study was to test the effect of neuro-stimulation on sequence learning in a uni-manual setup. For this purpose two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, the DLPFC was stimulated with tDCS. In Experiment 2 the DLPFC was stimulated with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In both experiments, consolidation was measured 24 hours later. The results showed that sequence learning was present in all conditions and sessions, but it was not influenced by stimulation. Likewise, consolidation of sequence learning was robust across sessions, but it was not influenced by stimulation. These results replicate and extend previous findings. They indicate that established tDCS and TMS protocols on the DLPFC do not influence implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

Non-linguistic learning and aphasia: Evidence from a paired associate and feedback-based task

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Vallila-Rohter, Sofia; Kiran, Swathi

2013-01-01

Though aphasia is primarily characterized by impairments in the comprehension and/or expression of language, research has shown that patients with aphasia also show deficits in cognitive-linguistic domains such as attention, executive function, concept knowledge and memory (Helm-Estabrooks, 2002 for review). Research in aphasia suggests that cognitive impairments can impact the online construction of language, new verbal learning, and transactional success (Freedman & Martin, 2001; Hula & McNeil, 2008; Ramsberger, 2005). In our research, we extend this hypothesis to suggest that general cognitive deficits influence progress with therapy. The aim of our study is to explore learning, a cognitive process that is integral to relearning language, yet underexplored in the field of aphasia rehabilitation. We examine non-linguistic category learning in patients with aphasia (n=19) and in healthy controls (n=12), comparing feedback and non-feedback based instruction. Participants complete two computer-based learning tasks that require them to categorize novel animals based on the percentage of features shared with one of two prototypes. As hypothesized, healthy controls showed successful category learning following both methods of instruction. In contrast, only 60% of our patient population demonstrated successful non-linguistic category learning. Patient performance was not predictable by standardized measures of cognitive ability. Results suggest that general learning is affected in aphasia and is a unique, important factor to consider in the field of aphasia rehabilitation. PMID:23127795

Emotion-based learning: Insights from the Iowa Gambling Task

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Oliver Hugh Turnbull

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Interest in the cognitive and/or emotional basis of complex decision-making, and the related phenomenon of emotion-based learning, has been heavily influenced by the Iowa Gambling Task. A number of psychological variables have been investigated as potentially important in understanding emotion-based learning. This paper reviews the extent to which humans are explicitly aware of how we make such decisions; the biasing influence of pre-existing emotional labels; and the extent to which emotion-based systems are anatomically and functionally independent of episodic memory. Systematic review suggests that (i an aspect of conscious awareness does appear to be readily achieved during the IGT, but as a relatively unfocused emotion-based ‘gut-feeling’, akin to intuition; (ii Several studies have manipulated the affective pre-loading of IGT tasks, and make it clear that such labelling has a substantial influence on performance, an experimental manipulation similar to the phenomenon of prejudice. (iii Finally, it appears that complex emotion-based learning can remain intact despite profound amnesia, at least in some neurological patients, a finding with a range of potentially important clinical implications: in the management of dementia; in explaining infantile amnesia; and in understanding of the possible mechanisms of psychotherapy.

Gender Effects When Learning Manipulative Tasks from Instructional Animations and Static Presentations

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Wong, Mona; Castro-Alonso, Juan C.; Ayres, Paul; Paas, Fred

2015-01-01

Humans have an evolved embodied cognition that equips them to deal easily with the natural movements of object manipulations. Hence, learning a manipulative task is generally more effective when watching animations that show natural motions of the task, rather than equivalent static pictures. The present study was completed to explore this…

Aerobic fitness relates to learning on a virtual morris water task and hippocampal volume in adolescents

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Herting, Megan M.; Nagel, Bonnie J.

2012-01-01

In rodents, exercise increases hippocampal neurogenesis and allows for better learning and memory performance on water maze tasks. While exercise has also been shown to be beneficial for the brain and behavior in humans, no study has examined how exercise impacts spatial learning using a directly translational water maze task, or if these relationships exist during adolescence – a developmental period which the animal literature has shown to be especially vulnerable to exercise effects. In this study, we investigated the influence of aerobic fitness on hippocampal size and subsequent learning and memory, including visuospatial memory using a human analogue of the Morris Water Task, in 34 adolescents. Results showed that higher aerobic fitness predicted better learning on the virtual Morris Water Task and larger hippocampal volumes. No relationship between virtual Morris Water Task memory recall and aerobic fitness was detected. Aerobic fitness, however, did not relate to global brain volume, or verbal learning, which might suggest some specificity of the influence of aerobic fitness on the adolescent brain. This study provides a direct translational approach to the existing animal literature on exercise, as well as adds to the sparse research that exists on how aerobic exercise impacts the developing human brain and memory. PMID:22610054

Aerobic fitness relates to learning on a virtual Morris Water Task and hippocampal volume in adolescents.

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Herting, Megan M; Nagel, Bonnie J

2012-08-01

In rodents, exercise increases hippocampal neurogenesis and allows for better learning and memory performance on water maze tasks. While exercise has also been shown to be beneficial for the brain and behavior in humans, no study has examined how exercise impacts spatial learning using a directly translational water maze task, or if these relationships exist during adolescence--a developmental period which the animal literature has shown to be especially vulnerable to exercise effects. In this study, we investigated the influence of aerobic fitness on hippocampal size and subsequent learning and memory, including visuospatial memory using a human analogue of the Morris Water Task, in 34 adolescents. Results showed that higher aerobic fitness predicted better learning on the virtual Morris Water Task and larger hippocampal volumes. No relationship between virtual Morris Water Task memory recall and aerobic fitness was detected. Aerobic fitness, however, did not relate to global brain volume or verbal learning, which might suggest some specificity of the influence of aerobic fitness on the adolescent brain. This study provides a direct translational approach to the existing animal literature on exercise, as well as adds to the sparse research that exists on how aerobic exercise impacts the developing human brain and memory. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Task path planning, scheduling and learning for free-ranging robot systems

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Wakefield, G. Steve

1987-01-01

The development of robotics applications for space operations is often restricted by the limited movement available to guided robots. Free ranging robots can offer greater flexibility than physically guided robots in these applications. Presented here is an object oriented approach to path planning and task scheduling for free-ranging robots that allows the dynamic determination of paths based on the current environment. The system also provides task learning for repetitive jobs. This approach provides a basis for the design of free-ranging robot systems which are adaptable to various environments and tasks.

Positive versus Negative Communication Strategies in Task-Based Learning

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Rohani, Siti

2013-01-01

This study aimed at describing how the implementation of Task-Based Learning (TBL) would shape or change students' use of oral communication strategies. Students' problems and strategies to solve the problems during the implementation of TBL were also explored. The study was a mixed method, employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis…

Towards Sustaining Levels of Reflective Learning: How Do Transformational Leadership, Task Interdependence, and Self-Efficacy Shape Teacher Learning in Schools?

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Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Whereas cross-sectional research has shown that transformational leadership, task interdependence, and self-efficacy are positively related to teachers’ engagement in reflective learning activities, the causal direction of these relations needs further inquiry. At the same time, individual teacher learning might play a mutual role in strengthening school-level capacity for sustained improvement. Building on previous research, this longitudinal study therefore examines how transformational leadership, task interdependence, self-efficacy, and teachers’ engagement in self-reflection mutually affect each other over time. Questionnaire data gathered on three measurement occasions from 655 Dutch Vocational Education and Training teachers was analyzed using a multivariate Latent Difference Score model. Results indicate that self-reflection and task interdependence reciprocally influence each other’s change. A considerate and stimulating transformational leader was found to contribute to this process. Change in self-efficacy was influenced by self-reflection, indicating that learning leads to competency beliefs. Together, the findings point to the important role transformational leadership practices play in facilitating teamwork, and sustaining teachers’ levels of learning in schools.

Learner Perspectives on Task Design for Oral-Visual eTandem Language Learning

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El-Hariri, Yasmin

2016-01-01

Constituting a more specific form of online collaboration, eTandem Language Learning (eTLL) shows great potential for non-formal, self-directed language learning. Research in this field, particularly regarding task design, is still scarce. Focusing on their beliefs and attitudes, this article examines what learners think about how…

Implicit learning of sequential bias in a guessing task: failure to demonstrate effects of dopamine administration and paranormal belief.

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Palmer, John; Mohr, Christine; Krummenacher, Peter; Brugger, Peter

2007-06-01

Previous research suggests that implicit sequence learning (ISL) is superior for believers in the paranormal and individuals with increased cerebral dopamine. Thirty-five healthy participants performed feedback-guided anticipations of four arrow directions. A 100-trial random sequence preceded two 100-trial biased sequences in which visual targets (arrows) on trial t tended to be displaced 90 degrees clockwise (CW) or counter-clockwise (CCW) from those on t - 1. ISL was defined as a positive change during the course of the biased run in the difference between pro-bias and counter-bias responses. It was hypothesized that this difference would be greater for believers in the paranormal than for skeptics, for those who received dopamine than for those who received placebo, and for believers who received dopamine than for the other groups. None of the hypotheses were supported by the data. It is suggested that a simple binary guessing task with a focus on prediction accuracy during early trials should be considered for future explorations.

Task-based Language Learning in Bilingual Montessori Elementary Schools: Customizing Foreign Language Learning and Promoting L2 Speaking Skills

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Jana Winnefeld

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Foreign language learning has been a part of German elementary schools for several years now. Montessori schools focusing on individual learning, i.e. mostly independent from the teacher and based on auto-education, interest, and free choice, are also asked to teach an L2. The original lack of a concept of L2 learning for this environment has brought forth different approaches. Bilingual education seems to be feasible and applicable in Montessori education. The downside to this is that even in a bilingual classroom the Montessori way of learning may not allow for very much oral production of the foreign language. The role of L2 production (cf. Swain 1985, 1995, 2005 for language acquisition has been theoretically claimed and empirically investigated. Output can have a positive influence on L2 learning (cf. e.g. Izumi 2002, Keck et al. 2006. This also applies to interaction (cf. Long 1996, where negotiation of meaning and modified output are factors supporting L2 development (cf. e.g. de la Fuente 2002, McDonough 2005. Task-based Language Learning (TBLL presents itself as one way to promote oral language production and to provide opportunities for meaning-negotiation. Especially tasks with required information exchange and a closed outcome have been shown to be beneficial for the elicitation of negotiation of meaning and modified output. This paper argues that TBLL is a promising approach for the facilitation of L2 production and thus the development of speaking skills in a Montessori context. It also hypothesizes that TBLL can be implemented in a bilingual Montessori environment while still making the Montessori way of learning possible. Different tasks on various topics, examples of which are presented in this article, can lay the foundation for this. Offering such tasks in a bilingual Montessori elementary classroom promises to foster language production and the use of communication strategies like negotiation of meaning, both being

Cueing and Anxiety in a Visual Concept Learning Task.

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Turner, Philip M.

This study investigated the relationship of two anxiety measures (the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Form and the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness-Exam Form) to performance on a visual concept-learning task with embedded criterial information. The effect on anxiety reduction of cueing criterial information was also examined, and two levels of…

A single session of prefrontal cortex transcranial direct current stimulation does not modulate implicit task sequence learning and consolidation.

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Savic, Branislav; Müri, René; Meier, Beat

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is assumed to affect cortical excitability and dependent on the specific stimulation conditions either to increase or decrease learning. The purpose of this study was to modulate implicit task sequence learning with tDCS. As cortico-striatal loops are critically involved in implicit task sequence learning, tDCS was applied above the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In Experiment 1, anodal, cathodal, or sham tDCS was applied before the start of the sequence learning task. In Experiment 2, stimulation was applied during the sequence learning task. Consolidation of learning was assessed after 24 h. The results of both experiments showed that implicit task sequence learning occurred consistently but it was not modulated by different tDCS conditions. Similarly, consolidation measured after a 24 h-interval including sleep was also not affected by stimulation. These results indicate that a single session of DLPFC tDCS is not sufficient to modulate implicit task sequence learning. This study adds to the accumulating evidence that tDCS may not be as effective as originally thought. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using a task-based approach to teaching and learning Chinese as a Foreign Language in a university beginner's level class

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruan, Youjin; Duan, Xiaoju; Wang, Li

2015-01-01

to learning Chinese as a foreign language. Chinese culture elements were also integrated into the tasks and the learning process. By analysing seven items of a post-course survey, this paper investigates the learners’ opinions toward the task-based language teaching and learning method, as well as the methods......The task-based method is regarded as an effective approach for promoting interaction and collaboration in language learning. In a beginner Chinese language course offered as an elective at Aalborg University, Denmark, a selection of tasks was designed and used to attract the students’ interests...... used in integrating culture with the language learning in this course. The results indicated that course participants were generally positive about their learning experiences and processes during the course. They appreciated not only the task-based method, but also the ways in which culture...

Effect of Error Augmentation on Brain Activation and Motor Learning of a Complex Locomotor Task

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Laura Marchal-Crespo

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Up to date, the functional gains obtained after robot-aided gait rehabilitation training are limited. Error augmenting strategies have a great potential to enhance motor learning of simple motor tasks. However, little is known about the effect of these error modulating strategies on complex tasks, such as relearning to walk after a neurologic accident. Additionally, neuroimaging evaluation of brain regions involved in learning processes could provide valuable information on behavioral outcomes. We investigated the effect of robotic training strategies that augment errors—error amplification and random force disturbance—and training without perturbations on brain activation and motor learning of a complex locomotor task. Thirty-four healthy subjects performed the experiment with a robotic stepper (MARCOS in a 1.5 T MR scanner. The task consisted in tracking a Lissajous figure presented on a display by coordinating the legs in a gait-like movement pattern. Behavioral results showed that training without perturbations enhanced motor learning in initially less skilled subjects, while error amplification benefited better-skilled subjects. Training with error amplification, however, hampered transfer of learning. Randomly disturbing forces induced learning and promoted transfer in all subjects, probably because the unexpected forces increased subjects' attention. Functional MRI revealed main effects of training strategy and skill level during training. A main effect of training strategy was seen in brain regions typically associated with motor control and learning, such as, the basal ganglia, cerebellum, intraparietal sulcus, and angular gyrus. Especially, random disturbance and no perturbation lead to stronger brain activation in similar brain regions than error amplification. Skill-level related effects were observed in the IPS, in parts of the superior parietal lobe (SPL, i.e., precuneus, and temporal cortex. These neuroimaging findings

Different levels of food restriction reveal genotype-specific differences in learning a visual discrimination task.

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Kalina Makowiecki

Full Text Available In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80-90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW. We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j and knockout (ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies.

A 1-night operant learning task without food-restriction differentiates among mouse strains in an automated home-cage environment.

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Remmelink, Esther; Loos, Maarten; Koopmans, Bastijn; Aarts, Emmeke; van der Sluis, Sophie; Smit, August B; Verhage, Matthijs

2015-04-15

Individuals are able to change their behavior based on its consequences, a process involving instrumental learning. Studying instrumental learning in mice can provide new insights in this elementary aspect of cognition. Conventional appetitive operant learning tasks that facilitate the study of this form of learning in mice, as well as more complex operant paradigms, require labor-intensive handling and food deprivation to motivate the animals. Here, we describe a 1-night operant learning protocol that exploits the advantages of automated home-cage testing and circumvents the interfering effects of food restriction. The task builds on behavior that is part of the spontaneous exploratory repertoire during the days before the task. We compared the behavior of C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ and DBA/2J mice and found various differences in behavior during this task, but no differences in learning curves. BALB/cJ mice showed the largest instrumental learning response, providing a superior dynamic range and statistical power to study instrumental learning by using this protocol. Insights gained with this home-cage-based learning protocol without food restriction will be valuable for the development of other, more complex, cognitive tasks in automated home-cages. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural Control of a Tracking Task via Attention-Gated Reinforcement Learning for Brain-Machine Interfaces.

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Wang, Yiwen; Wang, Fang; Xu, Kai; Zhang, Qiaosheng; Zhang, Shaomin; Zheng, Xiaoxiang

2015-05-01

Reinforcement learning (RL)-based brain machine interfaces (BMIs) enable the user to learn from the environment through interactions to complete the task without desired signals, which is promising for clinical applications. Previous studies exploited Q-learning techniques to discriminate neural states into simple directional actions providing the trial initial timing. However, the movements in BMI applications can be quite complicated, and the action timing explicitly shows the intention when to move. The rich actions and the corresponding neural states form a large state-action space, imposing generalization difficulty on Q-learning. In this paper, we propose to adopt attention-gated reinforcement learning (AGREL) as a new learning scheme for BMIs to adaptively decode high-dimensional neural activities into seven distinct movements (directional moves, holdings and resting) due to the efficient weight-updating. We apply AGREL on neural data recorded from M1 of a monkey to directly predict a seven-action set in a time sequence to reconstruct the trajectory of a center-out task. Compared to Q-learning techniques, AGREL could improve the target acquisition rate to 90.16% in average with faster convergence and more stability to follow neural activity over multiple days, indicating the potential to achieve better online decoding performance for more complicated BMI tasks.

Factors moderating blocking in human place learning: the role of task instructions.

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Hardt, Oliver; Hupbach, Almut; Nadel, Lynn

2009-02-01

Cognitive map theory assumes that novel environmental information is automatically incorporated into existing cognitive maps as a function of exploration. Reports of blocking in place learning cast doubt on this claim. In these studies, subjects were first trained to find a place, using a set of landmarks (Set A). Then novel landmarks (Set B) were added for additional trials. Subsequent removal of the Set A landmarks showed that the novel landmarks alone were insufficient for successful navigation. We investigated whether instructing human subjects to explore the environment can moderate blocking. First, we demonstrated that blocking is absent in a computer implementation of the Morris water maze (MWM) in which subjects are instructed to explore. We then studied why others found blocking in a different MWM implementation, in which the task instructions did not suggest exploration. In experiments that faithfully replicated this MWM variant, we found that subjects did not acquire cognitive maps and that blocking was attenuated when instructions were provided that encouraged exploration. Together, these findings indicate that blocking in human place learning may reflect a performance deficit, not a learning deficit, and that instructions can moderate blocking. Our results thus support the automatic update assumption of cognitive map theory.

Successfully Carrying out Complex Learning-Tasks through Guiding Teams' Qualitative and Quantitative Reasoning

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Slof, B.; Erkens, G.; Kirschner, P. A.; Janssen, J.; Jaspers, J. G. M.

2012-01-01

This study investigated whether and how scripting learners' use of representational tools in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)-environment fostered their collaborative performance on a complex business-economics task. Scripting the problem-solving process sequenced and made its phase-related part-task demands explicit, namely…

Social learning of fear and safety is determined by the demonstrator's racial group.

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Golkar, Armita; Castro, Vasco; Olsson, Andreas

2015-01-01

Social learning offers an efficient route through which humans and other animals learn about potential dangers in the environment. Such learning inherently relies on the transmission of social information and should imply selectivity in what to learn from whom. Here, we conducted two observational learning experiments to assess how humans learn about danger and safety from members ('demonstrators') of an other social group than their own. We show that both fear and safety learning from a racial in-group demonstrator was more potent than learning from a racial out-group demonstrator. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The evolutionary basis of human social learning.

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Morgan, T J H; Rendell, L E; Ehn, M; Hoppitt, W; Laland, K N

2012-02-22

Humans are characterized by an extreme dependence on culturally transmitted information. Such dependence requires the complex integration of social and asocial information to generate effective learning and decision making. Recent formal theory predicts that natural selection should favour adaptive learning strategies, but relevant empirical work is scarce and rarely examines multiple strategies or tasks. We tested nine hypotheses derived from theoretical models, running a series of experiments investigating factors affecting when and how humans use social information, and whether such behaviour is adaptive, across several computer-based tasks. The number of demonstrators, consensus among demonstrators, confidence of subjects, task difficulty, number of sessions, cost of asocial learning, subject performance and demonstrator performance all influenced subjects' use of social information, and did so adaptively. Our analysis provides strong support for the hypothesis that human social learning is regulated by adaptive learning rules.

Patients with Parkinson's disease learn to control complex systems-an indication for intact implicit cognitive skill learning.

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Witt, Karsten; Daniels, Christine; Daniel, Victoria; Schmitt-Eliassen, Julia; Volkmann, Jens; Deuschl, Günther

2006-01-01

Implicit memory and learning mechanisms are composed of multiple processes and systems. Previous studies demonstrated a basal ganglia involvement in purely cognitive tasks that form stimulus response habits by reinforcement learning such as implicit classification learning. We will test the basal ganglia influence on two cognitive implicit tasks previously described by Berry and Broadbent, the sugar production task and the personal interaction task. Furthermore, we will investigate the relationship between certain aspects of an executive dysfunction and implicit learning. To this end, we have tested 22 Parkinsonian patients and 22 age-matched controls on two implicit cognitive tasks, in which participants learned to control a complex system. They interacted with the system by choosing an input value and obtaining an output that was related in a complex manner to the input. The objective was to reach and maintain a specific target value across trials (dynamic system learning). The two tasks followed the same underlying complex rule but had different surface appearances. Subsequently, participants performed an executive test battery including the Stroop test, verbal fluency and the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). The results demonstrate intact implicit learning in patients, despite an executive dysfunction in the Parkinsonian group. They lead to the conclusion that the basal ganglia system affected in Parkinson's disease does not contribute to the implicit acquisition of a new cognitive skill. Furthermore, the Parkinsonian patients were able to reach a specific goal in an implicit learning context despite impaired goal directed behaviour in the WCST, a classic test of executive functions. These results demonstrate a functional independence of implicit cognitive skill learning and certain aspects of executive functions.

Interindividual Differences in Learning Performance: The Effects of Age, Intelligence, and Strategic Task Approach

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Kliegel, Matthias; Altgassen, Mareike

2006-01-01

The present study investigated fluid and crystallized intelligence as well as strategic task approaches as potential sources of age-related differences in adult learning performance. Therefore, 45 young and 45 old adults were asked to learn pictured objects. Overall, young participants outperformed old participants in this learning test. However,…

Individualized tracking of self-directed motor learning in group-housed mice performing a skilled lever positioning task in the home cage.

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Silasi, Gergely; Boyd, Jamie D; Bolanos, Federico; LeDue, Jeff M; Scott, Stephen H; Murphy, Timothy H

2018-01-01

Skilled forelimb function in mice is traditionally studied through behavioral paradigms that require extensive training by investigators and are limited by the number of trials individual animals are able to perform within a supervised session. We developed a skilled lever positioning task that mice can perform within their home cage. The task requires mice to use their forelimb to precisely hold a lever mounted on a rotary encoder within a rewarded position to dispense a water reward. A Raspberry Pi microcomputer is used to record lever position during trials and to control task parameters, thus making this low-footprint apparatus ideal for use within animal housing facilities. Custom Python software automatically increments task difficulty by requiring a longer hold duration, or a more accurate hold position, to dispense a reward. The performance of individual animals within group-housed mice is tracked through radio-frequency identification implants, and data stored on the microcomputer may be accessed remotely through an active internet connection. Mice continuously engage in the task for over 2.5 mo and perform ~500 trials/24 h. Mice required ~15,000 trials to learn to hold the lever within a 10° range for 1.5 s and were able to further refine movement accuracy by limiting their error to a 5° range within each trial. These results demonstrate the feasibility of autonomously training group-housed mice on a forelimb motor task. This paradigm may be used in the future to assess functional recovery after injury or cortical reorganization induced by self-directed motor learning. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We developed a low-cost system for fully autonomous training of group-housed mice on a forelimb motor task. We demonstrate the feasibility of tracking both end-point, as well as kinematic performance of individual mice, with each performing thousands of trials over 2.5 mo. The task is run and controlled by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, which allows for cages to be

Evaluation of hydrogen demonstration systems (Task 18 of IEA Implementing Agreement on Hydrogen)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker, J N; Carter, S

2005-07-01

Task 18 aims to gather information about the integration of hydrogen into society around the world. As part of subtask B (demonstration projects), EA Technology Limited collected information and data on specific UK hydrogen demonstration projects and case studies. The work involved desk research, a literature review, telephone conversations and meetings with developers and operators of hydrogen-related projects in the UK. Various examples were identified in phase 1 that were either proposed, planned, under construction, commissioned or operational. The main demonstration activities described in the report are: the Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) refuelling station at Hornchurch in Essex; the Hydrogen and Renewables Integration (HARI) project at West Beacon Farm, Leicestershire; the Promoting Unst Renewable Energy (PURE) project on Unst in the Shetland Isles; the Hunterston Hydrogen Project in North Ayrshire, Scotland; and the Tees Valley Hydrogen Project. The CUTE, HARI and PURE projects were selected for inclusion in the overall Task 18 workplan. The report also covers developments associated with the Fuel Cell House, the Hydrogen Office, INEOS Chlor, the London Hydrogen Partnership and the Wales Hydrogen Project.

Location, Location, Location! Demonstrating the Mnemonic Benefit of the Method of Loci

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McCabe, Jennifer A.

2015-01-01

Classroom demonstrations of empirically supported learning and memory strategies have the potential to boost students' knowledge about their own memory and convince them to change the way they approach memory tasks in and beyond the classroom. Students in a "Human Learning and Memory" course learned about the "Method of Loci"…

Quality of E-Learners’ Time and Learning Performance Beyond Quantitative Time-on-Task

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Margarida Romero

2011-06-01

Full Text Available AbstractAlong with the amount of time spent learning (or time-on-task, the quality of learning time has a real influence on learning performance. Quality of time in online learning depends on students’ time availability and their willingness to devote quality cognitive time to learning activities. However, the quantity and quality of the time spent by adult e-learners on learning activities can be reduced by professional, family, and social commitments. Considering that the main time pattern followed by most adult e-learners is a professional one, it may be beneficial for online education programs to offer a certain degree of flexibility in instructional time that might allow adult learners to adjust their learning times to their professional constraints. However, using the time left over once professional and family requirements have been fulfilled could lead to a reduction in quality time for learning. This paper starts by introducing the concept of quality of learning time from an online student-centred perspective. The impact of students’ time-related variables (working hours, time-on-task engagement, time flexibility, time of day, day of week is then analyzed according to individual and collaborative grades achieved during an online master’s degree program. The data show that both students’ time flexibility (r = .98 and especially their availability to learn in the morning are related to better grades in individual (r = .93 and collaborative activities (r = .46.

Finance Students' Experiences of Lecture-Based Active Learning Tasks

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McCullough, Kerry; Munro, Nicholas

2018-01-01

Consistent with current higher education concerns with student engagement and the student experience, this study explored third-year undergraduate Finance students' experiences of lecture-based active learning tasks. Finance students from the 2012 and 2014 cohorts from a South African university were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire…

The Role of CLEAR Thinking in Learning Science from Multiple-Document Inquiry Tasks

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Griffin, Thomas D.; Wiley, Jennifer; Britt, M. Anne; Salas, Carlos R.

2012-01-01

The main goal for the current study was to investigate whether individual differences in domain-general thinking dispositions might affect learning from multiple-document inquiry tasks in science. Middle school students were given a set of documents and were tasked with understanding how and why recent patterns in global temperature might be…

Learning of grammar-like visual sequences by adults with and without language-learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, Jessica M; Plante, Elena

2014-08-01

Two studies examined learning of grammar-like visual sequences to determine whether a general deficit in statistical learning characterizes this population. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that difficulty in sustaining attention during the learning task might account for differences in statistical learning. In Study 1, adults with normal language (NL) or language-learning disability (LLD) were familiarized with the visual artificial grammar and then tested using items that conformed or deviated from the grammar. In Study 2, a 2nd sample of adults with NL and LLD were presented auditory word pairs with weak semantic associations (e.g., groom + clean) along with the visual learning task. Participants were instructed to attend to visual sequences and to ignore the auditory stimuli. Incidental encoding of these words would indicate reduced attention to the primary task. In Studies 1 and 2, both groups demonstrated learning and generalization of the artificial grammar. In Study 2, neither the NL nor the LLD group appeared to encode the words presented during the learning phase. The results argue against a general deficit in statistical learning for individuals with LLD and demonstrate that both NL and LLD learners can ignore extraneous auditory stimuli during visual learning.

Post-task Effects on EEG Brain Activity Differ for Various Differential Learning and Contextual Interference Protocols

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Diana Henz

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A large body of research has shown superior learning rates in variable practice compared to repetitive practice. More specifically, this has been demonstrated in the contextual interference (CI and in the differential learning (DL approach that are both representatives of variable practice. Behavioral studies have indicate different learning processes in CI and DL. Aim of the present study was to examine immediate post-task effects on electroencephalographic (EEG brain activation patterns after CI and DL protocols that reveal underlying neural processes at the early stage of motor consolidation. Additionally, we tested two DL protocols (gradual DL, chaotic DL to examine the effect of different degrees of stochastic fluctuations within the DL approach with a low degree of fluctuations in gradual DL and a high degree of fluctuations in chaotic DL. Twenty-two subjects performed badminton serves according to three variable practice protocols (CI, gradual DL, chaotic DL, and a repetitive learning protocol in a within-subjects design. Spontaneous EEG activity was measured before, and immediately after each 20-min practice session from 19 electrodes. Results showed distinguishable neural processes after CI, DL, and repetitive learning. Increases in EEG theta and alpha power were obtained in somatosensory regions (electrodes P3, P7, Pz, P4, P8 in both DL conditions compared to CI, and repetitive learning. Increases in theta and alpha activity in motor areas (electrodes C3, Cz, C4 were found after chaotic DL compared to gradual DL, and CI. Anterior areas (electrodes F3, F7, Fz, F4, F8 showed increased activity in the beta and gamma bands after CI. Alpha activity was increased in occipital areas (electrodes O1, O2 after repetitive learning. Post-task EEG brain activation patterns suggest that DL stimulates the somatosensory and motor system, and engages more regions of the cortex than repetitive learning due to a tighter stimulation of the motor and

Cross-domain and multi-task transfer learning of deep convolutional neural network for breast cancer diagnosis in digital breast tomosynthesis

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Samala, Ravi K.; Chan, Heang-Ping; Hadjiiski, Lubomir; Helvie, Mark A.; Richter, Caleb; Cha, Kenny

2018-02-01

We propose a cross-domain, multi-task transfer learning framework to transfer knowledge learned from non-medical images by a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to medical image recognition task while improving the generalization by multi-task learning of auxiliary tasks. A first stage cross-domain transfer learning was initiated from ImageNet trained DCNN to mammography trained DCNN. 19,632 regions-of-interest (ROI) from 2,454 mass lesions were collected from two imaging modalities: digitized-screen film mammography (SFM) and full-field digital mammography (DM), and split into training and test sets. In the multi-task transfer learning, the DCNN learned the mass classification task simultaneously from the training set of SFM and DM. The best transfer network for mammography was selected from three transfer networks with different number of convolutional layers frozen. The performance of single-task and multitask transfer learning on an independent SFM test set in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.78+/-0.02 and 0.82+/-0.02, respectively. In the second stage cross-domain transfer learning, a set of 12,680 ROIs from 317 mass lesions on DBT were split into validation and independent test sets. We first studied the data requirements for the first stage mammography trained DCNN by varying the mammography training data from 1% to 100% and evaluated its learning on the DBT validation set in inference mode. We found that the entire available mammography set provided the best generalization. The DBT validation set was then used to train only the last four fully connected layers, resulting in an AUC of 0.90+/-0.04 on the independent DBT test set.

Motivating Learning in Mathematics Through Collaborative Problem Solving: A Focus on Using Rich Tasks

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Nasreen Hussain

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is based on the concept that lively and interactive math classes are possible by incorporating rich tasks to meet the needs of students operating at different levels in the classrooms. A study was carried out to find out the impact on learning and motivation of using rich tasks at secondary level in the maths class by incorporating co-operative learning. Qualitative research paradigm was opted for the study using an action research approach and the data were collected through two semi-structured interviews conducted at the onset of the research and after the intervention. Few important findings indicate that rich tasks demand different levels of challenge and extend opportunities to those students who need them.

The Effectiveness of the Continuation Task on Second Language Learning of English Articles

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Jiang, Lin

2015-01-01

This article aims to uncover how alignment in the continuation task affects second language (L2) learning of English articles. Two classes of 47 Chinese students participated in the study which employed a pretest-treatment-posttest research design and lasted for a period of 20 weeks. One class received the continuation task treatment, during which…

A Task-Cycling Pedagogy Using Stimulated Refelction and Audio-Conferencing in Foreign Language Learning

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Mike Levy

2004-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to describe a task-cycling pedagogy for language learning using a technique we have called Stimulated Reflection. This pedagogical approach has been developed in the light of the new technology options available, especially those that facilitate audiovisual forms of interaction among language learners and teachers. In this instance, the pedagogy is implemented in the context of introducing students to audio-conferencing (A-C tools as a support for their ongoing independent learning. The approach is designed to develop a balance for learners between attention to fluency and meaning on one hand, and form and accuracy on the other. The particular focus here is on the learning of Italian as a foreign language, although the ideas and principles are presented with a view to the teaching and learning of any language. The article is in three parts. The first considers appropriate theoretical frameworks for the use of technology-mediated tools in language learning, with a particular emphasis on the focus-on-form literature and task design (Doughty, 2003; Doughty & Williams, 1998; Skehan, 1998. The second part sets out the approach we have taken in the Italian project and discusses specifically the idea of task cycling (Willis, 1996 and Stimulated Reflection. The third part presents extracts of stimulated reflection episodes that serve to illustrate the new pedagogic approach.

Expectancy-Value Theory in Persistence of Learning Effects in Schizophrenia: Role of Task Value and Perceived Competency

OpenAIRE

Choi, Jimmy; Fiszdon, Joanna M.; Medalia, Alice

2010-01-01

Expectancy-value theory, a widely accepted model of motivation, posits that expectations of success on a learning task and the individual value placed on the task are central determinants of motivation to learn. This is supported by research in healthy controls suggesting that beliefs of self-and-content mastery can be so influential they can predict the degree of improvement on challenging cognitive tasks even more so than general cognitive ability. We examined components of expectancy-value...

How task characteristics and social support relate to managerial learning: empirical evidence from Dutch home care.

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Ouweneel, A P Else; Taris, Toon W; Van Zolingen, Simone J; Schreurs, Paul J G

2009-01-01

Researchers have revealed that managers profit most from informal and on-the-job learning. Moreover, research has shown that task characteristics and social support affect informal learning. On the basis of these insights, the authors examined the effects of task characteristics (psychological job demands, job control) and social support from the supervisor and colleagues on informal on-the-job learning among 1588 managers in the Dutch home-care sector. A regression analysis revealed that high demands, high control, and high colleague and supervisor support were each associated with high levels of informal learning. The authors found no evidence for statistical interactions among the effects of these concepts. They concluded that to promote managers' informal workplace learning, employers should especially increase job control.

The performance of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, in a reversal learning task varies across experimental paradigms

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Simon Gingins

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Testing performance in controlled laboratory experiments is a powerful tool for understanding the extent and evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals. However, cognitive testing is prone to a number of potential biases, which, if unnoticed or unaccounted for, may affect the conclusions drawn. We examined whether slight modifications to the experimental procedure and apparatus used in a spatial task and reversal learning task affected performance outcomes in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (hereafter “cleaners”. Using two-alternative forced-choice tests, fish had to learn to associate a food reward with a side (left or right in their holding aquarium. Individuals were tested in one of four experimental treatments that differed slightly in procedure and/or physical set-up. Cleaners from all four treatment groups were equally able to solve the initial spatial task. However, groups differed in their ability to solve the reversal learning task: no individuals solved the reversal task when tested in small tanks with a transparent partition separating the two options, whereas over 50% of individuals solved the task when performed in a larger tank, or with an opaque partition. These results clearly show that seemingly insignificant details to the experimental set-up matter when testing performance in a spatial task and might significantly influence the outcome of experiments. These results echo previous calls for researchers to exercise caution when designing methodologies for cognition tasks to avoid misinterpretations.

The performance of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, in a reversal learning task varies across experimental paradigms.

Science.gov (United States)

Gingins, Simon; Marcadier, Fanny; Wismer, Sharon; Krattinger, Océane; Quattrini, Fausto; Bshary, Redouan; Binning, Sandra A

2018-01-01

Testing performance in controlled laboratory experiments is a powerful tool for understanding the extent and evolution of cognitive abilities in non-human animals. However, cognitive testing is prone to a number of potential biases, which, if unnoticed or unaccounted for, may affect the conclusions drawn. We examined whether slight modifications to the experimental procedure and apparatus used in a spatial task and reversal learning task affected performance outcomes in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (hereafter "cleaners"). Using two-alternative forced-choice tests, fish had to learn to associate a food reward with a side (left or right) in their holding aquarium. Individuals were tested in one of four experimental treatments that differed slightly in procedure and/or physical set-up. Cleaners from all four treatment groups were equally able to solve the initial spatial task. However, groups differed in their ability to solve the reversal learning task: no individuals solved the reversal task when tested in small tanks with a transparent partition separating the two options, whereas over 50% of individuals solved the task when performed in a larger tank, or with an opaque partition. These results clearly show that seemingly insignificant details to the experimental set-up matter when testing performance in a spatial task and might significantly influence the outcome of experiments. These results echo previous calls for researchers to exercise caution when designing methodologies for cognition tasks to avoid misinterpretations.

Web 2.0 Tasks in Action: EFL Learning in the U.S. Embassy School Election Project 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joannis Kaliampos

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Exploring topics that are personally relevant and interesting to young adult English as a foreign language (EFL learners remains a core challenge in language teaching. At the same time, the advent of Web 2.0 applications has many repercussions for authentic language learning. The “U.S. Embassy School Election Project 2012” has addressed these questions by combining a close focus on the U.S. Presidential Election with an interactive project scenario. Over 1,400 students across Germany participated in this project and produced an election forecast for an assigned U.S. state based on a survey of regional news media and social network data. Their predictions were in many cases more accurate than those of major U.S. broadcasting networks. This paper discusses the general educational potential of such projects in the contexts of computer-assisted language learning (CALL, intercultural learning, and learning in a task-based project environment. The authors have applied a multimodal qualitative approach to analyze tasks and learner perceptions of tasks in the context of the election project. In a first step, the micro-perspective of the perception of web-based tasks is investigated by example of one selected task cycle and a focus group of three learners. The second part of the analysis represents a bird’s-eye view on the learner products arising out of such tasks.

A Measure of Student Involvement in Learning: Time-on-Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Lorin W.

The importance of appropriate task relevant behaviors as a necessary condition for school learning has long been noted. This paper suggests a multiple measure of one set of student classroom behaviors, presents a brief theoretical basis for the measure, provides some empirical support for the use of the measure, and indicates some educational…

Multimodal Task-Driven Dictionary Learning for Image Classification

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-18

recognition, multi-view face recognition, multi-view action recognition, and multimodal biometric recognition. It is also shown that, compared to the...improvement in several multi-task learning applications such as target classification, biometric recognitions, and multiview face recognition [12], [14], [17...relevant samples from other modalities for a given unimodal query. However, α1 α2 …αS D1 … Index finger Thumb finger … Iris x1 x2 xS D2 DS … … … J o in

Multi-task learning for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction: an in-silico study.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qi; Xu, Qian; Zheng, Vincent W; Xue, Hong; Cao, Zhiwei; Yang, Qiang

2010-04-10

Gene silencing using exogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is now a widespread molecular tool for gene functional study and new-drug target identification. The key mechanism in this technique is to design efficient siRNAs that incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC) to bind and interact with the mRNA targets to repress their translations to proteins. Although considerable progress has been made in the computational analysis of siRNA binding efficacy, few joint analysis of different RNAi experiments conducted under different experimental scenarios has been done in research so far, while the joint analysis is an important issue in cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction. A collective analysis of RNAi mechanisms for different datasets and experimental conditions can often provide new clues on the design of potent siRNAs. An elegant multi-task learning paradigm for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction is proposed. Experimental studies were performed on a large dataset of siRNA sequences which encompass several RNAi experiments recently conducted by different research groups. By using our multi-task learning method, the synergy among different experiments is exploited and an efficient multi-task predictor for siRNA efficacy prediction is obtained. The 19 most popular biological features for siRNA according to their jointly importance in multi-task learning were ranked. Furthermore, the hypothesis is validated out that the siRNA binding efficacy on different messenger RNAs(mRNAs) have different conditional distribution, thus the multi-task learning can be conducted by viewing tasks at an "mRNA"-level rather than at the "experiment"-level. Such distribution diversity derived from siRNAs bound to different mRNAs help indicate that the properties of target mRNA have important implications on the siRNA binding efficacy. The knowledge gained from our study provides useful insights on how to analyze various cross-platform RNAi data for uncovering

Multi-task learning for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction: an in-silico study

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Xue Hong

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene silencing using exogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs is now a widespread molecular tool for gene functional study and new-drug target identification. The key mechanism in this technique is to design efficient siRNAs that incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC to bind and interact with the mRNA targets to repress their translations to proteins. Although considerable progress has been made in the computational analysis of siRNA binding efficacy, few joint analysis of different RNAi experiments conducted under different experimental scenarios has been done in research so far, while the joint analysis is an important issue in cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction. A collective analysis of RNAi mechanisms for different datasets and experimental conditions can often provide new clues on the design of potent siRNAs. Results An elegant multi-task learning paradigm for cross-platform siRNA efficacy prediction is proposed. Experimental studies were performed on a large dataset of siRNA sequences which encompass several RNAi experiments recently conducted by different research groups. By using our multi-task learning method, the synergy among different experiments is exploited and an efficient multi-task predictor for siRNA efficacy prediction is obtained. The 19 most popular biological features for siRNA according to their jointly importance in multi-task learning were ranked. Furthermore, the hypothesis is validated out that the siRNA binding efficacy on different messenger RNAs(mRNAs have different conditional distribution, thus the multi-task learning can be conducted by viewing tasks at an "mRNA"-level rather than at the "experiment"-level. Such distribution diversity derived from siRNAs bound to different mRNAs help indicate that the properties of target mRNA have important implications on the siRNA binding efficacy. Conclusions The knowledge gained from our study provides useful insights on how to

POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN TASK-BASED LEARNING

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Siti Rohani

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This study aimed at describing how the implementation of Task Based Learning (TBL would shape or change students’ use of oral communication strategies. Students’ problems and strategies to solve the problems during the implementation of TBL were also explored. The study was a mixed method, employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis throughmulti-methods of questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussion, learning journals, and classroom observation. Participants were 26 second year students of the State Polytechnic of Malang. Data collection was conducted for one semester. Findingsshow linguistic and non-linguistic problems encountered by students during one-semester implementation of TBL. Students also performedincreased use of positive strategies but reduced use of negative strategies after the implementation of TBL.

Surprise responses in the human brain demonstrate statistical learning under high concurrent cognitive demand

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Garrido, Marta Isabel; Teng, Chee Leong James; Taylor, Jeremy Alexander; Rowe, Elise Genevieve; Mattingley, Jason Brett

2016-06-01

The ability to learn about regularities in the environment and to make predictions about future events is fundamental for adaptive behaviour. We have previously shown that people can implicitly encode statistical regularities and detect violations therein, as reflected in neuronal responses to unpredictable events that carry a unique prediction error signature. In the real world, however, learning about regularities will often occur in the context of competing cognitive demands. Here we asked whether learning of statistical regularities is modulated by concurrent cognitive load. We compared electroencephalographic metrics associated with responses to pure-tone sounds with frequencies sampled from narrow or wide Gaussian distributions. We showed that outliers evoked a larger response than those in the centre of the stimulus distribution (i.e., an effect of surprise) and that this difference was greater for physically identical outliers in the narrow than in the broad distribution. These results demonstrate an early neurophysiological marker of the brain's ability to implicitly encode complex statistical structure in the environment. Moreover, we manipulated concurrent cognitive load by having participants perform a visual working memory task while listening to these streams of sounds. We again observed greater prediction error responses in the narrower distribution under both low and high cognitive load. Furthermore, there was no reliable reduction in prediction error magnitude under high-relative to low-cognitive load. Our findings suggest that statistical learning is not a capacity limited process, and that it proceeds automatically even when cognitive resources are taxed by concurrent demands.

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

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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

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mats B Küssner

Full Text Available 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

A Dictionary Learning Approach for Signal Sampling in Task-Based fMRI for Reduction of Big Data

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Ge, Bao; Li, Xiang; Jiang, Xi; Sun, Yifei; Liu, Tianming

2018-01-01

The exponential growth of fMRI big data offers researchers an unprecedented opportunity to explore functional brain networks. However, this opportunity has not been fully explored yet due to the lack of effective and efficient tools for handling such fMRI big data. One major challenge is that computing capabilities still lag behind the growth of large-scale fMRI databases, e.g., it takes many days to perform dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole-brain fMRI data for an fMRI database of average size. Therefore, how to reduce the data size but without losing important information becomes a more and more pressing issue. To address this problem, we propose a signal sampling approach for significant fMRI data reduction before performing structurally-guided dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole brain's fMRI data. We compared the proposed structurally guided sampling method with no sampling, random sampling and uniform sampling schemes, and experiments on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) task fMRI data demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve more than 15 times speed-up without sacrificing the accuracy in identifying task-evoked functional brain networks. PMID:29706880

A Dictionary Learning Approach for Signal Sampling in Task-Based fMRI for Reduction of Big Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Bao; Li, Xiang; Jiang, Xi; Sun, Yifei; Liu, Tianming

2018-01-01

The exponential growth of fMRI big data offers researchers an unprecedented opportunity to explore functional brain networks. However, this opportunity has not been fully explored yet due to the lack of effective and efficient tools for handling such fMRI big data. One major challenge is that computing capabilities still lag behind the growth of large-scale fMRI databases, e.g., it takes many days to perform dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole-brain fMRI data for an fMRI database of average size. Therefore, how to reduce the data size but without losing important information becomes a more and more pressing issue. To address this problem, we propose a signal sampling approach for significant fMRI data reduction before performing structurally-guided dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole brain's fMRI data. We compared the proposed structurally guided sampling method with no sampling, random sampling and uniform sampling schemes, and experiments on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) task fMRI data demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve more than 15 times speed-up without sacrificing the accuracy in identifying task-evoked functional brain networks.

The effects of inspecting and constructing part-task-specific visualizations on team and individual learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slof, Bert; Erkens, Gijsbert; Kirschner, Paul A.; Helms-Lorenz, Michelle

This study examined whether inspecting and constructing different part-task-specific visualizations differentially affects learning. To this end, a complex business-economics problem was structured into three phase-related part-tasks: (1) determining core concepts, (2) proposing multiple solutions,

Robot learning from human teachers

CERN Document Server

Chernova, Sonia

2014-01-01

Learning from Demonstration (LfD) explores techniques for learning a task policy from examples provided by a human teacher. The field of LfD has grown into an extensive body of literature over the past 30 years, with a wide variety of approaches for encoding human demonstrations and modeling skills and tasks. Additionally, we have recently seen a focus on gathering data from non-expert human teachers (i.e., domain experts but not robotics experts). In this book, we provide an introduction to the field with a focus on the unique technical challenges associated with designing robots that learn f

Social learning in nest-building birds watching live-streaming video demonstrators.

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Guillette, Lauren M; Healy, Susan D

2018-02-13

Determining the role that social learning plays in construction behaviours, such as nest building or tool manufacture, could be improved if more experimental control could be gained over the exact public information that is provided by the demonstrator, to the observing individual. Using video playback allows the experimenter to choose what information is provided, but will only be useful in determining the role of social learning if observers attend to, and learn from, videos in a manner that is similar to live demonstration. The goal of the current experiment was to test whether live-streamed video presentations of nest building by zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata would lead observers to copy the material choice demonstrated to them. Here, males that had not previously built a nest were given an initial preference test between materials of two colours. Those observers then watched live-stream footage of a familiar demonstrator building a nest with material of the colour that the observer did not prefer. After this experience, observers were given the chance to build a nest with materials of the two colours. Although two-thirds of the observer males preferred material of the demonstrated colour after viewing the demonstrator build a nest with material of that colour more than they had previously, their preference for the demonstrated material was not as strong as that of observers that had viewed live demonstrator builders in a previous experiment. Our results suggest researchers should proceed with caution before using video demonstration in tests of social learning. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Learning through a portfolio of carbon capture and storage demonstration projects

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Reiner, David M.

2016-01-01

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology is considered by many to be an essential route to meet climate mitigation targets in the power and industrial sectors. Deploying CCS technologies globally will first require a portfolio of large-scale demonstration projects. These first projects should assist learning by diversity, learning by replication, de-risking the technologies and developing viable business models. From 2005 to 2009, optimism about the pace of CCS rollout led to mutually independent efforts in the European Union, North America and Australia to assemble portfolios of projects. Since 2009, only a few of these many project proposals remain viable, but the initial rationales for demonstration have not been revisited in the face of changing circumstances. Here I argue that learning is now both more difficult and more important given the slow pace of deployment. Developing a more coordinated global portfolio will facilitate learning across projects and may determine whether CCS ever emerges from the demonstration phase.

Effects of short-term training on behavioral learning and skill acquisition during intraoral fine motor task

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kumar, Abhishek; Grigoriadis, Joannis; Trulsson, Mats

2015-01-01

Sensory information from the orofacial mechanoreceptors are used by the nervous system to optimize the positioning of food, determine the force levels, and force vectors involved in biting of food morsels. Moreover, practice resulting from repetition could be a key to learning and acquiring a motor...... movements. Thirty healthy volunteers were asked to intraorally manipulate and split a chocolate candy, into two equal halves. The participants performed three series (with ten 10 trials) of the task before and after a short-term (approximately 30min) training. The accuracy of the split and vertical jaw...... task induces behavior learning, skill acquisition and optimization of jaw movements in terms of better performance and reduction in the duration of jaw movements, during the task. The finding of the present study provides insights on into how humans learn oral motor behaviors or the kind of adaptation...

Analytical reasoning task reveals limits of social learning in networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahwan, Iyad; Krasnoshtan, Dmytro; Shariff, Azim; Bonnefon, Jean-François

2014-04-06

Social learning-by observing and copying others-is a highly successful cultural mechanism for adaptation, outperforming individual information acquisition and experience. Here, we investigate social learning in the context of the uniquely human capacity for reflective, analytical reasoning. A hallmark of the human mind is its ability to engage analytical reasoning, and suppress false associative intuitions. Through a set of laboratory-based network experiments, we find that social learning fails to propagate this cognitive strategy. When people make false intuitive conclusions and are exposed to the analytic output of their peers, they recognize and adopt this correct output. But they fail to engage analytical reasoning in similar subsequent tasks. Thus, humans exhibit an 'unreflective copying bias', which limits their social learning to the output, rather than the process, of their peers' reasoning-even when doing so requires minimal effort and no technical skill. In contrast to much recent work on observation-based social learning, which emphasizes the propagation of successful behaviour through copying, our findings identify a limit on the power of social networks in situations that require analytical reasoning.

Training self-assessment and task-selection skills: A cognitive approach to improving self-regulated learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kostons, Danny; Van Gog, Tamara; Paas, Fred

2012-01-01

Kostons, D., Van Gog, T., & Paas, F. (2012). Training self-assessment and task-selection skills: A cognitive approach to improving self-regulated learning. Learning and Instruction, 22(2), 121-132. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.08.004

A dissociation between engagement and learning: Enthusiastic instructions fail to reliably improve performance on a memory task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin A Motz

Full Text Available Despite widespread assertions that enthusiasm is an important quality of effective teaching, empirical research on the effect of enthusiasm on learning and memory is mixed and largely inconclusive. To help resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted a carefully-controlled laboratory experiment, investigating whether enthusiastic instructions for a memory task would improve recall accuracy. Scripted videos, either enthusiastic or neutral, were used to manipulate the delivery of task instructions. We also manipulated the sequence of learning items, replicating the spacing effect, a known cognitive technique for memory improvement. Although spaced study reliably improved test performance, we found no reliable effect of enthusiasm on memory performance across two experiments. We did, however, find that enthusiastic instructions caused participants to respond to more item prompts, leaving fewer test questions blank, an outcome typically associated with increased task motivation. We find no support for the popular claim that enthusiastic instruction will improve learning, although it may still improve engagement. This dissociation between motivation and learning is discussed, as well as its implications for education and future research on student learning.

A dissociation between engagement and learning: Enthusiastic instructions fail to reliably improve performance on a memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Motz, Benjamin A; de Leeuw, Joshua R; Carvalho, Paulo F; Liang, Kaley L; Goldstone, Robert L

2017-01-01

Despite widespread assertions that enthusiasm is an important quality of effective teaching, empirical research on the effect of enthusiasm on learning and memory is mixed and largely inconclusive. To help resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted a carefully-controlled laboratory experiment, investigating whether enthusiastic instructions for a memory task would improve recall accuracy. Scripted videos, either enthusiastic or neutral, were used to manipulate the delivery of task instructions. We also manipulated the sequence of learning items, replicating the spacing effect, a known cognitive technique for memory improvement. Although spaced study reliably improved test performance, we found no reliable effect of enthusiasm on memory performance across two experiments. We did, however, find that enthusiastic instructions caused participants to respond to more item prompts, leaving fewer test questions blank, an outcome typically associated with increased task motivation. We find no support for the popular claim that enthusiastic instruction will improve learning, although it may still improve engagement. This dissociation between motivation and learning is discussed, as well as its implications for education and future research on student learning.

Learning compliant manipulation through kinesthetic and tactile human-robot interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Kronander, Klas; Billard, Aude

2014-01-01

Robot Learning from Demonstration (RLfD) has been identified as a key element for making robots useful in daily lives. A wide range of techniques has been proposed for deriving a task model from a set of demonstrations of the task. Most previous works use learning to model the kinematics of the task, and for autonomous execution the robot then relies on a stiff position controller. While many tasks can and have been learned this way, there are tasks in which controlling the position alone is insufficient to achieve the goals of the task. These are typically tasks that involve contact or require a specific response to physical perturbations. The question of how to adjust the compliance to suit the need of the task has not yet been fully treated in Robot Learning from Demonstration. In this paper, we address this issue and present interfaces that allow a human teacher to indicate compliance variations by physically interacting with the robot during task execution. We validate our approach in two different experiments on the 7 DoF Barrett WAM and KUKA LWR robot manipulators. Furthermore, we conduct a user study to evaluate the usability of our approach from a non-roboticists perspective.

A Task-Based Language Teaching Approach to Developing Metacognitive Strategies for Listening Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Chou, Mu-Hsuan

2017-01-01

In second (L2) or foreign language (FL) learning, learning strategies help learners perform tasks, solve specific problems, and compensate for learning deficits. Of the strategy types, metacognitive strategies manage and regulate the construction of L2 or FL knowledge. Although learning strategies are frequently taught via teacher demonstration,…

Autism: Too eager to learn? Event related potential findings of increased dependency on intentional learning in a serial reaction time task.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwart, Fenny S; Vissers, Constance Th W M; van der Meij, Roemer; Kessels, Roy P C; Maes, Joseph H R

2017-09-01

It has been suggested that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have an increased tendency to use explicit (or intentional) learning strategies. This altered learning may play a role in the development of the social communication difficulties characterizing ASD. In the current study, we investigated incidental and intentional sequence learning using a Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task in an adult ASD population. Response times and event related potentials (ERP) components (N2b and P3) were assessed as indicators of learning and knowledge. Findings showed that behaviorally, sequence learning and ensuing explicit knowledge were similar in ASD and typically developing (TD) controls. However, ERP findings showed that learning in the TD group was characterized by an enhanced N2b, while learning in the ASD group was characterized by an enhanced P3. These findings suggest that learning in the TD group might be more incidental in nature, whereas learning in the ASD group is more intentional or effortful. Increased intentional learning might serve as a strategy for individuals with ASD to control an overwhelming environment. Although this led to similar behavioral performances on the SRT task, it is very plausible that this intentional learning has adverse effects in more complex social situations, and hence contributes to the social impairments found in ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1533-1543. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force status report and short-term recommendations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-07-01

Review of the Three Mile Island accident by the TMI-2 Lessons Learned Task Force has disclosed a number of actions in the areas of design and analysis and plant operations that the Task Force recommends be required in the short term to provide substantial additional protection which is required for the public health and safety. All nuclear power plants in operation or in various stages of construction or licensing action are affected to varying degrees by the specific recommendations. The Task Force is continuing work in areas of general safety criteria, systems design requirements, nuclear power plant operations, and nuclear power plant licensing

Altered brain activation in a reversal learning task unmasks adaptive changes in cognitive control in writer's cramp.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeuner, Kirsten E; Knutzen, Arne; Granert, Oliver; Sablowsky, Simone; Götz, Julia; Wolff, Stephan; Jansen, Olav; Dressler, Dirk; Schneider, Susanne A; Klein, Christine; Deuschl, Günther; van Eimeren, Thilo; Witt, Karsten

2016-01-01

Previous receptor binding studies suggest dopamine function is altered in the basal ganglia circuitry in task-specific dystonia, a condition characterized by contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles while performing specific tasks. Dopamine plays a role in reward-based learning. Using fMRI, this study compared 31 right-handed writer's cramp patients to 35 controls in reward-based learning of a probabilistic reversal-learning task. All subjects chose between two stimuli and indicated their response with their left or right index finger. One stimulus response was rewarded 80%, the other 20%. After contingencies reversal, the second stimulus response was rewarded in 80%. We further linked the DRD2/ANKK1-TaqIa polymorphism, which is associated with 30% reduction of the striatal dopamine receptor density with reward-based learning and assumed impaired reversal learning in A + subjects. Feedback learning in patients was normal. Blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in controls increased with negative feedback in the insula, rostral cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus and parietal cortex (pFWE based learning. The dACC is connected with the basal ganglia-thalamo-loop modulated by dopaminergic signaling. This finding suggests disturbed integration of reinforcement history in decision making and implicate that the reward system might contribute to the pathogenesis in writer's cramp.

Chinese Preservice Teachers' Professional Identity Links with Education Program Performance: The Roles of Task Value Belief and Learning Motivations.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Hawk, Skyler T; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Professional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers' career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education) and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA) of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses) was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first 3 years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1) variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2) professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM); (3) task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4) higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic) learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5) task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model.

Chinese Preservice Teachers’ Professional Identity Links with Education Program Performance: The Roles of Task Value Belief and Learning Motivations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Hawk, Skyler T.; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Professional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers’ career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education) and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA) of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses) was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first 3 years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1) variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2) professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM); (3) task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4) higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic) learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5) task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model. PMID:27199810

Analysis of brain activity and response to colour stimuli during learning tasks: an EEG study

Science.gov (United States)

Folgieri, Raffaella; Lucchiari, Claudio; Marini, Daniele

2013-02-01

The research project intends to demonstrate how EEG detection through BCI device can improve the analysis and the interpretation of colours-driven cognitive processes through the combined approach of cognitive science and information technology methods. To this end, firstly it was decided to design an experiment based on comparing the results of the traditional (qualitative and quantitative) cognitive analysis approach with the EEG signal analysis of the evoked potentials. In our case, the sensorial stimulus is represented by the colours, while the cognitive task consists in remembering the words appearing on the screen, with different combination of foreground (words) and background colours. In this work we analysed data collected from a sample of students involved in a learning process during which they received visual stimuli based on colour variation. The stimuli concerned both the background of the text to learn and the colour of the characters. The experiment indicated some interesting results concerning the use of primary (RGB) and complementary (CMY) colours.

Effect of task-related continuous auditory feedback during learning of tracking motion exercises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosati Giulio

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This paper presents the results of a set of experiments in which we used continuous auditory feedback to augment motor training exercises. This feedback modality is mostly underexploited in current robotic rehabilitation systems, which usually implement only very basic auditory interfaces. Our hypothesis is that properly designed continuous auditory feedback could be used to represent temporal and spatial information that could in turn, improve performance and motor learning. Methods We implemented three different experiments on healthy subjects, who were asked to track a target on a screen by moving an input device (controller with their hand. Different visual and auditory feedback modalities were envisaged. The first experiment investigated whether continuous task-related auditory feedback can help improve performance to a greater extent than error-related audio feedback, or visual feedback alone. In the second experiment we used sensory substitution to compare different types of auditory feedback with equivalent visual feedback, in order to find out whether mapping the same information on a different sensory channel (the visual channel yielded comparable effects with those gained in the first experiment. The final experiment applied a continuously changing visuomotor transformation between the controller and the screen and mapped kinematic information, computed in either coordinate system (controller or video, to the audio channel, in order to investigate which information was more relevant to the user. Results Task-related audio feedback significantly improved performance with respect to visual feedback alone, whilst error-related feedback did not. Secondly, performance in audio tasks was significantly better with respect to the equivalent sensory-substituted visual tasks. Finally, with respect to visual feedback alone, video-task-related sound feedback decreased the tracking error during the learning of a novel

Task Experience as a Boundary Condition for the Negative Effects of Irrelevant Information on Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G. Rop (Gertjan); M. van Wermeskerken (Margot); J.A. de Nooijer (Jacqueline); P.P.J.L. Verkoeijen (Peter); T.A.J.M. van Gog (Tamara)

2016-01-01

textabstractResearch on multimedia learning has shown that learning is hampered when a multimedia message includes extraneous information that is not relevant for the task, because processing the extraneous information uses up scarce attention and working memory resources. However, eye-tracking

Theories of willpower affect sustained learning.

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Miller, Eric M; Walton, Gregory M; Dweck, Carol S; Job, Veronika; Trzesniewski, Kali H; McClure, Samuel M

2012-01-01

Building cognitive abilities often requires sustained engagement with effortful tasks. We demonstrate that beliefs about willpower-whether willpower is viewed as a limited or non-limited resource-impact sustained learning on a strenuous mental task. As predicted, beliefs about willpower did not affect accuracy or improvement during the initial phases of learning; however, participants who were led to view willpower as non-limited showed greater sustained learning over the full duration of the task. These findings highlight the interactive nature of motivational and cognitive processes: motivational factors can substantially affect people's ability to recruit their cognitive resources to sustain learning over time.

Elementary Students' Learning of Materials Science Practices Through Instruction Based on Engineering Design Tasks

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Wendell, Kristen Bethke; Lee, Hee-Sun

2010-12-01

Materials science, which entails the practices of selecting, testing, and characterizing materials, is an important discipline within the study of matter. This paper examines how third grade students' materials science performance changes over the course of instruction based on an engineering design challenge. We conducted a case study of nine students who participated in engineering design-based science instruction with the goal of constructing a stable, quiet, thermally comfortable model house. The learning outcome of materials science practices was assessed by clinical interviews conducted before and after the instruction, and the learning process was assessed by students' workbooks completed during the instruction. The interviews included two materials selection tasks for designing a sturdy stepstool and an insulated pet habitat. Results indicate that: (1) students significantly improved on both materials selection tasks, (2) their gains were significantly positively associated with the degree of completion of their workbooks, and (3) students who were highly engaged with the workbook's reflective record-keeping tasks showed the greatest improvement on the interviews. These findings suggest the important role workbooks can play in facilitating elementary students' learning of science through authentic activity such as engineering design.

Improving Learning Tasks for Mentally Handicapped People Using AmI Environments Based on Cyber-Physical Systems

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Diego Martín

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A prototype to improve learning tasks for mentally handicapped people is shown in this research paper using ambient intelligence techniques and based on cyber-physical systems. The whole system is composed of a worktable, a cyber-glove (both with several RFID and NFC detection zones, and an AmI software application for modeling and workflow guidance. A case study was carried out by the authors where sixteen mentally handicapped people and 3 trainers were involved in the experiment. The experiment consisted in the execution of several memorization tasks of movements of objects using the approach presented in this paper. The results obtained were very interesting, indicating that this kind of solutions are feasible and allow the learning of complex tasks to some types of mentally handicapped people. In addition, at the end of the paper are presented some lessons learned after performing the experimentation.

Fast Gaussian kernel learning for classification tasks based on specially structured global optimization.

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Zhong, Shangping; Chen, Tianshun; He, Fengying; Niu, Yuzhen

2014-09-01

For a practical pattern classification task solved by kernel methods, the computing time is mainly spent on kernel learning (or training). However, the current kernel learning approaches are based on local optimization techniques, and hard to have good time performances, especially for large datasets. Thus the existing algorithms cannot be easily extended to large-scale tasks. In this paper, we present a fast Gaussian kernel learning method by solving a specially structured global optimization (SSGO) problem. We optimize the Gaussian kernel function by using the formulated kernel target alignment criterion, which is a difference of increasing (d.i.) functions. Through using a power-transformation based convexification method, the objective criterion can be represented as a difference of convex (d.c.) functions with a fixed power-transformation parameter. And the objective programming problem can then be converted to a SSGO problem: globally minimizing a concave function over a convex set. The SSGO problem is classical and has good solvability. Thus, to find the global optimal solution efficiently, we can adopt the improved Hoffman's outer approximation method, which need not repeat the searching procedure with different starting points to locate the best local minimum. Also, the proposed method can be proven to converge to the global solution for any classification task. We evaluate the proposed method on twenty benchmark datasets, and compare it with four other Gaussian kernel learning methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method stably achieves both good time-efficiency performance and good classification performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Compliant Task Execution and Learning for Safe Mixed-Initiative Human-Robot Operations

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Dong, Shuonan; Conrad, Patrick R.; Shah, Julie A.; Williams, Brian C.; Mittman, David S.; Ingham, Michel D.; Verma, Vandana

2011-01-01

We introduce a novel task execution capability that enhances the ability of in-situ crew members to function independently from Earth by enabling safe and efficient interaction with automated systems. This task execution capability provides the ability to (1) map goal-directed commands from humans into safe, compliant, automated actions, (2) quickly and safely respond to human commands and actions during task execution, and (3) specify complex motions through teaching by demonstration. Our results are applicable to future surface robotic systems, and we have demonstrated these capabilities on JPL's All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) robot.

Cognitive Developmental Level Gender, and the Development of Learned Helplessness on Mathematical Calculation and Reasoning Tasks.

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Monaco, Nanci M.; Gentile, J. Ronald

1987-01-01

This study was designed to test whether a learned helplessness treatment would decrease performance on mathematical tasks and to extend learned helplessness findings to include the cognitive development dimension. Results showed no differential advantages to either sex in resisting effects of learned helplessness or in benefiting from strategy…

Chinese preservice teachers’ professional identity links with education program performance: The roles of task value belief and learning motivations

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Yan eZhang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available AbstractProfessional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers’ career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first three years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1 variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2 professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM; (3 task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4 higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5 task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model.

The Role of Self-Regulated Learning Capacities in Iranian EFL Undergraduates’ Argumentative Writing Task Performance

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Ali Akbar Khomeijani Farahani

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The current study was an attempt to explore the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ self-regulatory capacities and their argumentative writing task performance in order to analyze measures of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF. To this end, 44 Iranian EFL undergraduates majoring in English literature at the University of Tehran were recruited based on convenience sampling to participate in this study. Employing a correlational design, the participants were required to perform an argumentative writing task and complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire designed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1991. Pearson product moment correlation indicated a significant relationship between self-regulated learning and writing task performance in relation to CAF measures. In addition, the results of multiple regression showed that resource management strategies and value component predicted 56.9% of grammatical accuracy of writing task. It was also shown that resource management strategies, value, and expectancy components predicted 56.5% of lexical complexity of writing task. Lastly, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, expectancy, and value components predicted 55.2% of the fluency of writing task. The findings of this study informs EFL writing pedagogy and English language teachers and syllabus designers  with regard to the benefits of applying self-regulatory strategies in teaching and assessing writing.

The effects of response cost and species-typical behaviors on a daily time-place learning task.

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Deibel, Scott H; Thorpe, Christina M

2013-03-01

Two theories that have been hypothesized to mediate acquisition in daily time-place learning (TPL) tasks were investigated in a free operant daily TPL task: the response cost hypothesis and the species-typical behavior hypothesis. One lever at the end of one of the choice arms of a T-maze provided food in the morning, and 6 h later, a lever in the other choice arm provided food. Four groups were used to assess the effect of two possible sources of response cost: physical effort of the task and costs associated with foraging ecology. One group was used to assess the effect of explicitly allowing for species-typical behaviors. If only first arm choice data were considered, there was little evidence of learning. However, both first press and percentage of presses on the correct lever prior to the first reinforcement revealed evidence of TPL in most rats tested. Unexpectedly, the high response cost groups for both of the proposed sources did not perform better than the low response cost groups. The groups that allowed animals to display species-typical behaviors performed the worst. Skip session probe trials confirmed that the majority of the rats that acquired the task were using a circadian timing strategy. The results from the present study suggest that learning in free operant daily TPL tasks might not be dependent on response cost.

CONFIDENCE MASTERY AS THE FUNDAMENTAL TASK IN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

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KOTEKOVÁ, Daniela

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of language learning is not only to achieve an academic success carried out by a fluent speaking; mastering the grammar and vocabulary but it should also focus on the psychological comfort and the intrinsic readiness of the students to participate in their education - to receive and perform. The learners’ self-esteem plays the fundamental role in any language classroom but gaining it is the task on its own and can be quite a challenge for the teachers. How students feel is closely related to their ability to learn. Teachers’ task is thus not only to provide knowledge and information but first of all they should immerse themselves into the student’s mind and discover the best way to awake learner’s will to communicate. This paper focuses on two kinds of aspects participating on the emotional state of the learner, academic and psychological. The students of two different levels of English have answered the questionnaire, assessing their attitude, anxiety and motivation towards learning English. Each opinion has been evaluated and put into relationship with the ability to relax, understand, learn and enjoy at the same time. Their analyses have become the base of several teaching techniques that would build and encourage the students’ confidence as the main condition to start any cognitive process. If confidence is the cause or the outcome of mastering a foreign language was the question asked and answered in this work. Confidence mastery has thus played the fundamental role in the present survey.

Modelling Plane Geometry: the connection between Geometrical Visualization and Algebraic Demonstration

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Pereira, L. R.; Jardim, D. F.; da Silva, J. M.

2017-12-01

The teaching and learning of Mathematics contents have been challenging along the history of the education, both for the teacher, in his dedicated task of teaching, as for the student, in his arduous and constant task of learning. One of the topics that are most discussed in these contents is the difference between the concepts of proof and demonstration. This work presents an interesting discussion about such concepts considering the use of the mathematical modeling approach for teaching, applied to some examples developed in the classroom with a group of students enrolled in the discipline of Geometry of the Mathematics curse of UFVJM.

You see what you have learned. Evidence for an interrelation of associative learning and visual selective attention.

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Feldmann-Wüstefeld, Tobias; Uengoer, Metin; Schubö, Anna

2015-11-01

Besides visual salience and observers' current intention, prior learning experience may influence deployment of visual attention. Associative learning models postulate that observers pay more attention to stimuli previously experienced as reliable predictors of specific outcomes. To investigate the impact of learning experience on deployment of attention, we combined an associative learning task with a visual search task and measured event-related potentials of the EEG as neural markers of attention deployment. In the learning task, participants categorized stimuli varying in color/shape with only one dimension being predictive of category membership. In the search task, participants searched a shape target while disregarding irrelevant color distractors. Behavioral results showed that color distractors impaired performance to a greater degree when color rather than shape was predictive in the learning task. Neurophysiological results show that the amplified distraction was due to differential attention deployment (N2pc). Experiment 2 showed that when color was predictive for learning, color distractors captured more attention in the search task (ND component) and more suppression of color distractor was required (PD component). The present results thus demonstrate that priority in visual attention is biased toward predictive stimuli, which allows learning experience to shape selection. We also show that learning experience can overrule strong top-down control (blocked tasks, Experiment 3) and that learning experience has a longer-term effect on attention deployment (tasks on two successive days, Experiment 4). © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Selective visual attention and motivation: the consequences of value learning in an attentional blink task.

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Raymond, Jane E; O'Brien, Jennifer L

2009-08-01

Learning to associate the probability and value of behavioral outcomes with specific stimuli (value learning) is essential for rational decision making. However, in demanding cognitive conditions, access to learned values might be constrained by limited attentional capacity. We measured recognition of briefly presented faces seen previously in a value-learning task involving monetary wins and losses; the recognition task was performed both with and without constraints on available attention. Regardless of available attention, recognition was substantially enhanced for motivationally salient stimuli (i.e., stimuli highly predictive of outcomes), compared with equally familiar stimuli that had weak or no motivational salience, and this effect was found regardless of valence (win or loss). However, when attention was constrained (because stimuli were presented during an attentional blink, AB), valence determined recognition; win-associated faces showed no AB, but all other faces showed large ABs. Motivational salience acts independently of attention to modulate simple perceptual decisions, but when attention is limited, visual processing is biased in favor of reward-associated stimuli.

Heterogeneous Face Attribute Estimation: A Deep Multi-Task Learning Approach.

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Han, Hu; K Jain, Anil; Shan, Shiguang; Chen, Xilin

2017-08-10

Face attribute estimation has many potential applications in video surveillance, face retrieval, and social media. While a number of methods have been proposed for face attribute estimation, most of them did not explicitly consider the attribute correlation and heterogeneity (e.g., ordinal vs. nominal and holistic vs. local) during feature representation learning. In this paper, we present a Deep Multi-Task Learning (DMTL) approach to jointly estimate multiple heterogeneous attributes from a single face image. In DMTL, we tackle attribute correlation and heterogeneity with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) consisting of shared feature learning for all the attributes, and category-specific feature learning for heterogeneous attributes. We also introduce an unconstrained face database (LFW+), an extension of public-domain LFW, with heterogeneous demographic attributes (age, gender, and race) obtained via crowdsourcing. Experimental results on benchmarks with multiple face attributes (MORPH II, LFW+, CelebA, LFWA, and FotW) show that the proposed approach has superior performance compared to state of the art. Finally, evaluations on a public-domain face database (LAP) with a single attribute show that the proposed approach has excellent generalization ability.

Theories of willpower affect sustained learning.

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Eric M Miller

Full Text Available Building cognitive abilities often requires sustained engagement with effortful tasks. We demonstrate that beliefs about willpower-whether willpower is viewed as a limited or non-limited resource-impact sustained learning on a strenuous mental task. As predicted, beliefs about willpower did not affect accuracy or improvement during the initial phases of learning; however, participants who were led to view willpower as non-limited showed greater sustained learning over the full duration of the task. These findings highlight the interactive nature of motivational and cognitive processes: motivational factors can substantially affect people's ability to recruit their cognitive resources to sustain learning over time.

Transfer and Multi-task Learning in QSAR Modeling: Advances and Challenges

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Rodolfo S. Simões

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Medicinal chemistry projects involve some steps aiming to develop a new drug, such as the analysis of biological targets related to a given disease, the discovery and the development of drug candidates for these targets, performing parallel biological tests to validate the drug effectiveness and side effects. Approaches as quantitative study of activity-structure relationships (QSAR involve the construction of predictive models that relate a set of descriptors of a chemical compound series and its biological activities with respect to one or more targets in the human body. Datasets used to perform QSAR analyses are generally characterized by a small number of samples and this makes them more complex to build accurate predictive models. In this context, transfer and multi-task learning techniques are very suitable since they take information from other QSAR models to the same biological target, reducing efforts and costs for generating new chemical compounds. Therefore, this review will present the main features of transfer and multi-task learning studies, as well as some applications and its potentiality in drug design projects.

The cerebellum does more than sensory prediction error-based learning in sensorimotor adaptation tasks.

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Butcher, Peter A; Ivry, Richard B; Kuo, Sheng-Han; Rydz, David; Krakauer, John W; Taylor, Jordan A

2017-09-01

Individuals with damage to the cerebellum perform poorly in sensorimotor adaptation paradigms. This deficit has been attributed to impairment in sensory prediction error-based updating of an internal forward model, a form of implicit learning. These individuals can, however, successfully counter a perturbation when instructed with an explicit aiming strategy. This successful use of an instructed aiming strategy presents a paradox: In adaptation tasks, why do individuals with cerebellar damage not come up with an aiming solution on their own to compensate for their implicit learning deficit? To explore this question, we employed a variant of a visuomotor rotation task in which, before executing a movement on each trial, the participants verbally reported their intended aiming location. Compared with healthy control participants, participants with spinocerebellar ataxia displayed impairments in both implicit learning and aiming. This was observed when the visuomotor rotation was introduced abruptly ( experiment 1 ) or gradually ( experiment 2 ). This dual deficit does not appear to be related to the increased movement variance associated with ataxia: Healthy undergraduates showed little change in implicit learning or aiming when their movement feedback was artificially manipulated to produce similar levels of variability ( experiment 3 ). Taken together the results indicate that a consequence of cerebellar dysfunction is not only impaired sensory prediction error-based learning but also a difficulty in developing and/or maintaining an aiming solution in response to a visuomotor perturbation. We suggest that this dual deficit can be explained by the cerebellum forming part of a network that learns and maintains action-outcome associations across trials. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Individuals with cerebellar pathology are impaired in sensorimotor adaptation. This deficit has been attributed to an impairment in error-based learning, specifically, from a deficit in using sensory

Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Area Promotes Implicit Motor Learning in a Golf Putting Task.

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Zhu, Frank F; Yeung, Andrew Y; Poolton, Jamie M; Lee, Tatia M C; Leung, Gilberto K K; Masters, Rich S W

2015-01-01

Implicit motor learning is characterized by low dependence on working memory and stable performance despite stress, fatigue, or multi-tasking. However, current paradigms for implicit motor learning are based on behavioral interventions that are often task-specific and limited when applied in practice. To investigate whether cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) area during motor learning suppressed working memory activity and reduced explicit verbal-analytical involvement in movement control, thereby promoting implicit motor learning. Twenty-seven healthy individuals practiced a golf putting task during a Training Phase while receiving either real cathodal tDCS stimulation over the left DLPFC area or sham stimulation. Their performance was assessed during a Test phase on another day. Verbal working memory capacity was assessed before and after the Training Phase, and before the Test Phase. Compared to sham stimulation, real stimulation suppressed verbal working memory activity after the Training Phase, but enhanced golf putting performance during the Training Phase and the Test Phase, especially when participants were required to multi-task. Cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC may foster implicit motor learning and performance in complex real-life motor tasks that occur during sports, surgery or motor rehabilitation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Task Rotation: Strategies for Differentiating Activities and Assessments by Learning Style. A Strategic Teacher PLC Guide

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Silver, Harvey; Moirao, Daniel; Jackson, Joyce

2011-01-01

One of the hardest jobs in teaching is to differentiate learning activities and assessments to your students' learning styles. But you and your colleagues can learn how to do this together when each of you has this guide to the Task Rotation strategy from our ultimate guide to teaching strategies, "The Strategic Teacher". Use the guide in your…

It's the situation that matters : Affective involvement in context-oriented learning tasks

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Fechner, Sabine; van Vorst, H.; Kölbach, E.; Sumfleth, E.

2014-01-01

This chapter focuses on the evaluation of affective variables in contextbased learning (cbl) environments. Although the majority of studies in the field have shown positive effects on attitude, the need to investigate specific elements of cbl tasks has become evident. On the basis of prior research

Active Learning in PhysicsTechnology and Research-based Techniques Emphasizing Interactive Lecture Demonstrations

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Thornton, Ronald

2010-10-01

Physics education research has shown that learning environments that engage students and allow them to take an active part in their learning can lead to large conceptual gains compared to traditional instruction. Examples of successful curricula and methods include Peer Instruction, Just in Time Teaching, RealTime Physics, Workshop Physics, Scale-Up, and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs). An active learning environment is often difficult to achieve in lecture sessions. This presentation will demonstrate the use of sequences of Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) that use real experiments often involving real-time data collection and display combined with student interaction to create an active learning environment in large or small lecture classes. Interactive lecture demonstrations will be done in the area of mechanics using real-time motion probes and the Visualizer. A video tape of students involved in interactive lecture demonstrations will be shown. The results of a number of research studies at various institutions (including international) to measure the effectiveness of ILDs and guided inquiry conceptual laboratories will be presented.

Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

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Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of two years. The groups were compared on a measure of non-linguistic task-shifting; measures of verbal short-term and working memory; and measures of word-learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non-linguistic task-shifting and verbal short-term memory. However, the classroom-exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word-learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning. PMID:24576079

Effects of caloric restriction on learning and recovery of a spatial task in rats exposed to acute stress

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Lamprea Rodríguez, Marisol

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to describe the effects of caloric restriction on spatial learning and recovery in the Barnes maze in animals experimentally stressed before recovery of the spatial task. Male Wistar rats were exposed for two months to one of two conditions: ad libitum (AL or intermittent fasting (IF. Both groups were exposed then to an experimental form of acute stress, induced by movement restriction for 4 hours. IF subjects had better performance in learning tasks during the acquisition trials but required more time to complete the task after the stressor was applied. These results are discussed in light of previous data reported in the literature emphasizing differences in the instruments used to evaluate spatial learning and its interaction with experimentally induced stress.

Selective social learning in infancy: looking for mechanisms.

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Crivello, Cristina; Phillips, Sara; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

2018-05-01

Although there is mounting evidence that selective social learning begins in infancy, the psychological mechanisms underlying this ability are currently a controversial issue. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether theory of mind abilities and statistical learning skills are related to infants' selective social learning. Seventy-seven 18-month-olds were first exposed to a reliable or an unreliable speaker and then completed a word learning task, two theory of mind tasks, and a statistical learning task. If domain-general abilities are linked to selective social learning, then infants who demonstrate superior performance on the statistical learning task should perform better on the selective learning task, that is, should be less likely to learn words from an unreliable speaker. Alternatively, if domain-specific abilities are involved, then superior performance on theory of mind tasks should be related to selective learning performance. Findings revealed that, as expected, infants were more likely to learn a novel word from a reliable speaker. Importantly, infants who passed a theory of mind task assessing knowledge attribution were significantly less likely to learn a novel word from an unreliable speaker compared to infants who failed this task. No such effect was observed for the other tasks. These results suggest that infants who possess superior social-cognitive abilities are more apt to reject an unreliable speaker as informant. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/zuuCniHYzqo. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Same/different concept learning by capuchin monkeys in matching-to-sample tasks.

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Valentina Truppa

Full Text Available The ability to understand similarities and analogies is a fundamental aspect of human advanced cognition. Although subject of considerable research in comparative cognition, the extent to which nonhuman species are capable of analogical reasoning is still debated. This study examined the conditions under which tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella acquire a same/different concept in a matching-to-sample task on the basis of relational similarity among multi-item stimuli. We evaluated (i the ability of five capuchin monkeys to learn the same/different concept on the basis of the number of items composing the stimuli and (ii the ability to match novel stimuli after training with both several small stimulus sets and a large stimulus set. We found the first evidence of same/different relational matching-to-sample abilities in a New World monkey and demonstrated that the ability to match novel stimuli is within the capacity of this species. Therefore, analogical reasoning can emerge in monkeys under specific training conditions.

Same/Different Concept Learning by Capuchin Monkeys in Matching-to-Sample Tasks

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Truppa, Valentina; Piano Mortari, Eva; Garofoli, Duilio; Privitera, Sara; Visalberghi, Elisabetta

2011-01-01

The ability to understand similarities and analogies is a fundamental aspect of human advanced cognition. Although subject of considerable research in comparative cognition, the extent to which nonhuman species are capable of analogical reasoning is still debated. This study examined the conditions under which tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) acquire a same/different concept in a matching-to-sample task on the basis of relational similarity among multi-item stimuli. We evaluated (i) the ability of five capuchin monkeys to learn the same/different concept on the basis of the number of items composing the stimuli and (ii) the ability to match novel stimuli after training with both several small stimulus sets and a large stimulus set. We found the first evidence of same/different relational matching-to-sample abilities in a New World monkey and demonstrated that the ability to match novel stimuli is within the capacity of this species. Therefore, analogical reasoning can emerge in monkeys under specific training conditions. PMID:21858225

Sensorimotor Learning during a Marksmanship Task in Immersive Virtual Reality

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Hrishikesh M. Rao

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sensorimotor learning refers to improvements that occur through practice in the performance of sensory-guided motor behaviors. Leveraging novel technical capabilities of an immersive virtual environment, we probed the component kinematic processes that mediate sensorimotor learning. Twenty naïve subjects performed a simulated marksmanship task modeled after Olympic Trap Shooting standards. We measured movement kinematics and shooting performance as participants practiced 350 trials while receiving trial-by-trial feedback about shooting success. Spatiotemporal analysis of motion tracking elucidated the ballistic and refinement phases of hand movements. We found systematic changes in movement kinematics that accompanied improvements in shot accuracy during training, though reaction and response times did not change over blocks. In particular, we observed longer, slower, and more precise ballistic movements that replaced effort spent on corrections and refinement. Collectively, these results leverage developments in immersive virtual reality technology to quantify and compare the kinematics of movement during early learning of full-body sensorimotor orienting.

Sensorimotor Learning during a Marksmanship Task in Immersive Virtual Reality.

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Rao, Hrishikesh M; Khanna, Rajan; Zielinski, David J; Lu, Yvonne; Clements, Jillian M; Potter, Nicholas D; Sommer, Marc A; Kopper, Regis; Appelbaum, Lawrence G

2018-01-01

Sensorimotor learning refers to improvements that occur through practice in the performance of sensory-guided motor behaviors. Leveraging novel technical capabilities of an immersive virtual environment, we probed the component kinematic processes that mediate sensorimotor learning. Twenty naïve subjects performed a simulated marksmanship task modeled after Olympic Trap Shooting standards. We measured movement kinematics and shooting performance as participants practiced 350 trials while receiving trial-by-trial feedback about shooting success. Spatiotemporal analysis of motion tracking elucidated the ballistic and refinement phases of hand movements. We found systematic changes in movement kinematics that accompanied improvements in shot accuracy during training, though reaction and response times did not change over blocks. In particular, we observed longer, slower, and more precise ballistic movements that replaced effort spent on corrections and refinement. Collectively, these results leverage developments in immersive virtual reality technology to quantify and compare the kinematics of movement during early learning of full-body sensorimotor orienting.

Evaluation of linearly solvable Markov decision process with dynamic model learning in a mobile robot navigation task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ken eKinjo

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Linearly solvable Markov Decision Process (LMDP is a class of optimal control problem in whichthe Bellman’s equation can be converted into a linear equation by an exponential transformation ofthe state value function (Todorov, 2009. In an LMDP, the optimal value function and the correspondingcontrol policy are obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem in a discrete state space or an eigenfunctionproblem in a continuous state using the knowledge of the system dynamics and the action, state, andterminal cost functions.In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of the LMDP framework in real robot control, in whichthe dynamics of the body and the environment have to be learned from experience. We first perform asimulation study of a pole swing-up task to evaluate the effect of the accuracy of the learned dynam-ics model on the derived the action policy. The result shows that a crude linear approximation of thenonlinear dynamics can still allow solution of the task, despite with a higher total cost.We then perform real robot experiments of a battery-catching task using our Spring Dog mobile robotplatform. The state is given by the position and the size of a battery in its camera view and two neck jointangles. The action is the velocities of two wheels, while the neck joints were controlled by a visual servocontroller. We test linear and bilinear dynamic models in tasks with quadratic and Guassian state costfunctions. In the quadratic cost task, the LMDP controller derived from a learned linear dynamics modelperformed equivalently with the optimal linear quadratic controller (LQR. In the non-quadratic task, theLMDP controller with a linear dynamics model showed the best performance. The results demonstratethe usefulness of the LMDP framework in real robot control even when simple linear models are usedfor dynamics learning.

Region and task-specific activation of Arc in primary motor cortex of rats following motor skill learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosp, J A; Mann, S; Wegenast-Braun, B M; Calhoun, M E; Luft, A R

2013-10-10

Motor learning requires protein synthesis within the primary motor cortex (M1). Here, we show that the immediate early gene Arc/Arg3.1 is specifically induced in M1 by learning a motor skill. Arc mRNA was quantified using a fluorescent in situ hybridization assay in adult Long-Evans rats learning a skilled reaching task (SRT), in rats performing reaching-like forelimb movement without learning (ACT) and in rats that were trained in the operant but not the motor elements of the task (controls). Apart from M1, Arc expression was assessed within the rostral motor area (RMA), primary somatosensory cortex (S1), striatum (ST) and cerebellum. In SRT animals, Arc mRNA levels in M1 contralateral to the trained limb were 31% higher than ipsilateral (pmotor skill learning in rats. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successfully carrying out complex learning-tasks through guiding teams' qualitative and quantitative reasoning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slof, B.; Erkens, G.; Kirschner, P. A.; Janssen, J.; Jaspers, J. G. M.

This study investigated whether and how scripting learners' use of representational tools in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)-environment fostered their collaborative performance on a complex business-economics task. Scripting the problem-solving process sequenced and made its

The Effect of Task-based Teaching on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in English for Specific Purposes

OpenAIRE

FALLAHRAFIE, Zahra; RAHMANY, Ramin; SADEGHI, Bahador

2015-01-01

Abstract. Learning vocabulary is an essential part of language learning linking the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing together. This paper considers the incidental vocabulary teaching and learning within the framework of task-based activities in the hope of improving learners’ vocabulary acquiring in English for Specific Purposes courses (ESP), concentrating on Mechanical Engineering students at Islamic Azad University of Hashtgerd, Iran. A total number of 55 male and fe...

Cerebellar tDCS does not enhance performance in an implicit categorization learning task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.C. Verhage (Claire); E. Avila (Eric); M.A. Frens (Maarten); O. Donchin (Opher); J.N. van der Geest (Jos)

2017-01-01

textabstractBackground: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive electrical stimulation that changes neuronal excitability in a polarity and site-specific manner. In cognitive tasks related to prefrontal and cerebellar learning, cortical tDCS arguably facilitates

Simple Plans or Sophisticated Habits? State, Transition and Learning Interactions in the Two-Step Task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Akam

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The recently developed 'two-step' behavioural task promises to differentiate model-based from model-free reinforcement learning, while generating neurophysiologically-friendly decision datasets with parametric variation of decision variables. These desirable features have prompted its widespread adoption. Here, we analyse the interactions between a range of different strategies and the structure of transitions and outcomes in order to examine constraints on what can be learned from behavioural performance. The task involves a trade-off between the need for stochasticity, to allow strategies to be discriminated, and a need for determinism, so that it is worth subjects' investment of effort to exploit the contingencies optimally. We show through simulation that under certain conditions model-free strategies can masquerade as being model-based. We first show that seemingly innocuous modifications to the task structure can induce correlations between action values at the start of the trial and the subsequent trial events in such a way that analysis based on comparing successive trials can lead to erroneous conclusions. We confirm the power of a suggested correction to the analysis that can alleviate this problem. We then consider model-free reinforcement learning strategies that exploit correlations between where rewards are obtained and which actions have high expected value. These generate behaviour that appears model-based under these, and also more sophisticated, analyses. Exploiting the full potential of the two-step task as a tool for behavioural neuroscience requires an understanding of these issues.

Simple Plans or Sophisticated Habits? State, Transition and Learning Interactions in the Two-Step Task

Science.gov (United States)

Akam, Thomas; Costa, Rui; Dayan, Peter

2015-01-01

The recently developed ‘two-step’ behavioural task promises to differentiate model-based from model-free reinforcement learning, while generating neurophysiologically-friendly decision datasets with parametric variation of decision variables. These desirable features have prompted its widespread adoption. Here, we analyse the interactions between a range of different strategies and the structure of transitions and outcomes in order to examine constraints on what can be learned from behavioural performance. The task involves a trade-off between the need for stochasticity, to allow strategies to be discriminated, and a need for determinism, so that it is worth subjects’ investment of effort to exploit the contingencies optimally. We show through simulation that under certain conditions model-free strategies can masquerade as being model-based. We first show that seemingly innocuous modifications to the task structure can induce correlations between action values at the start of the trial and the subsequent trial events in such a way that analysis based on comparing successive trials can lead to erroneous conclusions. We confirm the power of a suggested correction to the analysis that can alleviate this problem. We then consider model-free reinforcement learning strategies that exploit correlations between where rewards are obtained and which actions have high expected value. These generate behaviour that appears model-based under these, and also more sophisticated, analyses. Exploiting the full potential of the two-step task as a tool for behavioural neuroscience requires an understanding of these issues. PMID:26657806

Simple Plans or Sophisticated Habits? State, Transition and Learning Interactions in the Two-Step Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Akam, Thomas; Costa, Rui; Dayan, Peter

2015-12-01

The recently developed 'two-step' behavioural task promises to differentiate model-based from model-free reinforcement learning, while generating neurophysiologically-friendly decision datasets with parametric variation of decision variables. These desirable features have prompted its widespread adoption. Here, we analyse the interactions between a range of different strategies and the structure of transitions and outcomes in order to examine constraints on what can be learned from behavioural performance. The task involves a trade-off between the need for stochasticity, to allow strategies to be discriminated, and a need for determinism, so that it is worth subjects' investment of effort to exploit the contingencies optimally. We show through simulation that under certain conditions model-free strategies can masquerade as being model-based. We first show that seemingly innocuous modifications to the task structure can induce correlations between action values at the start of the trial and the subsequent trial events in such a way that analysis based on comparing successive trials can lead to erroneous conclusions. We confirm the power of a suggested correction to the analysis that can alleviate this problem. We then consider model-free reinforcement learning strategies that exploit correlations between where rewards are obtained and which actions have high expected value. These generate behaviour that appears model-based under these, and also more sophisticated, analyses. Exploiting the full potential of the two-step task as a tool for behavioural neuroscience requires an understanding of these issues.

Task Repetition Effects on L1 Use in EFL Child Task-Based Interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Azkarai, Agurtzane; García Mayo, María del Pilar

2017-01-01

Research has shown that tasks provide second language (L2) learners with many opportunities to learn the L2. Task repetition has been claimed to benefit L2 learning since familiarity with procedure and/or content gives learners the chance to focus on more specific aspects of language. Most research on task repetition has focused on adult…

Non-linguistic learning in aphasia: Effects of training method and stimulus characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Vallila-Rohter, Sofia; Kiran, Swathi

2013-01-01

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to explore non-linguistic learning ability in patients with aphasia, examining the impact of stimulus typicality and feedback on success with learning. Method Eighteen patients with aphasia and eight healthy controls participated in this study. All participants completed four computerized, non-linguistic category-learning tasks. We probed learning ability under two methods of instruction: feedback-based (FB) and paired-associate (PA). We also examined the impact of task complexity on learning ability, comparing two stimulus conditions: typical (Typ) and atypical (Atyp). Performance was compared between groups and across conditions. Results Results demonstrated that healthy controls were able to successfully learn categories under all conditions. For our patients with aphasia, two patterns of performance arose. One subgroup of patients was able to maintain learning across task manipulations and conditions. The other subgroup of patients demonstrated a sensitivity to task complexity, learning successfully only in the typical training conditions. Conclusions Results support the hypothesis that impairments of general learning are present in aphasia. Some patients demonstrated the ability to extract category information under complex training conditions, while others learned only under conditions that were simplified and emphasized salient category features. Overall, the typical training condition facilitated learning for all participants. Findings have implications for therapy, which are discussed. PMID:23695914

Learning Style and Task Performance in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication: A Case Study of Iranian EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Hedayati, Mohsen; Foomani, Elham Mohammadi

2015-01-01

The study reported here explores whether English as a foreign Language (EFL) learners' preferred ways of learning (i.e., learning styles) affect their task performance in computer-mediated communication (CMC). As Ellis (2010) points out, while the increasing use of different sorts of technology is witnessed in language learning contexts, it is…

Task-related functional connectivity of the caudate mediates the association between trait mindfulness and implicit learning in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Stillman, Chelsea M; You, Xiaozhen; Seaman, Kendra L; Vaidya, Chandan J; Howard, James H; Howard, Darlene V

2016-08-01

Accumulating evidence shows a positive relationship between mindfulness and explicit cognitive functioning, i.e., that which occurs with conscious intent and awareness. However, recent evidence suggests that there may be a negative relationship between mindfulness and implicit types of learning, or those that occur without conscious awareness or intent. Here we examined the neural mechanisms underlying the recently reported negative relationship between dispositional mindfulness and implicit probabilistic sequence learning in both younger and older adults. We tested the hypothesis that the relationship is mediated by communication, or functional connectivity, of brain regions once traditionally considered to be central to dissociable learning systems: the caudate, medial temporal lobe (MTL), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). We first replicated the negative relationship between mindfulness and implicit learning in a sample of healthy older adults (60-90 years old) who completed three event-related runs of an implicit sequence learning task. Then, using a seed-based connectivity approach, we identified task-related connectivity associated with individual differences in both learning and mindfulness. The main finding was that caudate-MTL connectivity (bilaterally) was positively correlated with learning and negatively correlated with mindfulness. Further, the strength of task-related connectivity between these regions mediated the negative relationship between mindfulness and learning. This pattern of results was limited to the older adults. Thus, at least in healthy older adults, the functional communication between two interactive learning-relevant systems can account for the relationship between mindfulness and implicit probabilistic sequence learning.

A non-linear manifold alignment approach to robot learning from demonstrations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Makondo, Ndivhuwo

2018-04-01

Full Text Available with potentially different, but unknown, kinematics from humans. This paper proposes a method that enables robots with unknown kinematics to learn skills from demonstrations. Our proposed method requires a motion trajectory obtained from human demonstrations via a...

Task complexity as a driver for collaborative learning efficiency: The collective working-memory effect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2010-01-01

Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P. A. (2011). Task complexity as a driver for collaborative learning efficiency: The collective working-memory effect. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 615–624. doi: 10.1002/acp.1730.

Bridges to Swaziland: Using Task-Based Learning and Computer-Mediated Instruction to Improve English Language Teaching and Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Pierson, Susan Jacques

2015-01-01

One way to provide high quality instruction for underserved English Language Learners around the world is to combine Task-Based English Language Learning with Computer- Assisted Instruction. As part of an ongoing project, "Bridges to Swaziland," these approaches have been implemented in a determined effort to improve the ESL program for…

Evaluation of social interaction, task management, and trust among dental hygiene students in a collaborative learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Saylor, Catherine D; Keselyak, Nancy T; Simmer-Beck, Melanie; Tira, Daniel

2011-02-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of collaborative learning on the development of social interaction, task management, and trust in dental hygiene students. These three traits were assessed with the Teamwork Assessment Scale in two different learning environments (traditional lecture/lab and collaborative learning environment). A convenience sample of fifty-six entry-level dental hygiene students taking an introductory/preclinic course at two metropolitan area dental hygiene programs provided comparable experimental and control groups. Factor scores were computed for the three traits, and comparisons were conducted using the Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsh multiple comparison procedure among specific cell comparisons generated from a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicate that the collaborative learning environment influenced dental hygiene students positively regarding the traits of social interaction, task management, and trust. However, comparing dental hygiene students to undergraduate students overall indicates that dental hygiene students already possess somewhat higher levels of these traits. Future studies on active learning strategies should examine factors such as student achievement and explore other possible active learning methodologies.

Different slopes for different folks: alpha and delta EEG power predict subsequent video game learning rate and improvements in cognitive control tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathewson, Kyle E; Basak, Chandramallika; Maclin, Edward L; Low, Kathy A; Boot, Walter R; Kramer, Arthur F; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele

2012-12-01

We hypothesized that control processes, as measured using electrophysiological (EEG) variables, influence the rate of learning of complex tasks. Specifically, we measured alpha power, event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs), and event-related brain potentials during early training of the Space Fortress task, and correlated these measures with subsequent learning rate and performance in transfer tasks. Once initial score was partialled out, the best predictors were frontal alpha power and alpha and delta ERSPs, but not P300. By combining these predictors, we could explain about 50% of the learning rate variance and 10%-20% of the variance in transfer to other tasks using only pretraining EEG measures. Thus, control processes, as indexed by alpha and delta EEG oscillations, can predict learning and skill improvements. The results are of potential use to optimize training regimes. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Warping similarity space in category learning by human subjects: the role of task difficulty

OpenAIRE

Pevtzow, Rachel; Harnad, Stevan

1997-01-01

In innate Categorical Perception (CP) (e.g., colour perception), similarity space is "warped," with regions of increased within-category similarity (compression) and regions of reduced between-category similarity (separation) enh ancing the category boundaries and making categorisation reliable and all-or-none rather than graded. We show that category learning can likewise warp similarity space, resolving uncertainty near category boundaries. Two Hard and two Easy texture learning tasks were ...

Learning outdoors: male lizards show flexible spatial learning under semi-natural conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Noble, Daniel W. A.; Carazo, Pau; Whiting, Martin J.

2012-01-01

Spatial cognition is predicted to be a fundamental component of fitness in many lizard species, and yet some studies suggest that it is relatively slow and inflexible. However, such claims are based on work conducted using experimental designs or in artificial contexts that may underestimate their cognitive abilities. We used a biologically realistic experimental procedure (using simulated predatory attacks) to study spatial learning and its flexibility in the lizard Eulamprus quoyii in semi-natural outdoor enclosures under similar conditions to those experienced by lizards in the wild. To evaluate the flexibility of spatial learning, we conducted a reversal spatial-learning task in which positive and negative reinforcements of learnt spatial stimuli were switched. Nineteen (32%) male lizards learnt both tasks within 10 days (spatial task mean: 8.16 ± 0.69 (s.e.) and reversal spatial task mean: 10.74 ± 0.98 (s.e.) trials). We demonstrate that E. quoyii are capable of flexible spatial learning and suggest that future studies focus on a range of lizard species which differ in phylogeny and/or ecology, using biologically relevant cognitive tasks, in an effort to bridge the cognitive divide between ecto- and endotherms. PMID:23075525

“Bear-ly” learning: Limits of abstraction in black bear cognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Vonk

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We presented two American black bears (Ursus americanus with a serial list learning memory task, and one of the bears with a matching-to-sample task. After extended training, both bears demonstrated some success with the memory task but failed to generalize the overarching rule of the task to novel stimuli. Matching to sample proved even more difficult for our bear to learn. We conclude that, despite previous success in training bears to respond to natural categories, quantity discriminations, and other related tasks, that bears may possess a cognitive limitation with regards to learning abstract rules. Future tests using different procedures are necessary to determine whether this is a limit of bears’ cognitive capacities, or a limitation of the current tasks as presented. Future tests should present a larger number of varying stimuli. Ideally, bears of various species should be tested on these tasks to demonstrate species as well as individual differences.

Integration of the information problem-solving skill in an educational programme: The effects of learning with authentic tasks.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Wopereis, Iwan

2008-01-01

Brand-Gruwel, S., & Wopereis, I. (2006). Integration of the information problem-solving skill in an educational programme: The effects of learning with authentic tasks. Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning, 4, 243-263.

Motor Learning of a Bimanual Task in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Ya-Ching; Gordon, Andrew M.

2013-01-01

Children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) have been shown to improve their motor performance with sufficient practice. However, little is known about how they learn goal-oriented tasks. In the current study, 21 children with unilateral CP (age 4-10 years old) and 21 age-matched typically developed children (TDC) practiced a simple bimanual…

Future goal setting, task motivation and learning of minority and non-minority students in Dutch schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Andriessen, Iris; Phalet, Karen; Lens, Willy

2006-12-01

Cross-cultural research on minority school achievement yields mixed findings on the motivational impact of future goal setting for students from disadvantaged minority groups. Relevant and recent motivational research, integrating Future Time Perspective Theory with Self-Determination Theory, has not yet been validated among minority students. To replicate across cultures the known motivational benefits of perceived instrumentality and internal regulation by distant future goals; to clarify when and how the future motivates minority students' educational performance. Participants in this study were 279 minority students (100 of Turkish and 179 of Moroccan origin) and 229 native Dutch students in Dutch secondary schools. Participants rated the importance of future goals, their perceptions of instrumentality, their task motivation and learning strategies. Dependent measures and their functional relations with future goal setting were simultaneously validated across minority and non-minority students, using structural equation modelling in multiple groups. As expected, Positive Perceived Instrumentality for the future increases task motivation and (indirectly) adaptive learning of both minority and non-minority students. But especially internally regulating future goals are strongly related to more task motivation and indirectly to more adaptive learning strategies. Our findings throw new light on the role of future goal setting in minority school careers: distant future goals enhance minority and non-minority students' motivation and learning, if students perceive positive instrumentality and if their schoolwork is internally regulated by future goals.

Performance of Children with Developmental Dyslexia on High and Low Topological Entropy Artificial Grammar Learning Task

Science.gov (United States)

Katan, Pesia; Kahta, Shani; Sasson, Ayelet; Schiff, Rachel

2017-01-01

Graph complexity as measured by topological entropy has been previously shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning tasks among typically developing children. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of graph complexity on implicit sequential learning among children with developmental dyslexia. Our goal was to determine…

Student Task Analysis for the Development of E-Learning Lectural System in Basic Chemistry Courses in FKIP UMMY Solok

Science.gov (United States)

Afrahamiryano, A.; Ariani, D.

2018-04-01

The student task analysis is one part of the define stage in development research using the 4-D development model. Analysis of this task is useful to determine the level of understanding of students on lecture materials that have been given. The results of this task analysis serve as a measuring tool to determine the level of success of learning and as a basis in the development of lecture system. Analysis of this task is done by the method of observation and documentation study of the tasks undertaken by students. The results of this analysis are then described and after that triangulation are done to draw conclusions. The results of the analysis indicate that the students' level of understanding is high for theoretical and low material for counting material. Based on the results of this task analysis, it can be concluded that e-learning lecture system developed should be able to increase students' understanding on basic chemicals that are calculated.

I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Learning Dynamics and Effects of Feedback Type and Monetary Incentive in a Paired Associate Deterministic Learning Task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magda Gawlowska

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Effective functioning in a complex environment requires adjusting of behavior according to changing situational demands. To do so, organisms must learn new, more adaptive behaviors by extracting the necessary information from externally provided feedback. Not surprisingly, feedback-guided learning has been extensively studied using multiple research paradigms. The purpose of the present study was to test the newly designed Paired Associate Deterministic Learning task (PADL, in which participants were presented with either positive or negative deterministic feedback. Moreover, we manipulated the level of motivation in the learning process by comparing blocks with strictly cognitive, informative feedback to blocks where participants were additionally motivated by anticipated monetary reward or loss. Our results proved the PADL to be a useful tool not only for studying the learning process in a deterministic environment, but also, due to the varying task conditions, for assessing differences in learning patterns. Particularly, we show that the learning process itself is influenced by manipulating both the type of feedback information and the motivational significance associated with the expected monetary reward.

Effects of Ginsenoside Rg1 on Learning and Memory in a Reward-directed Instrumental Conditioning Task in Chronic Restraint Stressed Rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Kezhu, Wang; Pan, Xu; Cong, Lu; Liming, Dong; Beiyue, Zhang; Jingwei, Lu; Yanyan, Yang; Xinmin, Liu

2017-01-01

Ginsenoside Rg1 is one of the major active ingredients of Panax ginseng and has showed notable improving learning and memory effects in several behavioral tasks, such as water maze, shuttle-box, and step-through, based on avoidance. However, there was no report about the role of Rg1 on the performance of reward-directed instrumental conditioning, which could reflect the adaptive capacity to ever-changing environments. Thus, in this study, the reward devaluation test and conditional visual discrimination task were conducted to study the ameliorating effects of Rg1 on cognitive deficits, especially the loss of adaptation capacity in chronic restraint stress (CRS) rat model. Our results showed that rat subjected to CRS became insensitive to the changes in outcome value, and it significantly harmed the rat's performance in conditional visual discrimination task. Moreover, the levels of BDNF, TrkB, and Erk phosphorylation were decreased in the prefrontal cortex of CRS rats. However, these changes were effectively reversed by Rg1 (5 and 10 mg/kg, i.p.). Therefore, it demonstrated that Rg1 has a good ability to improve learning and memory and also ameliorate impaired adaptive capacity induced by CRS. This amelioration effect of Rg1 might be mediated partially by BDNF/TrkB/Erk pathway in prefrontal cortex. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Learning to Control Orientation and Force in a Hammering Task The Initial Stage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vernooij, Carlijn A.; Mouton, Leonora J.; Bongers, Raoul M.

2012-01-01

The ability to create stone tools is considered an important step in the emergence of human cognition. To further our understanding of these evolutionary processes we focused on the initial learning processes with which this percussive skill may be acquired. We studied a hammering task in which

Adversarial Advantage Actor-Critic Model for Task-Completion Dialogue Policy Learning

OpenAIRE

Peng, Baolin; Li, Xiujun; Gao, Jianfeng; Liu, Jingjing; Chen, Yun-Nung; Wong, Kam-Fai

2017-01-01

This paper presents a new method --- adversarial advantage actor-critic (Adversarial A2C), which significantly improves the efficiency of dialogue policy learning in task-completion dialogue systems. Inspired by generative adversarial networks (GAN), we train a discriminator to differentiate responses/actions generated by dialogue agents from responses/actions by experts. Then, we incorporate the discriminator as another critic into the advantage actor-critic (A2C) framework, to encourage the...

Environmental management technology demonstration and commercialization: Tasks 2, 3, 4, and 8. Semiannual report, October 1994--March 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hawthorne, S.B.; Ness, R.O. Jr.; Nowok, J.W.; Pflughoeft-Hassett, D.; Hurley, J.P.; Steadman, E.N.

1995-05-01

The objective of the Environmental Management program at the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) is to develop, demonstrate, and commercialize technologies that address the environmental management needs of contaminated sites, including characterization, sensors, and monitoring; low-level mixed waste processing; material disposition technology; improved waste forms; in situ containment and remediation; and efficient separation technologies for radioactive wastes. Task 2 is the extraction and analysis of pollutant organics from contaminated solids using off-line supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and on-line SFE-infrared spectroscopy. Task 3, pyrolysis of plastics, has as its objectives to develop a commercial process to significantly reduce the volume of mixed-plastics-paper-resin waste contaminated with low-level radioactive material; concentrate contaminants in a collectible form; and determine the distribution and form of contaminants after pyrolysis of the mixed waste. Task 4, stabilization of vitrified wastes, has as its objectives to (1) demonstrate a waste vitrification procedure for enhanced stabilization of waste materials and (2) develop a testing protocol to understand the long-term leaching behavior of the stabilized waste form. The primary objective of Task 8, Management and reporting, is coordination of this project with other programs and opportunities. In addition, management oversight will be maintained to ensure that tasks are completed and coordinated as planned and that deliverables are submitted in a timely manner. Accomplishments to date is each task are described. 62 refs

A 1-night operant learning task without food-restriction differentiates among mouse strains in an automated home-cage environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Remmelink, Esther; Loos, Maarten; Koopmans, Bastijn; Aarts, Emmeke; van der Sluis, Sophie; Smit, August B; Verhage, Matthijs

2015-01-01

Individuals are able to change their behavior based on its consequences, a process involving instrumental learning. Studying instrumental learning in mice can provide new insights in this elementary aspect of cognition. Conventional appetitive operant learning tasks that facilitate the study of this

The effect of action video game playing on sensorimotor learning: Evidence from a movement tracking task.

Science.gov (United States)

Gozli, Davood G; Bavelier, Daphne; Pratt, Jay

2014-10-12

Research on the impact of action video game playing has revealed performance advantages on a wide range of perceptual and cognitive tasks. It is not known, however, if playing such games confers similar advantages in sensorimotor learning. To address this issue, the present study used a manual motion-tracking task that allowed for a sensitive measure of both accuracy and improvement over time. When the target motion pattern was consistent over trials, gamers improved with a faster rate and eventually outperformed non-gamers. Performance between the two groups, however, did not differ initially. When the target motion was inconsistent, changing on every trial, results revealed no difference between gamers and non-gamers. Together, our findings suggest that video game playing confers no reliable benefit in sensorimotor control, but it does enhance sensorimotor learning, enabling superior performance in tasks with consistent and predictable structure. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Using tasks to enhance beginners’ orientations for learning Chinese as a foreign language

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruan, Youjin; Duan, Xiaoju; Du, Xiangyun

2015-01-01

, and by what these changes are caused, in a university-wide CFL course using task-based teaching and learning (TBTL). The study identifies four orientations. Results indicate that the knowledge orientation plays a vital role in the learning process, while instrumental orientation appears to be the least...... important to students. Furthermore, the study indicates that all orientations have been enhanced by the end of the course, meaning the learners have developed clearer goals for further study in a TBTL environment. We also show that several external and internal factors, such as the motivating course design...... and enhance learner motivation. The study also discusses challenges encountered in helping beginners learn a foreign language via TBTL....

A Brief Introduction of Task-based Approach

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王丹

2012-01-01

The task-based language teaching approach is one of the syllabus models that have been proposed in the last twenty years or so. Task-based syllabus represent a particular realization of communicative language teaching. Task-based teaching/learning helps develop students’ communicative competence, enabling them to communicate effectively in real communicating world and engage in interaction. The most active element in the process of the task-based teaching is the learner’ creativity. By exploiting this kind of creativity, learning can be made significantly more efficient and more interesting. It is well-known that the task-based teaching/learning have a rich potential for promoting successful second language learning than the traditional teaching/learning. Task-based approach is reflected not only in China but also in some other countries, such as America, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and son on.

Articulatory Control in Childhood Apraxia of Speech in a Novel Word-Learning Task

Science.gov (United States)

Case, Julie; Grigos, Maria I.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Articulatory control and speech production accuracy were examined in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and typically developing (TD) controls within a novel word-learning task to better understand the influence of planning and programming deficits in the production of unfamiliar words. Method: Participants included 16…

Rational drug therapy education in clinical phase carried out by task-based learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bilge, S. Sırrı; Akyüz, Bahar; Ağrı, Arzu Erdal; Özlem, Mıdık

2017-01-01

Objectives: Irrational drug use results in drug interactions, treatment noncompliance, and drug resistance. Rational pharmacotherapy education is being implemented in many faculties of medicine. Our aim is to introduce rational pharmacotherapy education by clinicians and to evaluate task-based rational drug therapy education in the clinical context. Methods: The Kirkpatrick's evaluation model was used for the evaluation of the program. The participants evaluated the program in terms of constituents of the program, utilization, and contribution to learning. Voluntary participants responded to the evaluation forms after the educational program. Data are evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative tools. SPSS (version 21) used for quantitative data for determining mean and standard deviation values. Descriptive qualitative analysis approach is used for the analysis of open-ended questions. Results: It was revealed that the program and its components have been favorable. A total 95.9% of the students consider the education to be beneficial. Simulated patients practice and personal drug choice/problem-based learning sessions were appreciated by the students in particular. 93.9% of the students stated that all students of medicine should undergo this educational program. Among the five presentations contained in the program, “The Principles of Prescribing” received the highest points (9 ± 1.00) from participating students in general evaluation of the educational program. Conclusion: This study was carried out to improve task-based rational drug therapy education. According to feedback from the students concerning content, method, resource, assessment, and program design; some important changes, especially in number of facilitators and indications, are made in rational pharmacotherapy education in clinical task-based learning program. PMID:28458432

Intrinsic motivation and learning in a schizophrenia spectrum sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jimmy; Medalia, Alice

2010-05-01

A motivation is a telling hallmark of negative symptomatology in schizophrenia, and it impacts nearly every facet of behavior, including inclination to attempt the difficult cognitive tasks involved in cognitive remediation therapy. Experiences of external reward, reinforcement, and hedonic anticipatory enjoyment are diminished in psychosis, so therapeutics which instead target intrinsic motivation for cognitive tasks may enhance task engagement, and subsequently, remediation outcome. We examined whether outpatients could attain benefits from an intrinsically motivating instructional approach which (a) presents learning materials in a meaningful game-like context, (b) personalizes elements of the learning materials into themes of high interest value, and (c) offers choices so patients can increase their control over the learning process. We directly compared one learning method that incorporated the motivational paradigm into an arithmetic learning program against another method that carefully manipulated out the motivational variables in the same learning program. Fifty-seven subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomly assigned to one of the two learning programs for 10 thirty-minute sessions while an intent-to-treat convenience subsample (n=15) was used to account for practice effect. Outcome measures were arithmetic learning, attention, motivation, self competency, and symptom severity. Results showed the motivational group (a) acquired more arithmetic skill, (b) possessed greater intrinsic motivation for the task, (c) reported greater feelings of self competency post-treatment, and (d) demonstrated better post-test attention. Interestingly, baseline perception of self competency was a significant predictor of post-test arithmetic scores. Results demonstrated that incorporating intrinsically motivating instructional techniques into a difficult cognitive task promoted greater learning of the material, higher levels of intrinsic

Quantum machine learning with glow for episodic tasks and decision games

Science.gov (United States)

Clausen, Jens; Briegel, Hans J.

2018-02-01

We consider a general class of models, where a reinforcement learning (RL) agent learns from cyclic interactions with an external environment via classical signals. Perceptual inputs are encoded as quantum states, which are subsequently transformed by a quantum channel representing the agent's memory, while the outcomes of measurements performed at the channel's output determine the agent's actions. The learning takes place via stepwise modifications of the channel properties. They are described by an update rule that is inspired by the projective simulation (PS) model and equipped with a glow mechanism that allows for a backpropagation of policy changes, analogous to the eligibility traces in RL and edge glow in PS. In this way, the model combines features of PS with the ability for generalization, offered by its physical embodiment as a quantum system. We apply the agent to various setups of an invasion game and a grid world, which serve as elementary model tasks allowing a direct comparison with a basic classical PS agent.

The Effect of Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy of Output Task and Learning of Target Form

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Mohammad Reza Hasannejad

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The effect of error feedback on the accuracy of output task types such as editing task, text reconstruction task, picture cued writing task, and dictogloss task, has not been clearly explored. Following arguments concerning that the combination of both corrective feedback and output makes it difficult to determine whether their effects were in combination or alone, the purpose of the present study is to document the role of teachers’ feedback in improving the accuracy of linguistic form in output tasks and in acquiring target form. To this end, this study compared three groups of Iranian intermediate learners (N= 93, one with direct grammar feedback, the other one with indirect grammar feedback and the last one with no grammar feedback. In terms of the target form uptake from first to subsequent text reconstruction tasks, the analysis of the data obtained within ten treatment sessions indicated that the participants, who received written corrective feedback compared to those who did not, progressed significantly from the first to the subsequent output tasks. In terms of learning, the learners who had the opportunities for receiving feedback performed significantly better than those in non- feedback condition on the production and recognition post- tests although explicit feedback rather than implicit feedback led to greater learning of target form on the production test, but no significant differences were found in relative efficacy of the two written corrective feedback types as far as the result of the recognition test was concerned.

Helping reasoners succeed in the Wason selection task: when executive learning discourages heuristic response but does not necessarily encourage logic.

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Sandrine Rossi

Full Text Available Reasoners make systematic logical errors by giving heuristic responses that reflect deviations from the logical norm. Influential studies have suggested first that our reasoning is often biased because we minimize cognitive effort to surpass a cognitive conflict between heuristic response from system 1 and analytic response from system 2 thinking. Additionally, cognitive control processes might be necessary to inhibit system 1 responses to activate a system 2 response. Previous studies have shown a significant effect of executive learning (EL on adults who have transferred knowledge acquired on the Wason selection task (WST to another isomorphic task, the rule falsification task (RFT. The original paradigm consisted of teaching participants to inhibit a classical matching heuristic that sufficed the first problem and led to significant EL transfer on the second problem. Interestingly, the reasoning tasks differed in inhibiting-heuristic metacognitive cost. Success on the WST requires half-suppression of the matching elements. In contrast, the RFT necessitates a global rejection of the matching elements for a correct answer. Therefore, metacognitive learning difficulty most likely differs depending on whether one uses the first or second task during the learning phase. We aimed to investigate this difficulty and various matching-bias inhibition effects in a new (reversed paradigm. In this case, the transfer effect from the RFT to the WST could be more difficult because the reasoner learns to reject all matching elements in the first task. We observed that the EL leads to a significant reduction in matching selections on the WST without increasing logical performances. Interestingly, the acquired metacognitive knowledge was too "strictly" transferred and discouraged matching rather than encouraging logic. This finding underlines the complexity of learning transfer and adds new evidence to the pedagogy of reasoning.

Helping reasoners succeed in the Wason selection task: when executive learning discourages heuristic response but does not necessarily encourage logic.

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Rossi, Sandrine; Cassotti, Mathieu; Moutier, Sylvain; Delcroix, Nicolas; Houdé, Olivier

2015-01-01

Reasoners make systematic logical errors by giving heuristic responses that reflect deviations from the logical norm. Influential studies have suggested first that our reasoning is often biased because we minimize cognitive effort to surpass a cognitive conflict between heuristic response from system 1 and analytic response from system 2 thinking. Additionally, cognitive control processes might be necessary to inhibit system 1 responses to activate a system 2 response. Previous studies have shown a significant effect of executive learning (EL) on adults who have transferred knowledge acquired on the Wason selection task (WST) to another isomorphic task, the rule falsification task (RFT). The original paradigm consisted of teaching participants to inhibit a classical matching heuristic that sufficed the first problem and led to significant EL transfer on the second problem. Interestingly, the reasoning tasks differed in inhibiting-heuristic metacognitive cost. Success on the WST requires half-suppression of the matching elements. In contrast, the RFT necessitates a global rejection of the matching elements for a correct answer. Therefore, metacognitive learning difficulty most likely differs depending on whether one uses the first or second task during the learning phase. We aimed to investigate this difficulty and various matching-bias inhibition effects in a new (reversed) paradigm. In this case, the transfer effect from the RFT to the WST could be more difficult because the reasoner learns to reject all matching elements in the first task. We observed that the EL leads to a significant reduction in matching selections on the WST without increasing logical performances. Interestingly, the acquired metacognitive knowledge was too "strictly" transferred and discouraged matching rather than encouraging logic. This finding underlines the complexity of learning transfer and adds new evidence to the pedagogy of reasoning.

Auditory verbal learning in drug-free Ecstasy polydrug users.

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Fox, H. C.; Toplis, A. S.; Turner, J. J. D.; Parrott, A. C.

2001-12-01

Drug-free Ecstasy polydrug users have shown impairment on tasks of verbal working memory and memory span. Current research aims to investigate how these deficits may affect the learning of verbal material by administration of the Auditory Verbal Learning Task (AVLT) (Rey, 1964). The task provides a learning curve by assessing immediate memory span over multiple trials. Learning strategies are further analysed by tendencies to confabulate as well as demonstrate either proactive or retroactive interference elicited by a novel 'distractor' list. Three groups completed the task: two groups of 14 Ecstasy users (short- and long-term) and one group of 14 polydrug controls. Compared with controls both Ecstasy groups recalled significantly fewer words and made more confabulation errors on the initial three recall trials as well as a delayed recall trial. Long-term users demonstrated increased confabulation on the initial trials and the novel 'distractor7' trial, compared with short-term users. Only following repeated presentations were both short- and long-term users shown to perform at control levels. As such, deficits in verbal learning may be more related to storage and/or retrieval problems than problems associated with capacity per se. No interference errors were demonstrated by either of the Ecstasy groups. However, a high level of intrusion errors may indicate selective working memory problems associated with longer-term use of the drug. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cross-Domain Statistical-Sequential Dependencies Are Difficult To Learn

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Anne McClure Walk

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Recent studies have demonstrated participants’ ability to learn cross-modal associations during statistical learning tasks. However, these studies are all similar in that the cross-modal associations to be learned occur simultaneously, rather than sequentially. In addition, the majority of these studies focused on learning across sensory modalities but not across perceptual categories. To test both cross-modal and cross-categorical learning of sequential dependencies, we used an artificial grammar learning task consisting of a serial stream of auditory and/or visual stimuli containing both within- and cross-domain dependencies. Experiment 1 examined within-modal and cross-modal learning across two sensory modalities (audition and vision. Experiment 2 investigated within-categorical and cross-categorical learning across two perceptual categories within the same sensory modality (e.g. shape and color; tones and non-words. Our results indicated that individuals demonstrated learning of the within-modal and within-categorical but not the cross-modal or cross-categorical dependencies. These results stand in contrast to the previous demonstrations of cross-modal statistical learning, and highlight the presence of modality constraints that limit the effectiveness of learning in a multimodal environment.

Meta-Analytic Evidence for a Reversal Learning Effect on the Iowa Gambling Task in Older Adults.

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Pasion, Rita; Gonçalves, Ana R; Fernandes, Carina; Ferreira-Santos, Fernando; Barbosa, Fernando; Marques-Teixeira, João

2017-01-01

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults' decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies) and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies). From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (±25.9). We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response toward immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift toward more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size) and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size). These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making.

Cerebral activation related to implicit sequence learning in a Double Serial Reaction Time task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Graaf, FHCE; Maguire, RP; Leenders, KL; de Jong, BM

2006-01-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the distribution of cerebral activations related to implicitly learning a series of fixed stimulus-response combinations. In a novel - bimanual - variant of the Serial Reaction Time task (SRT), simultaneous finger movements of the two

Evaluating a "Second Life" Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Demonstrator Project: What Can We Learn?

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Beaumont, Chris; Savin-Baden, Maggi; Conradi, Emily; Poulton, Terry

2014-01-01

This article reports the findings of a demonstrator project to evaluate how effectively Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) could support problem-based learning. The project designed, created and evaluated eight scenarios within "Second Life" (SL) for undergraduate courses in health care management and paramedic training. Evaluation was…

EFL learners' self-evaluation of learning processes after metatalk tasks

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Rejane Teixeira Vidal

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Esta investigação combinou a instrução-focada-na-forma com o ensino baseado em tarefas em contexto de aprendizagem autônoma no cenário de ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira que tem por objetivo o desenvolvimento da interlíngua do aprendiz no que tange à precisão lingüística. Pretendeu-se dar uma contribuição ao entendimento de que, ao produzir a língua alvo enquanto se reflete sobre ela, o aprendiz pode consolidar conhecimento já existente assim como gerar conhecimento do que é novo para ele (Swain, 1998, ajudando-o a compreender e a tornar-se mais consciente de seu processo de aprendizagem como um todo. O estudo atingiu seus principais objetivos: trouxe evidências adicionais à reivindicação de que aprendizes eficientes compreendem o processo subjacente à sua aprendizagem e que tarefas com foco na forma que exploram o diálogo colaborativo via metafala têm o potencial de esclarecer questões do campo de estudo conhecido como "desenvolvimento do aprendiz" (Benson, 2001, além de melhorar a qualidade de sua produção lingüística.This investigation attempted to combine form-focused instruction with task-based learning in the context of autonomous learning in an English as a foreign language scenario with the aim of stretching learners' interlanguage as related to language accuracy. It intended to contribute to furthering the understanding concerning how producing the target language while reflecting on it may trigger cognitive processes that both consolidate existing knowledge and generate linguistic knowledge which is new to the learner (Swain, 1998, helping them understand and become more conscious of their learning process as a whole. The study has achieved the major aims it had set out to accomplish: it provided additional evidence for the claim that successful learners understand the process underling their own learning and that form-focused tasks which explore collaborative dialogue via metatalk have the

Social Presence for Different Tasks and Perceived Learning in Online Hospitality Culture Exchange

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Wang, Mei-jung; Chen, Hsueh Chu

2013-01-01

This study utilized online discussion and project construction tasks to determine the extent of social presence and collaborative learning for hospitality culture exchange. The online culture exchange lasted for 6 weeks from September to November 2011. Forty-four English majors from a hospitality college in Taiwan and an institute of education in…

Word learning in deaf children with cochlear implants: effects of early auditory experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston, Derek M; Stewart, Jessica; Moberly, Aaron; Hollich, George; Miyamoto, Richard T

2012-05-01

Word-learning skills were tested in normal-hearing 12- to 40-month-olds and in deaf 22- to 40-month-olds 12 to 18 months after cochlear implantation. Using the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm (IPLP), children were tested for their ability to learn two novel-word/novel-object pairings. Normal-hearing children demonstrated learning on this task at approximately 18 months of age and older. For deaf children, performance on this task was significantly correlated with early auditory experience: Children whose cochlear implants were switched on by 14 months of age or who had relatively more hearing before implantation demonstrated learning in this task, but later implanted profoundly deaf children did not. Performance on this task also correlated with later measures of vocabulary size. Taken together, these findings suggest that early auditory experience facilitates word learning and that the IPLP may be useful for identifying children who may be at high risk for poor vocabulary development. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Job task analysis: lessons learned from application in course development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meredith, J.B.

1985-01-01

Those at Public Service Electric and Gas Company are committed to a systematic approach to training known as Instructional System Design. Our performance-based training emphasizes the ISD process to have trainees do or perform the task whenever and wherever it is possible for the jobs for which they are being trained. Included is a brief description of our process for conducting and validating job analyses. The major thrust of this paper is primarily on the lessons that we have learned in the design and development of training programs based upon job analysis results

Neuroplasticity & Motor Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jesper Lundbye

Practice of a new motor task is usually associated with an improvement in performance. Indeed, if we stop practicing and return the next day to the same task, we find that our performance has been maintained and may even be better than it was at the start of the first day. This improvement...... is a measure of our ability to form and store a motor memory of the task. However, the initial memory of the task is labile and may be subject to interference. During and following motor learning plastic changes occur within the central nervous system. On one hand these changes are driven by motor practice......, on the other hand the changes underlie the formation of motor memory and the retention of improved motor performance. During motor learning changes may occur at many different levels within the central nervous system dependent on the type of task and training. Here, we demonstrate different studies from our...

Social learning in juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris.

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Guttridge, Tristan L; van Dijk, Sander; Stamhuis, Eize J; Krause, Jens; Gruber, Samuel H; Brown, Culum

2013-01-01

Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioural advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently. Although extensively studied in bony fishes, no such empirical evidence exists for cartilaginous fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the social learning capabilities of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris. We designed a novel food task, where sharks were required to enter a start zone and subsequently make physical contact with a target in order to receive a food reward. Naive sharks were then able to interact with and observe (a) pre-trained sharks, that is, 'demonstrators', or (b) sharks with no previous experience, that is, 'sham demonstrators'. On completion, observer sharks were then isolated and tested individually in a similar task. During the exposure phase observers paired with 'demonstrator' sharks performed a greater number of task-related behaviours and made significantly more transitions from the start zone to the target, than observers paired with 'sham demonstrators'. When tested in isolation, observers previously paired with 'demonstrator' sharks completed a greater number of trials and made contact with the target significantly more often than observers previously paired with 'sham demonstrators'. Such experience also tended to result in faster overall task performance. These results indicate that juvenile lemon sharks, like numerous other animals, are capable of using socially derived information to learn about novel features in their environment. The results likely have important implications for behavioural processes, ecotourism and fisheries.

Action observation versus motor imagery in learning a complex motor task: a short review of literature and a kinematics study.

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Gatti, R; Tettamanti, A; Gough, P M; Riboldi, E; Marinoni, L; Buccino, G

2013-04-12

Both motor imagery and action observation have been shown to play a role in learning or re-learning complex motor tasks. According to a well accepted view they share a common neurophysiological basis in the mirror neuron system. Neurons within this system discharge when individuals perform a specific action and when they look at another individual performing the same or a motorically related action. In the present paper, after a short review of literature on the role of action observation and motor imagery in motor learning, we report the results of a kinematics study where we directly compared motor imagery and action observation in learning a novel complex motor task. This involved movement of the right hand and foot in the same angular direction (in-phase movement), while at the same time moving the left hand and foot in an opposite angular direction (anti-phase movement), all at a frequency of 1Hz. Motor learning was assessed through kinematics recording of wrists and ankles. The results showed that action observation is better than motor imagery as a strategy for learning a novel complex motor task, at least in the fast early phase of motor learning. We forward that these results may have important implications in educational activities, sport training and neurorehabilitation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vocabulary Learning in Collaborative Tasks: A Comparison of Pair and Small Group Work

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Dobao, Ana Fernández

2014-01-01

This study examined the opportunities that pair and small group interaction offer for collaborative dialogue and second language (L2) vocabulary learning. It compared the performance of the same collaborative writing task by learners working in groups of four (n = 60) and in pairs (n = 50), focusing on the occurrence of lexical language-related…

Rats socially-reared and full fed learned an autoshaping task, showing less levels of fear-like behaviour than fasted or singly-reared rats.

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Molina-Hernández, Miguel; Téllez-Alcántara, N Patricia

2004-07-01

During the learning of instrumental tasks, rats are usually fasted to increase reinforced learning. However, fasting produces several undesirable side effects. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that control rats, i.e. full-fed and group-reared rats, will learn an autoshaping task to the same level as fasted or singly-reared rats. The interaction between fasting and single-rearing of rats was also tested. Results showed that control rats and fasted rats acquired the autoshaping task similarly, independently of rearing condition or gender. However, fasted or singly-reared rats produced fear-like behaviour, since male rats group-reared and fasted (85% body/wt, P autoshaping task to the same level as fasted or singly-reared rats. However, fasting or single-rearing produced fear-like behaviour. Thus, the training of control rats in autoshaping tasks may be an option that improves animal welfare.

Observational learning :Tell beginners what they are about to watch and they will learn better

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Mathieu eAndrieux

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Observation aids motor skill learning. When multiple models or different levels of performance are observed, does learning improve when the observer is informed of the performance quality prior to each observation trial or after each trial? We used a knockdown barrier task and asked participants to learn a new relative timing pattern that differed from that naturally emerging from the task constraints (Blandin, Lhuisset, & Proteau, 1999. Following a physical execution pre-test, the participants observed two models demonstrating different levels of performance and were either informed of this performance prior to or after each observation trial. The results of the physical execution retention tests of the two experiments reported in the present study indicated that informing the observers of the demonstration quality they were about to see aided learning more than when this information was provided after each observation trial. Our results suggest that providing advanced information concerning the quality of the observation may help participants detect errors in the model’s performance, which is something that novice participants have difficulty doing, and then learn from these observations.

Dynamic Sensor Tasking for Space Situational Awareness via Reinforcement Learning

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Linares, R.; Furfaro, R.

2016-09-01

This paper studies the Sensor Management (SM) problem for optical Space Object (SO) tracking. The tasking problem is formulated as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and solved using Reinforcement Learning (RL). The RL problem is solved using the actor-critic policy gradient approach. The actor provides a policy which is random over actions and given by a parametric probability density function (pdf). The critic evaluates the policy by calculating the estimated total reward or the value function for the problem. The parameters of the policy action pdf are optimized using gradients with respect to the reward function. Both the critic and the actor are modeled using deep neural networks (multi-layer neural networks). The policy neural network takes the current state as input and outputs probabilities for each possible action. This policy is random, and can be evaluated by sampling random actions using the probabilities determined by the policy neural network's outputs. The critic approximates the total reward using a neural network. The estimated total reward is used to approximate the gradient of the policy network with respect to the network parameters. This approach is used to find the non-myopic optimal policy for tasking optical sensors to estimate SO orbits. The reward function is based on reducing the uncertainty for the overall catalog to below a user specified uncertainty threshold. This work uses a 30 km total position error for the uncertainty threshold. This work provides the RL method with a negative reward as long as any SO has a total position error above the uncertainty threshold. This penalizes policies that take longer to achieve the desired accuracy. A positive reward is provided when all SOs are below the catalog uncertainty threshold. An optimal policy is sought that takes actions to achieve the desired catalog uncertainty in minimum time. This work trains the policy in simulation by letting it task a single sensor to "learn" from its performance

Cross-limb interference during motor learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedikt Lauber

Full Text Available It is well known that following skill learning, improvements in motor performance may transfer to the untrained contralateral limb. It is also well known that retention of a newly learned task A can be degraded when learning a competing task B that takes place directly after learning A. Here we investigate if this interference effect can also be observed in the limb contralateral to the trained one. Therefore, five different groups practiced a ballistic finger flexion task followed by an interfering visuomotor accuracy task with the same limb. Performance in the ballistic task was tested before the training, after the training and in an immediate retention test after the practice of the interference task for both the trained and the untrained hand. After training, subjects showed not only significant learning and interference effects for the trained limb but also for the contralateral untrained limb. Importantly, the interference effect in the untrained limb was dependent on the level of skill acquisition in the interfering motor task. These behavioural results of the untrained limb were accompanied by training specific changes in corticospinal excitability, which increased for the hemisphere ipsilateral to the trained hand following ballistic training and decreased during accuracy training of the ipsilateral hand. The results demonstrate that contralateral interference effects may occur, and that interference depends on the level of skill acquisition in the interfering motor task. This finding might be particularly relevant for rehabilitation.

A Virtual Reality Task Based on Animal Research - Spatial Learning and Memory in Patients after the First Episode of Schizophrenia

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Iveta eFajnerova

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: Cognitive deficit is considered to be a characteristic feature of schizophrenia disorder. A similar cognitive dysfunction was demonstrated in animal models of schizophrenia. However, the poor comparability of methods used to assess cognition in animals and humans could be responsible for low predictive validity of current animal models. In order to assess spatial abilities in schizophrenia and compare our results with the data obtained in animal models we designed a virtual analogue of the Morris water maze (MWM, the virtual Four Goals Navigation (vFGN task.Method: Twenty-nine patients after the first psychotic episode with schizophrenia symptoms and a matched group of healthy volunteers performed the vFGN task. They were required to find and remember four hidden goal positions in an enclosed virtual arena. The task consisted of two parts. The Reference memory (RM session with a stable goal position was designed to test spatial learning. The Delayed-matching-to-place (DMP session presented a modified working memory protocol designed to test the ability to remember a sequence of three hidden goal positions.Results: Data obtained in the RM session show impaired spatial learning in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy controls in pointing and navigation accuracy. The DMP session showed impaired spatial memory in schizophrenia during the recall of spatial sequence and similar deficit in spatial bias in probe trials. The pointing accuracy and the quadrant preference showed higher sensitivity toward the cognitive deficit than the navigation accuracy. Direct navigation to the goal was affected by sex and age of the tested subjects. Age affected spatial performance only in healthy controls. Conclusions: Despite some limitations of the study, our results correspond well to previous studies in animal models of schizophrenia and support the decline of spatial cognition in schizophrenia, indicating the usefulness of the vFGN task in

Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for Pose-Invariant Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Xi; Liu, Xiaoming

2018-02-01

This paper explores multi-task learning (MTL) for face recognition. We answer the questions of how and why MTL can improve the face recognition performance. First, we propose a multi-task Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for face recognition where identity classification is the main task and pose, illumination, and expression estimations are the side tasks. Second, we develop a dynamic-weighting scheme to automatically assign the loss weight to each side task, which is a crucial problem in MTL. Third, we propose a pose-directed multi-task CNN by grouping different poses to learn pose-specific identity features, simultaneously across all poses. Last but not least, we propose an energy-based weight analysis method to explore how CNN-based MTL works. We observe that the side tasks serve as regularizations to disentangle the variations from the learnt identity features. Extensive experiments on the entire Multi-PIE dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work using all data in Multi-PIE for face recognition. Our approach is also applicable to in-the-wild datasets for pose-invariant face recognition and achieves comparable or better performance than state of the art on LFW, CFP, and IJB-A datasets.

Observational learning without a model is influenced by the observer's possibility to act: evidence from the Simon task.

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Iani, Cristina; Rubichi, Sandro; Ferraro, Luca; Nicoletti, Roberto; Gallese, Vittorio

2013-07-01

We assessed whether observational learning in perceptual-motor tasks is affected by the visibility of an action producing perceived environmental effects and by the observer's possibility to act during observation. To this end, we conducted three experiments in which participants were required to observe a spatial compatibility task in which only the effects of computer-generated responses were visible before executing a Simon task. In Experiment 1, we compared the effects of a passively observed practice with either a spatially compatible or incompatible stimulus-response (S-R) association. In Experiment 2, during the observed spatially incompatible practice participants were prevented from potentially acting, either because a plexiglas barrier separated the participant from the response device rendering it out of reach; or because the participant's hands were tied; or the device affording a response was absent. In Experiment 3, the plexiglas presented an opening that could allow the participant to potentially reach and interact with it. As when the practice is physically performed, we found an elimination of the Simon effect following a spatially incompatible observed practice, suggesting that participants learned an incompatible S-R association by observing and transferred this knowledge to the subsequent Simon task. No evidence of transfer of learning was found when, during passive observation, the participant's hands were tied, or a barrier prevented him/her from potentially interacting with the device, or no response device was present. Differently, a transfer-of-learning effect was observed when the barrier presented an opening. These results suggest that learning can derive from the mere observation of action effects, even when an action is not visible, as long as the observer has the potential to act. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimization of perceptual learning: effects of task difficulty and external noise in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

DeLoss, Denton J; Watanabe, Takeo; Andersen, George J

2014-06-01

Previous research has shown a wide array of age-related declines in vision. The current study examined the effects of perceptual learning (PL), external noise, and task difficulty in fine orientation discrimination with older individuals (mean age 71.73, range 65-91). Thirty-two older subjects participated in seven 1.5-h sessions conducted on separate days over a three-week period. A two-alternative forced choice procedure was used in discriminating the orientation of Gabor patches. Four training groups were examined in which the standard orientations for training were either easy or difficult and included either external noise (additive Gaussian noise) or no external noise. In addition, the transfer to an untrained orientation and noise levels were examined. An analysis of the four groups prior to training indicated no significant differences between the groups. An analysis of the change in performance post-training indicated that the degree of learning was related to task difficulty and the presence of external noise during training. In addition, measurements of pupil diameter indicated that changes in orientation discrimination were not associated with changes in retinal illuminance. These results suggest that task difficulty and training in noise are factors important for optimizing the effects of training among older individuals. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mate familiarity and social learning in a monogamous lizard.

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Munch, Kirke L; Noble, Daniel W A; Wapstra, Erik; While, Geoffrey M

2018-05-08

Social learning is thought to be advantageous as it allows an animal to gather information quickly without engaging in costly trial-and-error learning. However, animals should be selective about when and whom they learn from. Familiarity is predicted to positively influence an animal's reliance on social learning; yet, few studies have empirically tested this theory. We used a lizard (Liopholis whitii) that forms long-term monogamous pair bonds to examine the effects of partner familiarity on social learning in two novel foraging tasks, an association and a reversal task. We allowed female lizards to observe trained conspecifics that were either familiar (social mate) or unfamiliar execute these tasks and compared these two groups with control females that did not receive social information. Lizards preferentially relied on trial-and-error learning in the association task. In the reversal task, lizards that were demonstrated by familiar partners learnt in fewer trials compared to control lizards and made more correct choices. Our results provide some evidence for context-dependent learning with lizards differentiating between when they utilize social learning, and, to a limited degree, whom they learnt from. Understanding the role of the social context in which learning occurs provides important insights into the benefits of social learning and sociality more generally.

Meta-Analytic Evidence for a Reversal Learning Effect on the Iowa Gambling Task in Older Adults

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Rita Pasion

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Iowa Gambling Task (IGT is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults' decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies. From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (±25.9. We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response toward immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift toward more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size. These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making.

Using a million cell simulation of the cerebellum: network scaling and task generality.

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Li, Wen-Ke; Hausknecht, Matthew J; Stone, Peter; Mauk, Michael D

2013-11-01

Several factors combine to make it feasible to build computer simulations of the cerebellum and to test them in biologically realistic ways. These simulations can be used to help understand the computational contributions of various cerebellar components, including the relevance of the enormous number of neurons in the granule cell layer. In previous work we have used a simulation containing 12000 granule cells to develop new predictions and to account for various aspects of eyelid conditioning, a form of motor learning mediated by the cerebellum. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of scaling up this simulation to over one million granule cells using parallel graphics processing unit (GPU) technology. We observe that this increase in number of granule cells requires only twice the execution time of the smaller simulation on the GPU. We demonstrate that this simulation, like its smaller predecessor, can emulate certain basic features of conditioned eyelid responses, with a slight improvement in performance in one measure. We also use this simulation to examine the generality of the computation properties that we have derived from studying eyelid conditioning. We demonstrate that this scaled up simulation can learn a high level of performance in a classic machine learning task, the cart-pole balancing task. These results suggest that this parallel GPU technology can be used to build very large-scale simulations whose connectivity ratios match those of the real cerebellum and that these simulations can be used guide future studies on cerebellar mediated tasks and on machine learning problems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successful Transfer of a Motor Learning Strategy to a Novel Sport.

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Kearney, Philip E; Judge, Phil

2017-10-01

This study investigated whether secondary school students who were taught a motor learning strategy could transfer their knowledge of the strategy to learning a novel task. Twenty adolescents were randomly allocated to a strategy or control group. The strategy group was taught Singer's five-step learning strategy, while the control group received information on the evolution and biomechanics of the basketball free throw. Both groups received three 1-hour practice sessions on a modified basketball shooting task. After one month, participants were introduced to the transfer task, golf putting. Performance accuracy was recorded for all tasks, and participants completed questionnaires regarding strategy use during practice. Participants taught the five-step learning strategy successfully recalled and applied it after a 1-month interval, and they demonstrated superior performance on both acquisition and transfer tasks, relative to the control group. Physical education teachers and coaches should consider using this learning strategy to enhance the learning of closed motor skills.

Older adults catch up to younger adults on a learning and memory task that involves collaborative social interaction.

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Derksen, B J; Duff, M C; Weldon, K; Zhang, J; Zamba, K D; Tranel, D; Denburg, N L

2015-01-01

Learning and memory abilities tend to decline as people age. The current study examines the question of whether a learning situation that emphasises collaborative social interaction might help older persons overcome age-related learning and memory changes and thus perform similarly to younger persons. Younger and Older participants (n = 34 in each group) completed the Barrier Task (BT), a game-like social interaction where partners work together to develop labels for a set of abstract tangrams. Participants were also administered standard clinical neuropsychological measures of memory, on which the Older group showed expected inferiority to the Younger group. On the BT, the Older group performed less well than the Younger group early on, but as the task progressed, the performance of the Older group caught up and became statistically indistinguishable from that of the Younger group. These results can be taken to suggest that a learning milieu characterised by collaborative social interaction can attenuate some of the typical memory disadvantages associated with being older.

Developing communicative competence through thinking tasks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maslo, Elina

Developing communicative competence through thinking tasks - Experimenting with Thinking Approach in Danish as Second Language ClassroomSession on Innovations in the classroom, a presentation. Abstract for the conference Creativity & Thinking Skills in Learning, teaching & Management. Riga 19......-20 September 2014 Elina Maslo, Aarhus University, Department of Education, elma@edu.au.dk Summary: The goal of this presentation is to present some of the experiences with thinking tasks in the Danish language classroom, conducted in the Nordplus Nordic Language Project “Problem solving tasks for learning...... of Danish as second and foreign language in transformative learning spaces”. Two teachers have developed and tried out some thinking tasks in their classrooms, with the aim to foster the development of students´ communicative competence. The learning processes from two classrooms will be analysed...

Local and global processing in block design tasks in children with dyslexia or nonverbal learning disability.

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Cardillo, Ramona; Mammarella, Irene C; Garcia, Ricardo Basso; Cornoldi, Cesare

2017-05-01

Visuo-constructive and perceptual abilities have been poorly investigated in children with learning disabilities. The present study focused on local or global visuospatial processing in children with nonverbal learning disability (NLD) and dyslexia compared with typically-developing (TD) controls. Participants were presented with a modified block design task (BDT), in both a typical visuo-constructive version that involves reconstructing figures from blocks, and a perceptual version in which respondents must rapidly match unfragmented figures with a corresponding fragmented target figure. The figures used in the tasks were devised by manipulating two variables: the perceptual cohesiveness and the task uncertainty, stimulating global or local processes. Our results confirmed that children with NLD had more problems with the visuo-constructive version of the task, whereas those with dyslexia showed only a slight difficulty with the visuo-constructive version, but were in greater difficulty with the perceptual version, especially in terms of response times. These findings are interpreted in relation to the slower visual processing speed of children with dyslexia, and to the visuo-constructive problems and difficulty in using flexibly-experienced global vs local processes of children with NLD. The clinical and educational implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Different MK-801 administration schedules induce mild to severe learning impairments in an operant conditioning task: role of buspirone and risperidone in ameliorating these cognitive deficits.

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Rapanelli, Maximiliano; Frick, Luciana Romina; Bernardez-Vidal, Micaela; Zanutto, Bonifacio Silvano

2013-11-15

Blockade of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA) by the noncompetitive NMDA receptor (NMDAR) antagonist MK-801 produces behavioral abnormalities and alterations in prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning. Due to the critical role of the PFC in operant conditioning task learning, we evaluated the effects of acute, repeated postnatal injections of MK-801 (0.1mg/kg) on learning performance. We injected Long-Evans rats i.p. with MK-801 (0.1mg/kg) using three different administration schedules: injection 40 min before beginning the task (during) (n=12); injection twice daily for six consecutive days prior to beginning the experimental procedures (prior) (n=12); or twice daily subcutaneous injections from postnatal day 7 to 11 (postnatal) (n=12). Next, we orally administered risperidone (serotonin receptor 2A and dopamine receptor 2 antagonist, 1mg/kg) or buspirone (serotonin receptor 1A partial agonist, 10mg/kg) to animals treated with the MK-801 schedule described above. The postnatal and prior administration schedules produced severe learning deficits, whereas injection of MK-801 just before training sessions had only mild effects on acquisition of an operant conditioning. Risperidone was able to reverse the detrimental effect of MK-801 in the animals that were treated with MK-801 during and prior training sessions. In contrast, buspirone was only effective at mitigating the cognitive deficits induced by MK-801 when administered during the training procedures. The data demonstrates that NMDA antagonism disrupts basic mechanisms of learning in a simple PFC-mediated operant conditioning task, and that buspirone and risperidone failed to attenuate the learning deficits when NMDA neurotransmission was blocked in the early stages of the postnatal period. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Online neural monitoring of statistical learning.

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Batterink, Laura J; Paller, Ken A

2017-05-01

The extraction of patterns in the environment plays a critical role in many types of human learning, from motor skills to language acquisition. This process is known as statistical learning. Here we propose that statistical learning has two dissociable components: (1) perceptual binding of individual stimulus units into integrated composites and (2) storing those integrated representations for later use. Statistical learning is typically assessed using post-learning tasks, such that the two components are conflated. Our goal was to characterize the online perceptual component of statistical learning. Participants were exposed to a structured stream of repeating trisyllabic nonsense words and a random syllable stream. Online learning was indexed by an EEG-based measure that quantified neural entrainment at the frequency of the repeating words relative to that of individual syllables. Statistical learning was subsequently assessed using conventional measures in an explicit rating task and a reaction-time task. In the structured stream, neural entrainment to trisyllabic words was higher than in the random stream, increased as a function of exposure to track the progression of learning, and predicted performance on the reaction time (RT) task. These results demonstrate that monitoring this critical component of learning via rhythmic EEG entrainment reveals a gradual acquisition of knowledge whereby novel stimulus sequences are transformed into familiar composites. This online perceptual transformation is a critical component of learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Different Neuroplasticity for Task Targets and Distractors

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Spingath, Elsie Y.; Kang, Hyun Sug; Plummer, Thane; Blake, David T.

2011-01-01

Adult learning-induced sensory cortex plasticity results in enhanced action potential rates in neurons that have the most relevant information for the task, or those that respond strongly to one sensory stimulus but weakly to its comparison stimulus. Current theories suggest this plasticity is caused when target stimulus evoked activity is enhanced by reward signals from neuromodulatory nuclei. Prior work has found evidence suggestive of nonselective enhancement of neural responses, and suppression of responses to task distractors, but the differences in these effects between detection and discrimination have not been directly tested. Using cortical implants, we defined physiological responses in macaque somatosensory cortex during serial, matched, detection and discrimination tasks. Nonselective increases in neural responsiveness were observed during detection learning. Suppression of responses to task distractors was observed during discrimination learning, and this suppression was specific to cortical locations that sampled responses to the task distractor before learning. Changes in receptive field size were measured as the area of skin that had a significant response to a constant magnitude stimulus, and these areal changes paralleled changes in responsiveness. From before detection learning until after discrimination learning, the enduring changes were selective suppression of cortical locations responsive to task distractors, and nonselective enhancement of responsiveness at cortical locations selective for target and control skin sites. A comparison of observations in prior studies with the observed plasticity effects suggests that the non-selective response enhancement and selective suppression suffice to explain known plasticity phenomena in simple spatial tasks. This work suggests that differential responsiveness to task targets and distractors in primary sensory cortex for a simple spatial detection and discrimination task arise from nonselective

Different neuroplasticity for task targets and distractors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsie Y Spingath

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Adult learning-induced sensory cortex plasticity results in enhanced action potential rates in neurons that have the most relevant information for the task, or those that respond strongly to one sensory stimulus but weakly to its comparison stimulus. Current theories suggest this plasticity is caused when target stimulus evoked activity is enhanced by reward signals from neuromodulatory nuclei. Prior work has found evidence suggestive of nonselective enhancement of neural responses, and suppression of responses to task distractors, but the differences in these effects between detection and discrimination have not been directly tested. Using cortical implants, we defined physiological responses in macaque somatosensory cortex during serial, matched, detection and discrimination tasks. Nonselective increases in neural responsiveness were observed during detection learning. Suppression of responses to task distractors was observed during discrimination learning, and this suppression was specific to cortical locations that sampled responses to the task distractor before learning. Changes in receptive field size were measured as the area of skin that had a significant response to a constant magnitude stimulus, and these areal changes paralleled changes in responsiveness. From before detection learning until after discrimination learning, the enduring changes were selective suppression of cortical locations responsive to task distractors, and nonselective enhancement of responsiveness at cortical locations selective for target and control skin sites. A comparison of observations in prior studies with the observed plasticity effects suggests that the non-selective response enhancement and selective suppression suffice to explain known plasticity phenomena in simple spatial tasks. This work suggests that differential responsiveness to task targets and distractors in primary sensory cortex for a simple spatial detection and discrimination task arise from

Is a "Complex" Task Really Complex? Validating the Assumption of Cognitive Task Complexity

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Sasayama, Shoko

2016-01-01

In research on task-based learning and teaching, it has traditionally been assumed that differing degrees of cognitive task complexity can be inferred through task design and/or observations of differing qualities in linguistic production elicited by second language (L2) communication tasks. Without validating this assumption, however, it is…

Proactive and retroactive transfer of middle age adults in a sequential motor learning task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verneau, M.; Kamp, J. van der; Savelsbergh, G,J.; Looze, M.P. de

2015-01-01

We assessed the effects of aging in the transfer of motor learning in a sequential manual assembly task that is representative for real working conditions. On two different days, young (18-30years) and middle-aged adults (50-65years) practiced to build two products that consisted of the same six

Robot initiative in a team learning task increases the rhythm of interaction but not the perceived engagement

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Ivaldi, Serena; Anzalone, Salvatore M.; Rousseau, Woody; Sigaud, Olivier; Chetouani, Mohamed

2014-01-01

We hypothesize that the initiative of a robot during a collaborative task with a human can influence the pace of interaction, the human response to attention cues, and the perceived engagement. We propose an object learning experiment where the human interacts in a natural way with the humanoid iCub. Through a two-phases scenario, the human teaches the robot about the properties of some objects. We compare the effect of the initiator of the task in the teaching phase (human or robot) on the rhythm of the interaction in the verification phase. We measure the reaction time of the human gaze when responding to attention utterances of the robot. Our experiments show that when the robot is the initiator of the learning task, the pace of interaction is higher and the reaction to attention cues faster. Subjective evaluations suggest that the initiating role of the robot, however, does not affect the perceived engagement. Moreover, subjective and third-person evaluations of the interaction task suggest that the attentive mechanism we implemented in the humanoid robot iCub is able to arouse engagement and make the robot's behavior readable. PMID:24596554

Bayesian Modeling for Identification and Estimation of the Learning Effects of Pointing Tasks

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Kyo, Koki

Recently, in the field of human-computer interaction, a model containing the systematic factor and human factor has been proposed to evaluate the performance of the input devices of a computer. This is called the SH-model. In this paper, in order to extend the range of application of the SH-model, we propose some new models based on the Box-Cox transformation and apply a Bayesian modeling method for identification and estimation of the learning effects of pointing tasks. We consider the parameters describing the learning effect as random variables and introduce smoothness priors for them. Illustrative results show that the newly-proposed models work well.

Chimpanzees demonstrate individual differences in social information use.

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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.

Exposure to Unsolvable Anagrams Impairs Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task

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Katrin Starcke

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Recent research indicates that external manipulations, such as stress or mood induction, can affect decision-making abilities. In the current study, we investigated whether the exposure to an unsolvable task affected subsequent performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition in which they were exposed to unsolvable anagrams (n = 20, or a condition in which they worked on solvable anagrams (n = 22. Afterwards, all participants played the Iowa Gambling Task, a prominent task that measures decision making under uncertain conditions with no explicit rules for gains and losses. In this task, it is essential to process feedback from previous decisions. The results demonstrated that participants who worked on unsolvable anagrams made more disadvantageous decisions on the Iowa Gambling Task than the other participants. In addition, a significant gender effect was observed: Males who worked on unsolvable anagrams made a more disadvantageous decisions than the other male participants. Females who worked on unsolvable anagrams also made more disadvantageous decision than the other female participants, but differences were small and not significant. We conclude that the exposure to unsolvable anagrams induced the experience of uncontrollability which can elicit stress and learned helplessness. Stress and learned helplessness might have reduced the ability to learn from the given feedback, particularly in male participants. We assume that in real life, uncontrollable challenges that last longer than a single experimental manipulation can affect decision making severely, at least in males.

Multilingual and Multicultural Task-Based Learning Scenarios: A Pilot Study from the MAGICC Project

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Álvarez, Inma; Pérez-Cavana, María Luisa

2015-01-01

In this article we report on the results of a pilot study on the use of task-based multilingual and multicultural professional scenarios for higher education teachers and learners at BA and MA level. The scenarios reflect new learning outcomes and assessment criteria for the presently under-conceptualised domain of communication in multilingual…

Introducing IoT and Wearable Technologies into Task-Based Language Learning for Young Children