Needle in the neural haystack: EEG signatures of concept learning while viewing naturalistic educational materials

The goal of this study is to take major steps toward bridging the gap between research and practice by more directly exploring the relationship between instruction and learning. This involves applying tools from neuroscience to provide fine-grained analysis of learners’ neural responses to instructional materials as they are presented in real-time. Specifically, we have piloted an experiment where college-age participants view pre-recorded human anatomy lectures during wireless electroencephalograph recording (EEG) and concurrent eye tracking. Learning was assessed using a pre-post multiple-choice test of basic concepts presented during instruction. This allowed us to look for reliable electrophysiological differences at the time of instruction between participants who learn and do not learn the same material. By identifying the neural markers that accompany successful knowledge encoding using realistic educational materials, we may ultimately use these markers to explore additional instructional context effects on, and infer neural and cognitive processes involved in student learning.