richard lamb - optical imaging to measure cognitive processes while playing serious educational...

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Presented by:Richard LambUniversity at Buffalo [email protected]

OPTICAL IMAGING TO MEASURE COGNITIVE PROCESSES WHILE PLAYING SERIOUS EDUCATIONAL GAMES

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PRESENTATION TOPICS• My Background• Introduction to Facilities• Example Study• Discussion of Implications for Educational

use of Games

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• Currently I am the Program Director for the UB Science of Learning Program and the Educational Technology Program.

• Ph.D. in Science Education and Educational Measurement from George Mason University.

• M.S. in Science Education and Educational Technology from North

Carolina State University.

• Assistant Professor Science Education Measurement at Washington State University.

• Science Teacher for 9 years in the Southeastern United States.

My Background

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• What is learning?

• What is teaching?

• What is the link between teaching and learning?

• What is the most common method for understanding aspects of student learning in education?

Questions I want you to think about.

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• Data Center• FERPA Compliant Data Storage • HIPPA Compliant Data Storage• 100 TB of Expandable Storage• Data processing and quantitative analysis

using general and specialized software.

UB Neurocognition Science Laboratory

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• Laboratory• Eye Tracking Apparatus• Psychophysiological Measurement Tools• Imaging Tools


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• Laboratory• Eye Tracking Apparatus


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• Laboratory• Psychophysiological Measurement Tools

• Electrocardiography• Pulse• Electroderm Activity• Skin Temperature• Respiration• Continuous Blood Pressure


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• Laboratory• Imaging Tools: Electroencephalography (EEG)• EEG is a test that detects electrical activity in your brain using

small, flat, metal discs (electrodes) attached to your scalp.


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• Laboratory• Imaging Tools: Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIR)• fNIRs is a functional neuroimaging tool that is optimal for

probing localized hemodynamic responses in cortex


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• Background• Information and computer technologies are considered some of the most powerful

teaching tools used to support student learning in the sciences (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2013).

• The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have increased the focus on the use of cognitive strategies in the science classroom.

• This increased focus has created the need to examine claims regarding pedagogical approaches.

• In education we use terms such as ‘cognitive demand’, ‘cognitive load, and ‘cognitive dynamics’, to discuss the impact of activities on underlying cognitive functions

What is the underlying problem with this in education?

Example Study Using Optical Imaging

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• Problem Context• In the science education setting, aspects of the relationship between positive learning

outcomes and technology are often assumed.

• Factors that mediate the success or shortcoming of various technologies in science education are often taken for granted and left unexamined (Ellis & Goodyear, 2016).

• Specifically, policy makers, teacher educators, preservice teachers, and teachers in the field often assume that all technology formats such as software, computers, tablets, and other technologies are equally effective at reaching students in the classroom.

• Stakeholders often assume that ‘hands-on’ laboratory activities are superior to virtual environments (Zimmerman & Croker, 2014). This leads to a more is better approach when considering the use of ‘hands-on’ laboratories versus virtual environments in the science classroom.


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• Purpose and Questions• The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of differing pedagogical approaches

on localized hemodynamic and neurocognitive process response in science students.

• Where does the localized hemodynamic response occur when undergraduate students are engaged in the Serious Educational Games, hands on laboratory, and lecture?

• Are responses related to each pedagogical approach type statistically significantly different in hemodynamic response when compared to baseline activations and from each other?


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• Methods (Participants)• One hundred healthy, right-handed college aged students, 53 males and 47 females,

provided informed consent prior to participation in the study.

• Students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (Game Play, Lecture, Laboratory).

• Each condition was intended to teach material related to DNA extraction. All participants were students enrolled in an introductory life sciences course and identified themselves as biology majors at a northwestern research-intensive university.

• The researchers pre-screened participants in mathematics and reading using the

Woodcock-Johnson IV Achievement Test in the areas of Delayed Memory for Names, Memory for Sentences, Visual Closure, Calculation, Applied Problem Solving, and Quantitative Concepts (Woodcock-Johnson & Woodcock-Johnson, 2014). Participants were identified as neurotypical through extensive interviews and review of histories as suggested in the Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests (Strauss, Sherman, & Spreen, 2006).


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• Methods (Sensor and Detector Location)• Data acquisition and visualization occurred using COBI Studio

software version 1.3.0.19 (Drexel University, 2011). Signal processing and data preparation for statistical analysis was accomplished using the fNIR Soft Professional and SAS Software.


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• Methods (Design)• A-B-A (Baseline I, Stimulus, Baseline II) design.

• Video, and blood volume data acquisition and synchronization occurred using a MP150 data acquisition device.

• An increase in cognitive dynamics directly relates to an increase in the amount of cognitive processing and allows the use of the fNIR to measure the localization of the response (Afergan, Peck, Solovey, Jenkins, Hincks, Brown, & Jacob, 2014).


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• Results• Results suggest that the main effect of learning condition is significant on the pretest-

posttest change scores.

• Results suggest that the main effect of the learning condition significantly impacts mean hemodynamic responses related to cognitive demand and cognitive dynamics.

• Hemodynamic response (Cognitive Dynamics) in the frontal cortex is greater when students are playing the educational game when compared to students learning using traditional lecture techniques.

• More importantly, measures of Serious Educational Game hemodynamic responses did not differ from those of the real-life laboratory in either location or intensity when compared across groups.


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• Results

Orange is equal to baseline.

Yellow is activations significantly above baseline.


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• Discussion• For Schools? • For Resource Constrained Environments?• For Knowledge Applications• For Games as Learning Support Tools?• For Games as Teaching Support Tools?

What are you thoughts?

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THANK YOU,QUESTIONS?Author for Correspondence is:

Richard LambGraduate School of EducationDepartment of Learning and Instruction571 Baldy HallAmherst, NY [email protected]