Exploring the Inner Working of Anatomy Learning: An Interdisciplinary Approach

We describe a novel approach to examining the relationship between human anatomy instruction and student learning through a collaboration among neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and science educators. The project applies electroencephalograph (EEG) technology, which has been used to study memory encoding effects in a laboratory setting, to a naturalistic educational setting. Undergraduate students viewed five 3‐minute lecture segments while wearing wireless EEG headsets. Videos were designed to exemplify typical anatomy lectures, where aspects of textbook images were shown and annotated and narrations provided explanations. Learning was assessed using a pre‐post test of basic concepts that could be pinpointed to a particular timeframe during instruction. Items missed on the pre‐test were considered learned if those items were answered correctly on the post‐test. Five‐second‐wide epochs were identified marking the video segments in which test items were addressed. For 23 complete participant data sets, EEG data were examined corresponding to epochs in which content was identified as learned (41%) or not learned (39%) according to the pre and post tests. Preliminary findings suggest that the use of portable EEG devices to study memory effects may be effectively extended to naturalistic environments, such as a lecture setting. Further work to refine the technique will allow us to examine the effects of various educational methods on student learning, particularly in the discipline of anatomy, which relies heavily upon learning vocabulary, facts, and spatial relationships.