By the final fMRI run, group differences in convergent neural representations shrink and are no longer strongly reflective of mechanical category information, consistent with task-specific rather than conceptual learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? At fMRI run 4, participants showed fewer convergent representations per group, almost entirely localized to vOT, and those representations were no longer as strongly reflective of mechanical category information while remaining strongly reflective of visual feature information. → Joshua S. Cetron 2020

Evidence¶

Joshua S. Cetron 2020¶

Joshua S. Cetron, Andrew C. Connolly, Solomon G. Diamond, Vicki V. May, James V. Haxby and David J. M. Kraemer. (2020). Using the force: STEM knowledge and experience construct shared neural representations of engineering concepts. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-0065-x

q3 · i? · associational · r2

The same multivariate intersubject correlation and RSA methods applied to the fourth and final fMRI run in the same N = 31 sample showed fewer unique informational networks per group and convergence almost entirely localized to vOT. Convergent representations were "no longer as strongly re flective of mechanical category information" but remained as strongly reflective of visual feature information as at run 1.

"Finally, results from the RSA for run 4 revealed that those convergent representations that did emerge for each group were no longer as strongly re flective of mechanical category information (but remained as strongly reflective of visual feature information as at run 1; Supplementary Fig. 3)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Engineering students and novices show distinct, group-specific patterns of convergent neural representations when evaluating real-world structures — related
• Novices improve more than engineering students across FBD task runs, eliminating the group difference by the final run — related
• Mechanical category knowledge learned in school is implicitly represented in engineering students' bilateral anterior ventral occipitotemporal cortex, but not significantly in novices — related
• Visual similarity information peaks in primary visual cortex for both groups with a gradient opposite to mechanical category information, showing mechanical categories are not explained by visual features — related
• Engineering students significantly outperform novices on a naturalistic free body diagram task measuring Newtonian force knowledge — related