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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

PubMed2006

Intrathecal infusions of anisomycin impact the learning deficit but not the learning effect observed in spinal rats that have received instrumental training.

Previous research has shown that spinally transected rats will learn to maintain a flexion response when administered shock contingent upon leg position. In short, a contingency is arranged between shock delivery and leg extension so that Master rats exhibit an increase in flexion duration that lasts throughout the training session. Furthermore, when Master rats are later tested they reacquire the flexion response in fewer trials, indicative of some savings. As a control, a second group of spinal rats (Yoked rats) are given shock irrespective of leg position (noncontingent shock). These animals fail to show the same increase in leg flexion duration. Interestingly, when Yoked rats are later tested with a shock contingency in place, they still fail to learn (learning deficit). The present experiments were designed to determine whether both forms of instrumental learning in spinal animals require de novo protein synthesis. As such, we administered various doses of anisomycin intrathecally prior to training. Additionally, spinal rats were trained and tested either immediately or 24 h after test. We found that only the highest dose of anisomycin (125 microg/microl) had an effect in Yoked animals that were tested 24 h after training. Specifically, the highest dose of anisomycin reversed the learning deficit in those animals. Moreover, anisomycin had a similar effect when administered prior to training and immediately following training, but not 6 h after training. Finally, the results demonstrated that the observed effect of anisomycin was not due to state-dependency.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Surgical Learning and Instructional Portfolio (SLIP) as a self-assessment educational tool demonstrating practice-based learning.

PURPOSE: Time constraints on the teaching and evaluation of residents continue to alter the way in which medical knowledge must be imparted and assessed. Lifelong learning is a component of the practice-based learning competency. A portfolio is one way to assess practice-based learning, but its use is unfamiliar to most surgical programs. The authors describe the evolution of the Surgical Learning and Instructional Portfolio (SLIP) into a worthwhile educational tool. METHODS: In March 2001, the authors began a program to encourage residents to develop a case-based portfolio to document their experience and demonstrate acquisition of knowledge in caring for a variety of surgical diseases. The monthly case topic was chosen by the resident and reported using a template: case history, supporting diagnostic studies, differential diagnosis, final diagnosis with ICD-9 coding, management options, treatment used, 3 lessons learned, embellishment of 1 lesson, and 2 articles supporting the experience. Initially, cases were submitted to the program coordinator and reviewed every 6 months with a faculty advisor to provide feedback. RESULTS: After the first 18 months of this program, resident compliance was less than 50%, satisfaction was low, and formal review did not occur. In July 2004, a single faculty member became responsible for evaluating and providing feedback on the monthly SLIPs. The assignments were handled electronically with feedback delivered within the month via e-mail. SLIP quality as measured by resident compliance and satisfaction improved. CONCLUSION: These SLIPs have matured into a valuable educational tool satisfying multiple ACGME competencies. This portfolio system required direct faculty feedback to become successful.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2006

The development and evaluation of the use of a virtual learning environment (Blackboard 5) to support the learning of pre-qualifying nursing students undertaking a human anatomy and physiology module.

Students commence nurse education with varying levels of understanding of human anatomy and physiology due to a wide range of previous exposure to the topic. All students, however, are required to attain a broad knowledge of this topic prior to qualification. This paper describes the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Blackboard 5, and the associated development of appropriate resources aimed at supporting nursing students undertaking a human anatomy and physiology module at Higher Education Level 1. The VLE was used as part of a blended learning approach. The results suggested that the majority of students utilised the VLE throughout the academic year. Opportunities for independent and self-directed learning were available in that students chose when and where to learn. Students generally commented favourably on ease of use and type of resources available. Frequency of use of the VLE, however, did not correlate strongly with the final examination mark achieved. Overall the VLE and the associated available resources appeared useful in supporting student learning and has been adopted for use in subsequent years.

Anatomy↗

PubMed2006

Reasons for post registration learning: impact of the learning experience.

This exploratory study is the second stage of a multi-method approach to explore some of the reasons why registered nurses take part in formal and informal learning and higher education. Also under exploration is the extent to which their various learning experiences met their expectations. The sample consists of 25 registered nurses, randomly selected from a population (N=162) of 1st and 2nd Level nurses employed in public and private clinical settings, who have taken part in continuing education to obtain a Diploma or a Degree in Nursing. The data gathering was achieved by three focus group interviews. Formal learning included mandatory and non-mandatory in house teaching. Mandatory input was regarded as a self-protection measure by the employer, not related to personal development and with no perceived benefit on client care. Regarding the achievement of additional clinical competences, the overwhelming reason is to improve client care, although the motives of the employer and medical staff are viewed with some suspicion as a measure to saving doctors' time. Higher education pursuits appears to be triggered by a perceived need to increase the participants' level of existing knowledge in line with that of current students on placement, but adjustment to adult life transition period also appear to be an influencing factor. In terms of learning experiences, the relevance and quality of mandatory sessions came under criticism, whilst a measure of surprise was expressed at the unexpected benefits, at a personal and a professional level, gained by taking part in academic learning.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Effects of Learning Parameters on Learning Procedure and Performance of a BPNN.

We examined the effects of changing learning parameters on the learning procedure and performance of back-propagation neural networks used to pick seismic arrivals. The results show that such change mainly affects the speed of convergence of the learning procedures, and does not affect the BPNN structure and its overall performance. A relationship between the learning parameters and iteration number is obtained. This relationship may be used as a guide to check the convergence of the learning procedure and the BPNN performance. We also use a weight map of BPNN structure to analyze its interior and performance. Two BPNNs used to pick seismic arrivals from three-component and single-component seismograms have similar weight patterns and operate in a similar way, although they have different structures and trained by different training dataset.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

"Enter to learn, go forth to serve": service learning in nursing education.

The Pew Health Professions Commission (1998) has recommended community-based service learning as an integral part of nursing education. Service learning activities in a baccalaureate nursing program with an integrated curricular model are described with a women's health elective used as one example of the integration of service learning with clinical experiences. Based on clinical journal entries, students identified benefits of service learning including (1) a sense of personal satisfaction, (2) professional growth, (3) a higher level of critical thinking skills, (4) preparation for nursing practice in a dynamic and diverse health care delivery system, and (5) an increased awareness of unmet needs in clients, families, communities, and populations. Students are truly engaged because they have the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts in giving service, creating a "capacity for connectedness," and learning social responsibility as professionals.

Community Health Nursing↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Strategies for online teaching and learning: lessons learned.

Distance learning and Web-based learning are accepted components of the American higher educational system. Strategies for teaching and learning in this medium require a different perspective on the teacher-student relationship and the educational process. The authors describe an innovative online learning endeavor focusing on a specialty practice area in contemporary healthcare: wound, ostomy, and continence nursing. Special emphasis is placed on the teaching-learning approaches that were successfully incorporated into the program.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Integration of Internet-based learning and traditional face-to-face learning in an RN-BSN course in Korea.

This article describes the development of and student satisfaction with a distance learning course using both online and face-to-face methods in an RN-BSN program in Korea. Four steps were used for course development: (1) assessment of students' learning needs and determination of objectives of the course, (2) designing of module/assignment instructions, (3) development of the Internet-based learning platform, and (4) evaluation of course and Internet-based learning platform. Student satisfaction was evaluated by using a 4-point Likert-type questionnaire. Forty-eight (92.3%) questionnaires were returned. Overall satisfaction with this course was high (X = 3.29). Appropriateness of learning methods (X = 3.35) was rated the most satisfactory, followed by appropriateness of content (X = 3.31). Most of the students enjoyed the course and they wanted more nursing courses to be offered through the online and on-site format. On the basis of the findings, additional courses using both online and face-to-face methods for RN-BSN students should be developed and implemented for RN-BSN nursing programs in Korea.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2006

Associative learning in hierarchical self-organizing learning arrays.

In this paper, we introduce feedback-based associative learning in self-organized learning arrays (SOLAR). SOLAR structures are hierarchically organized networks of sparsely connected neurons that define their own functions and select their interconnections locally. This paper provides a description of neuron self-organization and signal processing. Feedforward processing is used to make necessary correlations and learn the input patterns. Discovered associations between neuron inputs are used to generate feedback signals. These feedback signals, when propagated to the primary inputs, can establish the expected input values. This can be used for heteroassociative (HA) and autoassociative (AA) learning and pattern recognition. Example applications in HA learning are given.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1996

Visuospatial learning: Ruff Light Trail Learning Test.

The assessment of memory typically includes tests for both audioverbal and visuospatial processing, while measurements of learning have primarily utilized the audioverbal mode. However, there exists no compelling reason why learning should not also be assessed in the visuospatial mode. The Ruff Light Trail Learning Test (RULIT) represents such an option. Normative values utilizing 307 volunteers indicated neither significant gender nor educational differences. However, an age effect for those subjects 55 and older was demonstrated, and our data suggest that the major reason for the inferior learning in this older subgroup was their reduced memory capacities rather than their slowed visuospatial processing. Multiple components including learning curves, error analysis, and delayed recall are presented. Test-retest data also indicate an adequate reliability. The validity was compared to concurrently administered neuropsychological tests, and, finally, the potential for neuropsychological application of this new test is discussed.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1993

Knowledge-based generation of machine learning experiments: learning with DNA crystallography data.

Though it has been possible in the past to learn to predict DNA hydration patterns from crystallographic data, there is ambiguity in the choice of training data (both in terms of the relevant set of cases and the features needed to represent them), which limits the usefulness of standard learning techniques. Thus, we have developed a knowledge-based system to generate machine learning experiments for inducing DNA hydration pattern classifiers. The system takes as input (1) a set of classified training examples described by a large set of attributes and (2) information about a set of learning experiments that have already been run. It outputs a new learning experiment, namely a (not necessarily proper) subset of the input examples represented by a new set of features. Domain specific and domain independent knowledge is used to suggest subsets of training examples from suspected subpopulations, transform attributes in the training data or generate new ones, and choose interesting ways to substitute one experiment's set of attributes with another. Automatic hydration pattern predictors are of both theoretical and practical interest to DNA crystallographers, because they can speed up a labor intensive process, and because the extracted rules add to the knowledge of what determines DNA hydration.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2005

Olfactory learning-related NCAM expression is state, time, and location specific and is correlated with individual learning capabilities.

The notion that long-term synaptic plasticity is generated by activity-induced molecular modifications is widely accepted. It is well established that neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is one of the prominent modulators of synaptic plasticity. NCAM can be polysialylated (PSA-NCAM), a reaction that provides it with anti-adhesion properties. In this study we have focused on NCAM and on its polysialylated state, and their relation to learning of an olfactory discrimination task, which depends on both the piriform (olfactory) cortex and hippocampus. We trained rats to distinguish between pairs of odors until rule learning was achieved, a process that normally lasts 6-8 days. At four time points, during training and after training completion, synaptic NCAM and PSA-NCAM expression were assessed in the piriform cortex and hippocampus. We report that NCAM modulation is specific to PSA-NCAM, which is upregulated in the hippocampus one day after training completion. We also report a correlation between the performance of individual rats in an early training stage and their NCAM expression, both in the piriform cortex and hippocampus. Since individual early performance in our odor discrimination task is correlated with the performance throughout the training period, we conclude that early NCAM expression is associated with odor learning capability. We therefore suggest that early synaptic NCAM expression may be one of the factors determining the capability of rats to learn.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

A taste aversion model of drug discrimination learning: training drug and condition influence rate of learning, sensitivity and drug specificity.

A model of drug discrimination based on a lithium chloride (LiCl) flavour aversion was described and examined. Mildly thirsty rats were presented daily with 4 ml of a distinctly flavoured solution which was followed on 50% of the days by an IP injection of LiCl. Prior to the flavour presentation, the rats were injection SC with saline or a training drug (0.04 mg/kg fentanyl or 20 mg/kg pentobarbital) to signal whether LiCl would follow. Almost all rats eventually exhibited stable behaviour that involved drinking most or all of the fluid when it was not to be followed by LiCl and little or no drinking when it was. Such discrimination occurred regardless of whether drug predicted LiCl (learned-discomfort) or predicted no LiCl (learned-safety). However, with fentanyl there were clear differences between rats trained with drug under learned-safety and under learned-discomfort conditions for 1) the rate of acquisition of stable performance as a function of LiCl dose, 2) generalization of the training dose to a test dose that was lower, and 3) elicitation of fentanyl responses by pentobarbital. These findings, together with indications that such effects did not always occur with pentobarbital as the training drug, were discussed from theoretical and practical perspectives.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

Paired associate learning in reading-disabled children: evidence for a rule-learning deficiency.

Two experiments examined whether normal and disabled readers differed in the utilization of rules in a paired associate learning task. Experiment 1 required children to learn symbol-word associates. Children were assigned to one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule was based on semantic opposites. Subjects benefited from having the rule, but disabled readers showed less improvement across four test blocks than both chronological age (CA) controls and reading age (RA) controls, particularly in the inconsistent condition. Experiment 2 required subjects to learn symbol-symbol associations in one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule specified the locations of a subsidiary figure in each symbol according to the pattern top-right, bottom-left. Disabled and normal readers did not differ in the nonrule condition where reliance on visual memory would be an effective strategy. Normal readers were superior to disabled readers in both rule conditions. In addition, disabled readers in the inconsistent rule condition were less able than normal readers to apply the rule in a generalization task where memory demands were reduced. Results supported the hypothesis that disabled readers have greater difficulty than normal readers inducing and/or using rules, particularly when they are inconsistent. It is suggested that difficulties in acquiring or using complex and inconsistent rules may be one important source of problems learning spelling-sound correspondence rules, which in English are complex and inconsistent.

Association Learning↗

PubMed2026

Implicit and explicit statistical learning in reading: Evidence from a randomized controlled-learning study and computational modeling.

A key challenge in reading acquisition is understanding how learners extract the complex probabilistic mappings between print, meaning, and sound. Statistical learning (SL) theory offers a mechanistic account of how such mappings are acquired, whether implicitly through exposure or explicitly through instruction. We conducted a randomized controlled-learning study in Chinese, a writing system characterized by multiple sub-lexical regularities linking orthography, semantics, and phonology. Ninety-five 2nd-3rd graders with or at risk for dyslexia were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an implicit-SL training group exposed to repeated lexical and sublexical orthography-semantics-phonology associations, an explicit-SL training group receiving the same input plus explicit instruction on the sublexical print-sound mapping, and a no-SL control group. Both SL groups outperformed controls on the characters they were trained on, as well as on untrained characters that required generalization. However, only the explicit group demonstrated abstraction of print-sound mapping to novel items. Neural network simulations further revealed distinct mechanisms supporting implicit and explicit SL, consistent with a dual-system account of reading acquisition. Together, these findings (1) clarify how implicit and explicit learning distinctly support the discovery of statistical structure in written language and (2) underscore the implicit-explicit dual learning mechanism underlying reading acquisition.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

Why do children learn to say "Broke"? A model of learning the past tense without feedback.

Learning the English past tense is characterized by a U-shaped learning function for the irregular verbs. Existing cognitive models often rely on a sudden increase in vocabulary, a high token-frequency of regular verbs, and complicated schemes of feedback in order to model this phenomenon. All these assumptions are at odds with empirical data. In this paper a hybrid ACT-R model is presented that shows U-shaped learning without direct feedback, changes in vocabulary, or unrealistically high rates of regular verbs. The model is capable of learning the default rule, even if regular forms are infrequent. It can also help explore the question of why there is a distinction between regular and irregular verbs in the first place, by examining the costs and benefits of both types of verbs.

Child↗

PubMed1992

Learning behaviour in chronic vitamin E-deficient and -supplemented rats: radial arm maze learning and passive avoidance response.

The effects of long-term vitamin E deficiency and supplementation on learning behaviour were investigated. Rats were fed vitamin E-deficient [VE(-)], -supplemented [VE(+)], or control standard food beginning after the age of 4 weeks. They were trained in an eight-arm radial maze learning task at the age of 17 months, and in a step-through passive avoidance response (PAR) task at the age of 25 months. In the radial maze task, both VE(-) and VE(+) animals required as many trials to reach the learning criterion as control animals. Scopolamine injection (0.25-0.5 mg/kg) after acquisition of the task decreased the number of correct choices dose-dependently; however, the degree of the drug effect on VE(-) and VE(+) rats did not differ from that on control rats. On the other hand, VE(-) animals showed significantly lower rate of avoidance response and VE(+) animals tended to show higher rate of avoidance response in the PAR task than did control animals. These results suggest that long-term vitamin E deficiency or supplementation does not influence general ability to acquire and maintain memory tasks in rats, but that it may affect learning behaviour, depending on the kind of task in which animals were trained.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1988

Learning in rats with caudate-putamen lesions: unimpaired classical conditioning and beneficial effects of redundant stimulus cues on instrumental and spatial learning deficits.

The effects of caudate-putamen lesions in the rat on conditioning were investigated in three experiments. In Experiment 1, rats with lesions were impaired on a spatial task that required learning to make the correct position response, but no deficit was obtained when the alternatives were differentiated by salient visual cues. Performance remained good even when the visual cues were removed. A classical conditioned suppression paradigm was used in Experiment 2, and caudate-putamen lesions were found not to impair acquisition of suppression or overshadowing. In Experiment 3 we revealed poor instrumental learning in subjects with lesions as retarded acquisition of lever-press responding and depressed variable interval response rates. When a light stimulus was present together with reinforced responses, response rates were depressed in the control group (which suggested an overshadowing phenomenon) but were potentiated in the group with lesions. The results showed that caudate-putamen lesions did not produce a general deficit in association formation. There was disruption of learning about responses but not stimuli and, moreover, it was found that redundant stimulus cues aided response learning. It appears that for normal subjects, the salience or associability of the response cues may largely determine the influence of stimuli presented during instrumental conditioning.

Animals↗