Skip to main content

Knowledge Construction in the Brain

To design the way of learning and teaching from environmental, the educational psychologists have helped a lot. Pure cognitive theory largely rejects behaviorism on the basis that it reduces reduces complex human behavior to simple cause and effect. Our human brains are optimized to remember information to various degrees. At the same time, they can be able to quickly discard irrelevant, non-repetitive details [1]. By designing the knowledge structures, our brain will alter and verify the new information (via encoded) with the past experienced knowledge more effectively. In addition, post-encoding processes such as consolidation and retrieval are presumed to be facilitated once new experiences fit with previously encountered experiences [2,3]. New information then becomes integrated with existing schemas rather than independently stored.

The concepts of cognitive neuroscience, the false memories and misconceptions make us to create a knowledgeable construction in brain. They have consider and relates memory types and phases of memory formation (encoding, consolidation, reconsolidation, and retrieval), and review how these contribute to schema construction. They have also focus on possible functions of these neural processes. The given out line of cognitive neuroscience will be a pivotal role of knowledge construction research and their applications in educational system, which one is an unavoidable scenario. They are planned to give guidelines from a neural perspective (for novel research) and optimal knowledge acquisition practices.

THE PHASES OF MEMORY

The long term memory in our brain is arranged by a set of successive processes. They have enlightened new information as encoded into a memory in brain by the hippocampus and surrounding regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) [4]. The hippocampus is thought to connect different parts of a memory that make up a specific episode with time and place. A semanticize memories are faded away and associated memories are remained in the brain storage. An alternative path of transformation theory, here the memory will contain episodic details only when the hippocampus can still access the memory.  

The act of retrieval is generally thought to alter a memory again, updating it with previously and currently learned or retrieved information. Memories are then suggested to become reconsolidated into existing schemas, presumably altering their features again. In the way, schemas are thought to be continuously adjusted to optimize our understanding of the world around us and to allow the prediction of future occurrences.

KNOWLEDGE BUILDING AND SCHEMAS

Fredric Bartlett (1900), has coined the term schema which denotes a structure that people use to organize current knowledge and provide a framework for future understanding.

Similarly, Jean Piaget (psychologist) has used the term schema to explain how young kids learn regularities in the environment. Piagets concepts regarding accommodation (the adaptation of an existing schema) and assimilation (integration of new information into a schema) are still prevalent throughout educational theory, most importantly in constructivism.

In Richard Moori’s Lab (2007), the brain rats were found to more quickly encode and consolidate new information when they fitted with a spatial schema.  Multifocal concept research reports with both (in animals and humans) were announced well, they are focused specifically on human, whole-brain, and systems-level theories, which means how our memories are stored.

Most of these discuss the roles of brain regions such as the hippocampus and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) and their relationship towards storing, accessing and updating schemas. Overall, it has been proposed that the mPFC plays a role in accessing the schema in order to update it. Psychologists have concluded that brain research in multiple ways of store and memories in desired ways.

Figure. 1 The hippocampus and mPFC are presumed to have different functions when it comes to storing memories [5].

THE PREDICTIVE BRAIN

Psychologists have identified to understand that how and why the brain organizes information into schemas with considerable theories about brain functioning.

  • The brain has evolved to optimally survive in the world and memory plays an important part in survival. However, it is not always useful to remember only unique episodic events.
  • This hierarchical memory system, moving from a very specific memory containing time and place-specific details to a generalization that predicts how the world is organized, is proposed to depend on selection processes during consolidation.  This selection is crucial to survive in a dependable but yet ever-changing environment.
  • According to a theory posed by Buzsáki and Moser, the place and grid cell organization in the MTL that explains how we can flexibly navigate our surroundings, is highly suited to support such a hierarchical memory system.

To do so, the brain needs a clear and consistent world model. This model is similar to semantic memory or schema, and is suggested to generate prediction errors when inconsistent information is encountered.

Our brain is continuously absorbing information from the environment to optimize its internal predictive model. How can we optimally utilize this neural architecture to create memories that contribute to a malleable but durable schema while preserving relevant details and avoiding the formation of erroneous, but well fitting memories?

FALSE MEMORIES

Undesirable consequences of such predictive processes in our brains are:

  • They can give rise to false memories.
  • The precise definition of a false memory is debated.
  • They showed a strong overlap with misinformation, misattribution and misconception effects.

False memories are shown to become “implanted”, inferred, or distorted through presenting participants with wrong, incomplete, or overlapping information. For example, Elizabeth Loftus has made her participants remember memories that never existed, such that they were lost in a shopping mall as a child.

This finding, together with other (virtual) lesion studies on the neutral processes in schema effects, suggests that schema-related integratory mechanisms are important when generating false memories.

HOW CAN WE MAKE BEST MEMORIES?

They have think of a good memory as vivid, strong, and episodically detailed, such as memories of important life events (like graduation ceremonies). This is an important feature of autobiographical memories. Yet, such vividness might not necessarily be important in any situation.

In education, concepts of plant physiology with animal physiology are learned by normal memory without any episodic details, but an alternative way with bigger pictures about the related one. So it will helpful to ignore the misconception, misunderstanding, and also stored in longer memory via schema.

Such a dynamic memory is extremely valuable. They have insisted to students must create memories containing both episodic and semantic features. This method can be easily trained and is shown to change neural processes underlying memory formation.

Similarly, reactivation of previous memories while learning new information is suggested to help to integrate them with an existing schema, presumably making a new memory better connected and less likely to fade away. All of this should happen at a desirable difficulty, at an optimal “distance” from the schema.

Novelty does affect encoding, though, but not with an item by item basis. Several studies have found that exploring a novel environment or seeing a set of novel pictures enhances encoding of subsequently learned material, up to thirty minutes later.

Our SNB Team preferred this research work in this pandemic time of COVID-19 issues was to deliver the brain memory research. We hope that it will enhanced the strategies in every lifetime situation with memory lose. New types of schemas of memories “semanticize” may engaged to develop stronger and less likely to be forgotten life style. False memories are more likely to arise with very strong schemas in educational settings where they strive for a balance between episodic and semantic features. Here, they are discussed about how the mnemonic processes in our brains build long-term knowledge on different levels at different time scale in educational setting. Future view of this concept, understanding how the memory mechanisms in our brain work can potentially help to optimize our memories.

References

  1.  B. A. Richards et al., Neuron 94, 1071 (2017).
  2. M. T. van Kesteren et al., Trends Neurosci. 35, 211 (2012).
  3. J. W. Antony et al., Trends Cogn. Sci. 21, 573 (2017).
  4. K. A. Paller et al., Trends Cogn. Sci. 6, 93 (2002).
  5. M. T. R. van Kesteren et al., npj Science of Learning (2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-0064-y .
Blog Written By

Dr. K. Rajkumar

Central University of Tamilnadu

Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India

Author Profile

Editors

Dr. A. S. Ganeshraja

Dr. S. Chandrasekar

Reviewers

Dr. Y. Sasikumar

Dr. S. Thirumurugan

Dr. K. Vaithinathan

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PROSPECTS ON PHOTOBIOREFINERY

Very recently, Prof. Dr. K. Faungnawakij and his research group have summarized a mini review report on an emerging renewable technique of Photobiorefinery . This is one of the beyond technique of Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) [1] . Despite great promises, AP technologies for solar H2 production and CO2 reduction are far uncompetitive to other promising technologies at the current stage . However, despite an enormous effort, time, and budget paid on AP-related researches throughout several decades, AP technologies have struggled to strive beyond laboratory demonstration except a very few exceptions [2] . This bitter reality makes the translation of this excellent science to practical application questionable [3] . Technoeconomic analysis shows that without achieving the aggressive technology targets, this technology will not be commercially viable. This has directed the research community towards the development of highly efficient yet expensive devices. While tremendous p...

Impact on Climate and Land Use Changes Around Ganga River

In India, Ganga is the largest river and also famous spiritual river, in meantime pollution issue in Ganga river is considered to be one of the most discussed topics on river water quality in the past decades . The river gets s everely polluted with untreated industrial and human wastes, and the river crossed around 11 states in India and provides water for about 40% of India's population, approximately 500 million people, we couldn’t find more than any other river in the world [ 1, 2 ]. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has mentioned that 764 grossly polluting industries were discharging into the Ganga river, 487 industries are from the Kanpur region. Therefore, the Kanpur region was treated as the main polluted spot and immediate action should be taken for further recovery of water quality. The Kanpur region is one of the most important industrialized place in India. It is the most polluted stretch of the Ganga River, because of its excessive pollutant discharge from the i...

Electric Vehicle: Public Health and Climate Benefits

A research team led by Daniel Peters at Northwestern University has investigated that if we introducing electrifying vehicles in the streets of the United States could annually prevent hundreds-to-thousands of premature accidental deaths.This work highlights the potential of a synergistic solution to reduce CO 2 emissions by hundreds to millions of tons annually. The estimate of economic damages induced by introducing electrifying vehicles (EV) adoption is substantial. With current infrastructure, about 25% of electrifying vehicles adoption in the US can save approximately $16.8 billion annually, has been told in the study entitled"Public Health and Climate Benefits and Trade offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification," in GeoHealth on 13 th August 2020 [1] .  Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. This highlights the potential of co-beneficial...

AN ACT OF FACE MASK MATERIAL USED TO PROTECT US FROM SARS-COV-2

“ In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community ” On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic [1] . In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community. Given that COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, the most effective physical defense likely involves widespread public use of face coverings, in conjunction with other control measures [ 2 ] . Face coverings (also variously referred to as face masks, nonmedical masks, community masks or barrier masks ) function primarily in source control; capturing droplets expelled by an infected individual [3] . Figure 1. DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. source click here In the absence of an...

RENEWABLE ENERGY'S ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEEN-UP PROCESS

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction. Most of global warming emissions come from our electricity sector. Most of those emissions come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas . Sulfur dioxide (SO2) , which cause acid rain, comes from electricity generation. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) , which react with sunlight to create ground level ozone and smog, come from electricity generation.   Ozone (O3) occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere where it is beneficial.   Particulate matter is a type of air pollution more commonly referred to as soot. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.   Mercury is a highly toxic metal that is released from coal-fired power plants. In contra...

Scientific Research Focus on “To End Hunger”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN), Hunger Report, Ending hunger is a major objective of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), hunger is the term used to define periods when populations are experiencing severe food insecurity - means that they go for entire days without eating due to lack of money, lack of access to food, or other resources [ 1 ]. Hunger is strongly interconnected with poverty, and it involves interactions among an array of social, political, demographic, and societal factors. An attention is must in the following topics to put an end card for poor hunger:  Global Hunger Index (GHI). World Food Program’s 2020. Global Report on Food Crises.   Smallholder-farming. Ceres2030. The two main international institutions are the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , joined forces to estimate what it would cost to ...

Novel Approach of Plastic Waste to Flash Graphene

Prof. Algozeeb and his research collaboration team have investigated an novel approach of upcycling plastic waste (PW) products to flash graphene (FG). This method relies on Flash Joule Heating (FJH) to convert PW into FG. A sequential direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) flash is used in order to make a high-quality graphene. In this FJH process, they established without catalyst and works for PW mixtures that can make the process suitable for handling landfill PW.  In 21 st century, PW pollution is considerable one among the various environmental issues. A very large fraction of PW ends up in the ocean, which leads to the formation of micro- and nanoplastics that threaten marine life, micro-organisms, useful bacteria, and humans. From the intense carbon footprint process, most of these synthesized plastics are used only once before dumping into landfills or water ways that terminate in the oceans. Hence, upcycling PW to higher value materials and chemicals is econ...

Electromagnetic Field: Non-Chemical Water Treatment Technology

An interesting review report on “A critical review of the application of electromagnetic fields for scaling control in water systems: mechanisms, characterization, and operation” was reported by Lu Lin, Wenbin Jiang, Xuesong Xu and Pei Xu published in Nature Partner Journals Clean Water published on June 2020 [1] .   Water is the precious matter in the world. source U.S. General Services Administration has interested on non-chemical water treatment technologies. It has mentioned following important points: n on-chemical technology promises to increase the period between required blow-down cycles, thus reducing water consumption , minimizes associated issues of chemical storage, handling, and disposal, and may permit on-site re-use of cooling-tower “blow-down” water as “grey water” , it promises to be life cycle cost effective based solely on the reduction in chemical costs , this technology may reduce or eliminate chemical costs, it may not reduce other contractor costs ...

Electro-Organic Synthesis: Next Emerging Technique

Industrial developments, excessive energy consumption, sustainable technologies, environmental cleaning processes are major topics of political and social discourse. Current innovations are rated not only focusing on their benefit and utility but also concerning their eco-friendly approaches. The development of green technological processes is becoming more important and requires harmless energy sources. Particularly over the past decade, the severe limitations of fossil resources intensify the movement towards sustainable synthesis techniques with a strict cutback in the ecological footprint [ 1 ]. Electro-organic synthesis belongs to the synthetic organic chemistry discipline that facilities the direct use of electricity to generate valuable compounds. Hence, it is possible to transfer green aspects of sustainable energy sources to the whole production process [ 2 ]. Since the Kolbe’s discoveries of using electricity as a reagent for organic transformations over 170 years ago, ...

Innovations of Integrated Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the study of methods to imitate intelligent human behavior. AI is widely heralded as an ongoing “revolution” transforming science and society altogether [ 1 , 2 ]. While approaches to AI such as machine learning, deep learning and artificial neural networks are reshaping data processing and analysis [ 3 ], healthcare, transportation and the production chain [ 4 ].  Figure 1. Integrated concept of artificial intelligence. AI Ethics Guidelines National and international organizations (European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK House of Lords, Singapore Commission) have responded to these concerns by developing ad hoc expert committees on AI, often mandated to draft policy documents in various countries. In 2018 alone, companies such as Google and SAP publicly released AI guidelines and principles. The advisory council on the ethical use of AI scientific team have announced that results reveal a global co...