Summer SAVY, Session 3 Day 2, “Neurobiology of Learning and Memory” (7th-8th)
Today began with our student presentations on multiple sclerosis (or “MS”, a condition resulting from neurons losing their protective coating)! The four student groups lead a review of action potential (neuronal communication) and presented very useful information on the definition, causes, treatment, and future research directions of MS. Specifically, we improved our understanding of how MS occurs (neurons losing their protect coating), risk factors, and available and future medications/treatment. We also got to see a real patient case, which helped us understand the effects of this disease. Moreover, important concepts emerged from these presentations. For example, a group presented a video involving drug trials. Then we asked, “Why do we need to test if a drug works or not?” The answer is that there can be so many explanations for a patient to get better, which may not necessarily be related to the use of a particular drug. The patient may feel better simply because he thinks the drug would work (a placebo effect), or because he gets better on his own, or because of something else he did. These discussions will help us transition perfectly to one of tomorrow’s topics – scientific reasoning.
The day continued with an introduction to the anatomy of our nervous system. We learned about the two major components of the nervous system: the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system. We also watched some videos with animations of these systems. Of special importance was the different regions of the brain and their functions. For example, the frontal lobe has a role in our personality formation, and the hippocampus deep within the temporal lobe stores our memory. Then we asked, “How did scientists learn which area is responsible for what?” It was realized that much of this knowledge came from people suffering damage to different areas of their brains, resulting in their personality change or memory loss. With that, we got into the ethics of scientific research and had a meaningful discussion on it. We concluded that science brings benefits but is also subject to limitations. We wrapped up this topic by having our students draw brain areas on a white swim cap using color markers!
In the afternoon, we discussed the topic of human memory. Memory is in almost everything we do. This idea manifests in the examples that our students came up with. For example, a student said “Hi”, and that involved the use of his memory, because he would need to have been taught the word “hi” to be able to use it. We moved on to learn about different types of memories. This was a really fun part of the day! Our students were able to have first-hand experience of all these types of memories. For example, in terms of sensory memory, our students saw flashing images of numbers and a maze and listened to an audio clip saying “neuroscience” in a foreign language. It helped our students appreciate that sensory memory is supposed to be transient, but enough for us to recognize the type of information. We then investigated the first memory strategy – repetition (or rehearsal), which can help us convert short-term memory into long-term memory. Our students heard strings of numbers that got longer and longer and discovered that the human working memory has a limit, and therefore, it’s important for us to use tools like notetaking to help us learn.
Another highlight of the day occurred when we were trying to understand conscious vs. unconscious memory through a role-play exercise. Two students played the roles of a doctor and his amnesic patient (a person who can’t form new memories). It turned out that the patient may not remember seeing the doctor, no matter how many times she met her, but unconsciously, she remembered the feeling of being pricked by a (fake) pin in the doctor’s hand. We dove deeper into the topic of unconscious memory. Our students continued to experience those memories firsthand. For example, they saw objects that were camouflaged in pictures and realized that amnesic patients would not remember seeing the picture, but would quickly spot the camouflaged objects. Our students also experienced priming.
The day ended with an introduction to Mass Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a resource for continuous self-learning. Our students’ final project encourages them to find MOOC resources to support their learning in topics that interest them. We also saw a demonstration of finding researchers on the internet, so that we know who is doing research in topics that we like to learn about, and potentially we can study with these researchers in universities.