The Neural Basis of Spatial Learning and Generalization from Educational Intervention
Abstract
Spatial intelligence is critical for the success of U.S. armed forces trainees on a wide range of tasks. Operators and navigators use radar and sonar to monitor, plot, and analyze data relating to the spatial positions and motion trajectories of ships and aircraft. Electricians, technicians, and machinists use spatial visualization to mentally map diagrams, and to mentally track relations among structures and machine parts during installations, maintenance, and trouble-shooting. Recent research indicates that spatial skills are highly trainable in adults, and that spatial interventions can improve performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A 2015 report by the National Research Council concluded that spatial skills training would improve decision-making and job performance in the U.S. military (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), 2015). That report also concluded that new cognitive and neural research is needed to identify the nature and types of spatial training interventions that yield improvements in spatial intelligence for military-age recruits. The current study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a pre/post design with a battery of cognitive tests to measure how the human brain learns spatial visualization skills. We will measure cognitive performance and neural plasticity in 120 18- to 24-year-olds as they learn spatial visualization skills from a 9-week spatial visualization intervention that has proven successful for improving spatial reasoning in undergraduates (Sorby et al., 2018). We will test hypotheses that 1) specific neural circuits in parietal cortex play a unique role in spatial learning, 2)individual differences in spatial abilities predict patterns of neural activity in those brain regions, 3) spatial training reducesheterogeneity among individuals in spatial ability and neural activity, and 4) spatial training transfers to mathematical skills but not verbal skills and relates to mathematical processing in the brain. The study will also test hypotheses that spatial learning engages common neural networks across gender groups # a question that is critical for disentangling the roles of biology and experience in spatial intelligence. Individual and group differences are important to study as the armed forces becomes more diverse. Genderis an important dimension of diversity because over the past 30 years the percentage of females enlisted in the armed services has quadrupled (Council on Foreign Relations, 2020). Female recruitment, accession, and retention are areas of active concern within theU.S. Naval Forces (GAO, 2020). Some research suggests that training core skills, such as spatial visualization, could help #level the field# among recruits and improve the professional pipeline as well as the breadth and diversity of the armed forces across job types (Uttal et al., 2013; Sorby et al., 2018). The current study will test the degree to which spatial training yields uniform neural and behavioral gains across people. Taken together, the study will provide the first evidence for whether and how spatial trainingyields growth in the human brain. This project is important for identifying avenues of spatial training that yield gains in intelligence # a question central to the Navy#s mission to recruit, train, and launch careers for skilled men and women in 21st century professions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 21, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142412015
Entities
People
- Jessica F. Cantlon
Organizations
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy