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In:Developmental Perspectives in Written Language and Literacy: In honor of Ludo Verhoeven
Edited by Eliane Segers and Paul van den Broek
[Not in series 206] 2017
► pp. 3–16

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How neuroscience can inform education

A case for prior knowledge effects on memory

 | Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States | Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, section Educational Neuroscience, Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
 | Department of Anatomy, Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
 | Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands | Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Published online: 21 December 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/z.206.01van
Neuroscientific and educational research have the potential to interact productively, because neuroscience investigates processes underlying core educational aims like knowledge acquisition. Combining these research areas therefore appears beneficial, but differences in experimental approach and limitations of neuroscience tools in terms of ecological validity hamper translation. Hence, a common approach that takes these differences into account is needed. Here, we will set out how neuroscience research on long-term memory formation, integration, and consolidation may be informative for education and we will speculate on links with literacy development. Because memory formation is a constructive process, newly learned memories are continuously related to and integrated with previously learned knowledge to form extensive knowledge structures. This integration process is suggested to strengthen memories and make them less vulnerable to forgetting. Education may therefore profit greatly from understanding the neural processes underlying optimal integration to achieve optimal building of knowledge structures, making learning more efficient and evidence based.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Differences in experimental approaches in neuroscience and education
  • 3.Memory in the brain
    • 3.1Declarative memories: Episodic and semantic
    • 3.2Encoding, consolidation, and retrieval
    • 3.3Brain regions
  • 4.Effects of prior knowledge
  • 5.Educational neuroscience memory research
    • 5.1Prior knowledge
    • 5.2Insight
    • 5.3Post-encoding rest
  • 6.Future directions
  • References
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