Fig. 2: Novices and engineering students show distinct and overlapping patterns of neural activity. | npj Science of Learning

Fig. 2: Novices and engineering students show distinct and overlapping patterns of neural activity.

From: Using the force: STEM knowledge and experience construct shared neural representations of engineering concepts

Fig. 2: Novices and engineering students show distinct and overlapping patterns of neural activity.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

The schematic to the left describes the analytical procedure: First, in each subject’s brain, we computed a data-driven neural dissimilarity matrix (DM) at each surface node, consisting of the pairwise comparisons between stimulus items. Then, these individual subjects’ node-level DMs were correlated across subjects within each group. A noise threshold was applied using the negative extent of the intersubject correlations as a chance estimate. Finally, results were subjected to a spatial cluster correction on the cortical surface, retaining only clusters of at least five contiguous surface nodes. The brain surface maps on the right show regions where intersubject DM correlations were above the chance threshold for engineering students only (green), novices only (blue), and both groups (red). Anatomical reference labels have been added for M1, vOT, intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and calcarine sulcus (V1). Engineering students showed unique representational convergence in motor regions including M1, as well as ventral PFC and inferior parietal regions. Novice-specific regions included more anterior frontal regions and more dorsal parietal regions. Groups overlapped in representational convergence in occipital regions, including vOT until the most anterior regions.

Back to article page