Neuroscience, Cognitive Studies, and Modern Medical Education Methods

Abstract

One of the ongoing challenges in educational neuroscience research is to understand how cognitive neuroscience insights and recent acheivements could be used to improve the quality of education in general and medical education in particular. How common is the language of neuroscience, and learning science? The concept of the “schema” has traditionally been considered as the underpinning of any learning behavior. However cognitive neuroscience is trying to unveil how knowledge, insight and experience are being processed in the brain and how distinct neural connections facilitate a new learning process. Encoded data in the hippocampus would potentially have long-lasting neocortical representations and this will form schemas. How could fundamental concepts and neuroscience findings be employed to improve learning and education in medicine? The insights provided by basic and applied research in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and learning science, can be promising in improving education including medical education. This article reviews the common areas between neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and medical education.

Keywords

• cognitive neuroscience
• medical education
• schema
• cognition
• education
• learning
• cognitive psychology