Effects of Repetition Learning on Associative Recognition Over Time: Role of the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex

How about an anatomy elective? Making a case for utilizing spaced repetition and longitudinal integration of anatomy in medical curricula

BACKGROUND

Anatomy can be rapidly forgotten without repetition and retrieval. With an overall decrease in time allotment for teaching discrete subjects, longitudinal integration of anatomy throughout medical curricula is a more effective approach. This study sought to assess the efficacy of spaced repetition in an integrated anatomy elective.

METHODS

An advanced anatomy elective course was designed for second-year medical students at one medical school. Spaced repetition was utilized to review gross and radiological anatomy. A total of 21 students participated in 2022 and 2023. Student reflections were collected via an online survey and focus group interviews. Qualitative data was thematically analyzed using an abductive coding scheme. Major themes and subthemes were identified via cross-case analyses.

RESULTS

Survey results showed that 95% of students felt better prepared for USMLE Step 1 after taking this elective. Strongest aspects of the course were identified as: 1) reviewing anatomy in the context of medical imaging, 2) revisiting anatomy lab as teaching assistants, 3) reinforcing foundational and multidisciplinary basic science concepts using clinical case questions. Overall findings based on both phases of data analysis indicated that participation in the elective increased student confidence in preparation for Step 1 and helped solidify their understanding of foundational anatomical knowledge while also enhancing metacognition.

CONCLUSIONS

An anatomy elective course can serve as an efficient and effective step toward longitudinal integration of anatomy in undergraduate medical curricula. Future research is needed to assess the quantitative impact of this educational intervention on long-term learning and student performance on Step 1.

Continual learning in the presence of repetition

Continual learning (CL) provides a framework for training models in ever-evolving environments. Although re-occurrence of previously seen objects or tasks is common in real-world problems, the concept of repetition in the data stream is not often considered in standard benchmarks for CL. Unlike with the rehearsal mechanism in buffer-based strategies, where sample repetition is controlled by the strategy, repetition in the data stream naturally stems from the environment. This report provides a summary of the CLVision challenge at CVPR 2023, which focused on the topic of repetition in class-incremental learning. The report initially outlines the challenge objective and then describes three solutions proposed by finalist teams that aim to effectively exploit the repetition in the stream to learn continually. The experimental results from the challenge highlight the effectiveness of ensemble-based solutions that employ multiple versions of similar modules, each trained on different but overlapping subsets of classes. This report underscores the transformative potential of taking a different perspective in CL by employing repetition in the data stream to foster innovative strategy design.

Enhancing student understanding of cardiovascular disease burden in marginalized communities in the physiology classroom

Physiology education is at the core of biomedical science and medicine. Physiology unites multiple disciplines to explain the mechanisms whereby a risk factor is associated with disease. Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity are associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Minority stress theory attempts to explain the association of identity variables in sex and gender minority (SGM) and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations with CVD. However, instruction on how to effectively incorporate the ways that social determinants of health are linked to disease outcomes in marginalized populations, such as the SGM and BIPOC communities, is needed. We investigated the efficacy of teaching minority stress theory concepts in a single lecture in an upper-level cardiovascular pathophysiology course (N = 44 students). To test students' understanding of minority-related disease, we used both subjective and objective measures to evaluate student understanding before and after the lecture. Student self-assessment of understanding of health disparity physiological mechanisms and lifestyle and pharmacological interventions to reduce health disparities in SGM communities increased post intervention. We observed similar results of self-assessment of understanding of health disparity physiological mechanisms and appropriate lifestyle and pharmacological interventions to reduce health disparities regarding the BIPOC community. Our findings suggest that integrating social determinants of health into pathophysiology courses may result in a more inclusive-minded scientific and medical workforce.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Physiology education has historically lacked the inclusion of the social determinants of health and discussion of medically marginalized communities. Here, we show that discussion of cardiovascular disease and psychosocial stress in marginalized communities improves student understanding of the distribution of and causes of cardiovascular disease in marginalized groups. We conclude that more physiology instructors should include discussions on chronic diseases within multiple communities and programs should incorporate social determinants of health into their curricula.

Beyond facilitating unisensory processing: Crossmodal associative memory training further modulates sensory integration

Audiovisual associative memory and audiovisual integration involve common behavioral processing components and significantly overlap in their neural mechanisms. This suggests that training on audiovisual associative memory may have the potential to improve audiovisual integration. The current study tested this hypothesis by applying a 2 (group: audiovisual training group, unimodal control group) × 2 (time: pretest, posttest) design. The audiovisual training group received an adaptive audiovisual associative memory training protocol, whereas the active control group undertook an adaptive unimodal item memory training protocol. The training duration for both protocols was seven days, with one and a half hours per day. Before and after training, both groups underwent testing for audiovisual integration through event-related potential (ERP) measures in a detection task that required rapid detection of auditory, visual, or audiovisual stimuli. Behavioral results revealed a training-general effect, as both groups exhibited faster response times in unimodal stimulus detection after 7-day training. EEG results revealed a consistent pattern in which the amplitudes of both visual and auditory evoked components decreased following the training. Moreover, a training-specific effect was found for sensory integration, with the effect of audiovisual integration being modulated in the earlier stage of processing for the audiovisual training group. Such a modulation was not found in the unimodal control group. These findings indicate that training on higher cognitive functions could penetrate to both unisensory processing and the integration of sensory information, which may potentially aid in the development of more targeted and efficient interventions for perceptual processes.

Assessing the implementation of a tertiary care comprehensive pediatric asthma education program using electronic medical records and decision support tools

BACKGROUND

Self-management education is integral for proper asthma management. However, there is an accessibility gap to self-management education following asthma hospitalizations. Most pediatric patients and their families receive suboptimal or no education.

OBJECTIVE

To implement a comprehensive pediatric asthma education program and evaluate subsequent self-management knowledge in patients as well as behavior change outcomes reflected in the frequency of asthma related repeat emergency department visits and hospitalization. The program implementation was informed by the Knowledge to Translation Action Framework and the i-PARIHS model for quality improvement and involved several iterative stages.

METHODS

We implemented a comprehensive asthma education program for the families of all children 0-18 years old who had been admitted for an asthma exacerbation to the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), beginning on April 1, 2018. The program was adapted to the stages of the Knowledge Translation to Action Framework including undertaking an environmental scan, expert stakeholder feedback, reviews, addressing barriers, and tailoring the intervention, along with evaluating knowledge and health outcomes. Education was delivered over 1-2 h in personalized individual or small group settings, within 4 wk of hospital discharge. All education was provided by registered nurses or respiratory therapists who were also certified asthma educators. The EPIC electronic medical record was used to facilitate referral and scheduling of asthma education sessions, and to track subsequent acute asthma visits. We compared the frequency of a repeat asthma emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization within 1-year following an initial asthma hospitalization for children who would have received comprehensive asthma education, to a historical cohort of children who were hospitalized between April 9, 2017 - Apr 8, 2018, and did not receive asthma education.

RESULTS

The program had a high enrollment, capturing nearly 75% of the target population. Most families found the program to be acceptable and reported increased knowledge of how to manage asthma. We identified a crude overall 54% reduction in repeat hospitalizations among children 1 year after implementation of the asthma education program (i.e. 10.2% (23/225) repeat hospitalization rate pre- implementation versus 4.8% (11/227) post-implementation). In adjusted time-to event analysis, this reduction was prominent at 3 months among those who received comprehensive asthma education, relative to those who did not, but this improvement was not sustained by 1 year (HR =1.1, 95% CI =0.55- 2.05; p-value = 0.6).

DISCUSSION

Although we did not find long-term improvements in ED visits, or hospitalizations, in children of caregivers who participated in comprehensive asthma education, the asthma education program holds potential given that most patients found it to be acceptable and that it increased asthma management knowledge. A future asthma education program should include multiple sessions to ensure that the knowledge and behavior change will be sustained, leading ultimately to long-term reductions in repeat ED visits and hospitalizations.

Turns around periodic spatial boundaries facilitate increasing event segmentation over time

Event segmentation is a neurocognitive process bridging perception and episodic memory. To our knowledge, almost all segmentation work is framed towards humans, yet evolutionarily conserved mechanisms in event cognition exist across species. Here, we addressed segmentation in a way that is applicable to humans and non-human animals, inspired by research in rats; specifically, the fragmentation of grid-cell spatial representations following the insertion of boundaries into an environment (forming a corridor maze). Participants indicated when they felt a meaningful unit of activity ended and another began, while watching an agent traverse from a first-person perspective. A virtual corridor maze (experiment 1) and two other mazes were used (experiment 2), with participants viewing/segmenting the same stimuli twice. We found that people segmented more during turns relative to corridors, with elevated segmentation occurring in discrete moments around turns. Interestingly, we also found that boundaries of the corridor maze facilitated an increase in segmentation within and across viewings. These results suggest that segmentation can be driven by recognized repeating activity that can become more meaningful over time, highlighting an important link between event segmentation and pattern separation that is relevant to many species in their formation of episodic-(like) memory.

Comparison of Effectiveness of Two Different Practical Approaches to Teaching Basic Life Support and Use of an Automated External Defibrillator in Primary School Children

Background and Objectives: As the first three links of the chain of survival of victims of cardiac arrest depend on prompt action by bystanders, it is important to educate as much of the population as possible about basic life support and use of an automatic external defibrillator (BLS and AED). Schoolchildren are an accessible population that can be easily taught and numerous BLS and AED courses are available. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of two different practical approaches to teaching BLS and AED. Material and Methods: We compared two different BLS and AED courses (course A and B) offered to 280 eighth- and ninth-grade students in primary schools. Knowledge about and the intention to perform BLS and AED were evaluated using validated questionnaires before and after the courses. Descriptive methods were used to describe the results. To compare courses, we used the Mann-Whitney U test. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Differences in knowledge and intention to perform BLS and AED after the courses were significant between courses (p < 0.001 and p = 0.037, respectively). After course A, students demonstrated significantly better knowledge and numerically greater intention to perform BLS and AED (intention score 6.55 ± 0.61 out of 7). Conclusions: Courses in which students have the opportunity to individually practice BLS skills show a greater increase in knowledge and in intention to perform BLS and AED.

Nurses with dyslexia: overcoming challenges and thriving in the profession

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty impacting reading, writing and spelling. Practising nursing requires a unique set of skills that encompass effective communication, critical thinking, and organisational skills. This article focuses on the experiences of nurses with dyslexia, shedding light on the distinct challenges they encounter and the resilient strategies they employ to navigate their roles and excel in the health profession.

Contributions of repeated learning to memory in humans: insights from single-neuron recordings in the hippocampus and amygdala

Despite the well-established phenomenon of improved memory performance through repeated learning, studies investigating the associated neural mechanisms have yielded complex and sometimes contradictory findings, and direct evidence from human neuronal recordings has been lacking. This study employs single-neuron recordings with exceptional spatial-temporal resolution, combined with representational similarity analysis, to explore the neural dynamics within the hippocampus and amygdala during repeated learning. Our results demonstrate that in the hippocampus, repetition enhances both representational specificity and fidelity, with these features predicting learning times. Conversely, the amygdala exhibits heightened representational specificity and fidelity during initial learning but does not show improvement with repetition, suggesting functional specialization of the hippocampus and amygdala during different stages of the learning repetition. Specifically, the hippocampus appears to contribute to sustained engagement necessary for benefiting from repeated learning, while the amygdala may play a role in the representation of novel items. These findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay between these brain regions in memory processes. Significance statement  For over a century, understanding how repetition contributes to memory enhancement has captivated researchers, yet direct neuronal evidence has been lacking, with a primary focus on the hippocampus and a neglect of the neighboring amygdala. Employing advanced single-neuron recordings and analytical techniques, this study unveils a nuanced functional specialization within the amygdala-hippocampal circuit during various learning repetition. The results highlight the hippocampus's role in sustaining engagement for improved memory with repetition, contrasting with the amygdala's superior ability in representing novel items. This exploration not only deepens our comprehension of memory enhancement intricacies but also sheds light on potential interventions to optimize learning and memory processes.

Cracking AlphaFold2: Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence in undergraduate biochemistry curriculums

AlphaFold2 is an Artificial Intelligence-based program developed to predict the 3D structure of proteins given only their amino acid sequence at atomic resolution. Due to the accuracy and efficiency at which AlphaFold2 can generate 3D structure predictions and its widespread adoption into various aspects of biochemical research, the technique of protein structure prediction should be considered for incorporation into the undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. A module for introducing AlphaFold2 into a senior-level biochemistry laboratory classroom was developed. The module's focus was to have students predict the structures of proteins from the MPOX 22 global outbreak virus isolate genome, which had no structures elucidated at that time. The goal of this study was to both determine the impact the module had on students and to develop a framework for introducing AlphaFold2 into the undergraduate curriculum so that instructors for biochemistry courses, regardless of their background in bioinformatics, could adapt the module into their classrooms.

Interactive H5P content for increased student engagement in a dental hygiene program

Background

Presently, dental hygiene education is primarily divided into classroom lectures, simulation labs, and clinical experiences. Although the recent surge of curriculum renovation in dental and medical schools centres around enhancing student engagement and active learning, classroom teaching remains teacher-focussed, involving students mainly as passive learners. H5P is an open platform for creating and sharing interactive HTML5 learning content. A large set of H5P content was created and provided to students through the learning management system as supplementary material for an oral biology course in the dental hygiene program at a Canadian university. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of this interactive H5P content on the students' learning experiences.

Methods

The third-year dental hygiene students enrolled in the oral biology course were invited to participate in the study. Anonymised student performance data from the summative exam were analysed, and a survey regarding the student experience with the supplementary H5P content was administered.

Results

Students performed better on questions for which H5P supplements were provided. The results from the survey showed satisfaction and perceived benefit of using H5P as supplementary content in didactic lectures.

Discussion

The H5P content allowed students to apply knowledge and reproduce understanding, promoting active learning in the didactic oral biology course. Students appreciated the content's interactive nature and expressed willingness to have similar experiences in other courses.

Conclusion

Using H5P, interactive learning content can promote self-directed and personalized learning. This open learning platform has the potential to redefine didactic teaching by fostering an active learning environment.

Exercise-induced cortical disinhibition mediates the relationship between fitness and memory in older adults

Regular exercise benefits learning and memory in older adults, but the neural mechanisms mediating these effects remain unclear. Evidence in young adults indicates that acute exercise creates a favourable environment for synaptic plasticity by enhancing cortical disinhibition. As such, we investigated whether plasticity-related disinhibition mediated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and memory function in healthy older adults (n = 16, mean age = 66.06). Participants completed a graded maximal exercise test and assessments of visual and verbal memory, followed by two counterbalanced sessions involving 20 min of either high-intensity interval training exercise or rest. Disinhibition was measured following intermittent theta burst stimulation via paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. In line with our hypotheses, we observed a positive correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness and verbal memory, which was mediated by plasticity-related cortical disinhibition. Our novel finding implicates cortical disinhibition as a mechanism through which the effects of acute bouts of exercise may translate to improved memory in older adults. This finding extends current understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness for memory function in older adults, and further highlights the importance of promoting exercise engagement to maintain cognitive health in later life. KEY POINTS: There are well established benefits of regular exercise for memory function in older adults, but the mechanisms are unclear. Cortical disinhibition is important for laying down new memories, and is enhanced following acute exercise in young adults, suggesting it is a potential mechanism underlying these benefits in ageing. Older adults completed a fitness test and assessments of memory, followed by two sessions involving either 20 min of exercise or rest. Disinhibition was measured following intermittent theta burst stimulation via paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. Cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with memory performance. Higher fitness was associated with enhanced cortical disinhibition following acute exercise. Cortical disinhibition completely mediated the relationship between fitness and memory. This novel finding provides a mechanistic account for the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on memory in later life, and emphasises the importance of regular exercise for cognitive health in older populations.

The influence of repeated study and repeated testing on the testing effect and the transfer effect over time

Many studies have shown that compared to the restudy condition (RS), retrieval practice (RP) enhances the long-retention memory of retrieved items (i.e., the testing effect), and facilitates later memory of non-retrieved but related items (i.e., the transfer effect). However, previous studies have usually used repeated study and repeated testing, which are included in study-testing cycles. Therefore, it is unclear to what extent the factors of repeated study and repeated testing influence testing and transfer effects over time. In this study, participants studied sentences that described various episodes, then tested a half subset of the original sentences under three conditions (RP, RS, control). After retention intervals of 10 min, 1 day and 7 days, they recalled all of the information in the sentences. The results showed that the testing effect was enhanced by repeated study or repeated testing, while the transfer effect occurred only after both repeated study and repeated testing. Furthermore, repeated study or repeated testing slowed down the forgetting of retrieved items, while the forgetting of non-retrieved items occurred after both repeated study and repeated testing. The testing effect increased over time, but the transfer effect remained relatively stable over time. These results clarified different roles of multiple study repetitions and testing opportunities in the testing effect and the transfer effect, and suggest that the repeated retrieval could be combined with repeated study to optimally promote long-term retention of the memory of tested and non-tested items.

The role of experience in prioritizing hippocampal replay

During sleep, recent memories are replayed by the hippocampus, leading to their consolidation, with a higher priority given to salient experiences. To examine the role of replay in the selective strengthening of memories, we recorded large ensembles of hippocampal place cells while male rats ran repeated spatial trajectories on two linear tracks, differing in either their familiarity or number of laps run. We observed that during sleep, the rate of replay events for a given track increased proportionally with the number of spatial trajectories run by the animal. In contrast, the rate of sleep replay events decreased if the animal was more familiar with the track. Furthermore, we find that the cumulative number of awake replay events occurring during behavior, influenced by both the novelty and duration of an experience, predicts which memories are prioritized for sleep replay, providing a more parsimonious neural correlate for the selective strengthening of memories.

Innovative e-Learning Training Modules to Improve Animal Welfare during Transport and Slaughter of Pigs: A Pretest-Posttest Study to Pre-Evaluate the General Didactical Concept

In addition to the information on the possession of a certificate of competence, there are no concrete obligations for repetitive training for personnel handling live animals at transport and slaughter. Deficiencies in the animal-welfare-friendly handling of pigs are known. The developed pilot modules "Handling of pigs" and "Electrical stunning" were tested in a pretest-posttest study in German and Romanian using questions of knowledge before and after the implementation of the modules. In this study, 45 and 46 datasets of participants could be analyzed. The mean percentages of correctly answered questions in the posttest increased by 5.6% in the module "Handling of pigs" and by 10.6% in the module "Electrical stunning". A significant interaction was found for the language match and trend categories in the module "Handling of pigs". No Romanian native speaker had a positive trend in this module. For both modules separately, participant education level significantly interacted with the language match and the presence or absence of a certificate of competence. Comparing the percentages of the correct given answers, significant interactions in the subgroups were more common in the module "Electrical stunning". One question in "Electrical stunning" was correctly answered significantly more often in the posttest. Because of the positive mean trends of knowledge within this pre-evaluation, we assume the didactical concept was suitable for our target groups. Holders of a certificate of competence also gave more correct answers in the post-test. This underlines the importance of repetitive training. Differences in the trends of knowledge gain seem to be topic and experience related.

Why multiple intelligences theory is a neuromyth

A neuromyth is a commonly accepted but unscientific claim about brain function. Many researchers have claimed Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) theory is a neuromyth because they have seen no evidence supporting his proposal for independent brain-based intelligences for different types of cognitive abilities. Although Gardner has made claims that there are dedicated neural networks or modules for each of the intelligences, nonetheless Gardner has stated his theory could not be a neuromyth because he never claimed it was a neurological theory. This paper explains the lack of evidence to support MI theory. Most important, no researcher has directly looked for a brain basis for the intelligences. Moreover, factor studies have not shown the intelligences to be independent, and studies of MI teaching effects have not explored alternate causes for positive effects and have not been conducted by standard scientific methods. Gardner's MI theory was not a neuromyth initially because it was based on theories of the 1980s of brain modularity for cognition, and few researchers then were concerned by the lack of validating brain studies. However, in the past 40 years neuroscience research has shown that the brain is not organized in separate modules dedicated to specific forms of cognition. Despite the lack of empirical support for Gardner's theory, MI teaching strategies are widely used in classrooms all over the world. Crucially, belief in MI and use of MI in the classroom limit the effort to find evidence-based teaching methods. Studies of possible interventions to try to change student and teacher belief in neuromyths are currently being undertaken. Intervention results are variable: One research group found that teachers who knew more about the brain still believed education neuromyths. Teachers need to learn to detect and reject neuromyths. Widespread belief in a neuromyth does not make a theory legitimate. Theories must be based on sound empirical evidence. It is now time for MI theory to be rejected, once and for all, and for educators to turn to evidence-based teaching strategies.

Memory capacity and prioritization in female mice

Our brain's capacity for memory storage may be vast but is still finite. Given that we cannot remember the entirety of our experiences, how does our brain select what to remember and what to forget? Much like the triage of a hospital's emergency room, where urgent cases are prioritized and less critical patients receive delayed or even no care, the brain is believed to go through a similar process of memory triage. Recent salient memories are prioritized for consolidation, which helps create stable, long-term representations in the brain; less salient memories receive a lower priority, and are eventually forgotten if not sufficiently consolidated (Stickgold and Walker in Nat Neurosci 16(2):139-145, 2013). While rodents are a primary model for studying memory consolidation, common behavioral tests typically rely on a limited number of items or contexts, well within the memory capacity of the subject. A memory test allowing us to exceed an animal's memory capacity is key to investigating how memories are selectively strengthened or forgotten. Here we report a new serial novel object recognition task designed to measure memory capacity and prioritization, which we test and validate using female mice.

Forgetting of specific and gist visual associative episodic memory representations across time

Associative binding between components of an episode is vulnerable to forgetting across time. We investigated whether these forgetting effects on inter-item associative memory occur only at specific or also at gist levels of representation. In two experiments, young adult participants (n = 90, and 86, respectively) encoded face-scene pairs and were then tested either immediately after encoding or following a 24-hour delay. Tests featured conjoint recognition judgments, in which participants were tasked with discriminating intact pairs from highly similar foils, less similar foils, and completely dissimilar foils. In both experiments, the 24-hour delay resulted in deficits in specific memory for face-scene pairs, as measured using multinomial-processing-tree analyses. In Experiment 1, gist memory was not affected by the 24-hour delay, but when associative memory was strengthened through pair repetition (Experiment 2), deficits in gist memory following a 24-hour delay were observed. Results suggest that specific representations of associations in episodic memory, and under some conditions gist representations, as well, are susceptible to forgetting across time.

Student knowledge gains among first-time and repeat attendees of school-based asthma education program

BACKGROUND

Because children spend much of their time in schools, schools can play an important role in asthma education for the one in 12 affected children in the United States. School-based asthma education programs are commonly repeated annually, however few studies have evaluated the impact of repeated participation in asthma education in school-based programs.

METHODS

This observational study evaluated the impact of Fight Asthma Now© (FAN), a school-based asthma education program for children in Illinois schools. Participants completed a survey at the start and end of the program, including demographics, prior asthma education, and 11 asthma knowledge questions (maximum knowledge score = 11).

RESULTS

Among 4,951 youth participating in the school-based asthma education program, mean age was 10.75 years. Approximately half were male and Black. Over half reported no prior asthma education (54.6%). At baseline, repeat attendees had significantly higher knowledge versus first-time attendees (mean: 7.45 versus 5.92; p < 0.001). After the program, both first-time and repeat attendees had significant knowledge improvements (first-time: mean = 5.92◊9.32; p < 0.001; repeat: mean = 7.45◊9.62; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

School-based asthma education is effective for increasing asthma knowledge. Notably, repeated asthma education in school leads to incremental benefits for knowledge. Future studies are needed to understand the effects of repeated asthma education on morbidity.

The Impact on Urology Residents' Learning of Social Media and Web Technologies after the Pandemic: A Step Forward through the Sharing of Knowledge

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted urology residents and their training. However, several new technologies or knowledge platforms as social media (SoMe) and web-based learning solutions have filled this gap. Therefore, we aimed to analyze resident's learning curves of new learning modalities, identify the evidence that is provided in the literature, and evaluate the possible impact of such solutions in the future. We conducted a non-systematic literature search using Medline, PubMed, and Embase. In addition, online resources of national and international urology resident societies were queried. The identified paper described SoMe, webinars, podcasts, pre-recorded surgical videos, educational platforms, and mobile apps in the field of urology that are used to gain access to information, teach and provide feedback to residents, and were used under the conditions of the pandemic. The application of those technologies harbors the risk of mis- and disinformation, but have the potential to provide access to education and validated knowledge, training, and feedback and thereby might democratize training of residents in urology globally.

Repeated testing does not confound cognitive performance in the Western Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen dorsalis)

A robust understanding of cognitive variation at the individual level is essential to understand selection for and against cognitive traits. Studies of animal cognition often assume that within-individual performance is highly consistent. When repeated tests of individuals have been conducted, the effects of test order (the overall sequence in which different tests are conducted) and test number (the ordinal number indicating when a specific test falls within a sequence)-in particular the potential for individual performance to improve with repeated testing-have received limited attention. In our study, we investigated test order and test number effects on individual performance in three inhibitory control tests in Western Australian magpies (Cracticus tibicen dorsalis). We presented adult magpies with three novel inhibitory control tasks (detour-reaching apparatuses) in random order to test whether experience of cognitive testing and the order in which the apparatuses were presented were predictors of cognitive performance. We found that neither test number nor test order had an effect on cognitive performance of individual magpies when presenting different variants of inhibitory control tasks. This suggests that repeated testing of the same cognitive trait, using causally identical but visually distinct cognitive tasks, does not confound cognitive performance. We recommend that repeated testing effects of cognitive performance in other species be studied to broadly determine the validity of repeated testing in animal cognition studies.

Reactivation of schema representation in lateral occipital cortex supports successful memory encoding

Schemas provide a scaffold onto which we can integrate new memories. Previous research has investigated the brain activity and connectivity underlying schema-related memory formation. However, how schemas are represented and reactivated in the brain, in order to enhance memory, remains unclear. To address this issue, we used an object–location spatial schema that was learned over multiple sessions, combined with similarity analyses of neural representations, to investigate the reactivation of schema representations of object–location memories when a new object–scene association is learned. In addition, we investigated how this reactivation affects subsequent memory performance under different strengths of schemas. We found that reactivation of a schema representation in the lateral occipital cortex (LOC) during object–scene encoding affected subsequent associative memory performance only in the schema-consistent condition and increased the functional connectivity between the LOC and the parahippocampal place area. Taken together, our findings provide new insight into how schema acts as a scaffold to support the integration of novel information into existing cortical networks and suggest a neural basis for schema-induced rapid cortical learning.

Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Web-based Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Educational Program for Parents of School-aged Children with Food Allergy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE

This study aimed to develop a mobile web-based food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis management educational program for parents of school-aged children with food allergies and evaluate its effectiveness.

METHODS

A mobile program was developed based on a web-based teaching-learning system model. Its effectiveness was subsequently evaluated using a parallel, randomized controlled pre- and post-test design. This study included 73 parents of school-aged children with food allergies. These parents were randomly assigned to either the experimental (n = 37) or control (n = 36) groups. The experimental group participated in a 2-week mobile web-based educational program that covered major topics in FA and anaphylaxis management. These topics included an understanding of food allergies and anaphylaxis, learning techniques for using an epinephrine auto-injector, and developing an emergency action plan. An educational booklet was provided to the control group. Participants completed a pre-test and two post-test questionnaires to evaluate the impact of the program. The assessment tools were the Food Allergy Knowledge Test, Food Allergy Self-Efficacy for Parents, and Food Management and Adaptation Scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a test of homogeneity for the pre-test, an independent t-test, and repeated measures ANOVA.

RESULTS

The experimental group experienced greater improvement in the knowledge of FA (post-intervention t = 14.51, p < .001; 2 weeks post-intervention, t = 16.15, p < .001), FA self-efficacy (post-intervention t = 77.99, p < .001; 2 weeks post-intervention, t = 76.09, p < .001), and practice behavior in FA management (post-intervention t = 28.10, p < .001; 2 weeks post-intervention, t = 27.98, p < .001) after web-based FA education.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed improvements in the knowledge, self-efficacy, and practice behaviors of parents regarding FA and anaphylaxis management. Therefore, the mobile web-based educational program can contribute to the effective management of food allergies and anaphylaxis for parents of school-aged children. CRIS registration: KCT0007491.

Solidity Meets Surprise: Cerebral and Behavioral Effects of Learning from Episodic Prediction Errors

How susceptible a memory is to later modification might depend on how stable the episode has been encoded. This stability was proposed to increase when retrieving information more (vs. less) often and in a spaced (vs. massed) practice. Using fMRI, we examined the effects of these different pre-fMRI retrieval protocols on the subsequent propensity to learn from episodic prediction errors. After encoding a set of different action stories, participants came back for two pre-fMRI retrieval sessions in which they encountered original episodes either 2 or 8 times in either a spaced or a massed retrieval protocol. One week later, we cued episodic retrieval during the fMRI session by using original or modified videos of encoded action stories. Recurrent experience of modified episodes was associated with increasing activity in the episodic memory network including hippocampal and cortical areas, when leading to false memories in a post-fMRI memory test. While this observation clearly demonstrated learning from episodic prediction errors, we found no evidence for a modulatory effect of the different retrieval protocols. As expected, the benefit of retrieving an episode more often was reflected in better memory for originally encoded episodes. In addition, frontal activity increased for episodic prediction errors when episodes had been less frequently retrieved pre-fMRI. A history of spaced versus massed retrieval was associated with increased activation throughout the episodic memory network, with no significant effect on behavioral performance. Our findings show that episodic prediction errors led to false memories. The history of different retrieval protocols was reflected in memory performance and brain responses to episodic prediction errors, but did not interact with the brain's episodic learning response.

A neural theory for counting memories

Keeping track of the number of times different stimuli have been experienced is a critical computation for behavior. Here, we propose a theoretical two-layer neural circuit that stores counts of stimulus occurrence frequencies. This circuit implements a data structure, called a count sketch, that is commonly used in computer science to maintain item frequencies in streaming data. Our first model implements a count sketch using Hebbian synapses and outputs stimulus-specific frequencies. Our second model uses anti-Hebbian plasticity and only tracks frequencies within four count categories ("1-2-3-many"), which trades-off the number of categories that need to be distinguished with the potential ethological value of those categories. We show how both models can robustly track stimulus occurrence frequencies, thus expanding the traditional novelty-familiarity memory axis from binary to discrete with more than two possible values. Finally, we show that an implementation of the "1-2-3-many" count sketch exists in the insect mushroom body.

Repetition-Based Approach for Task Adaptation in Imitation Learning

Transfer learning is an effective approach for adapting an autonomous agent to a new target task by transferring knowledge learned from the previously learned source task. The major problem with traditional transfer learning is that it only focuses on optimizing learning performance on the target task. Thus, the performance on the target task may be improved in exchange for the deterioration of the source task's performance, resulting in an agent that is not able to revisit the earlier task. Therefore, transfer learning methods are still far from being comparable with the learning capability of humans, as humans can perform well on both source and new target tasks. In order to address this limitation, a task adaptation method for imitation learning is proposed in this paper. Being inspired by the idea of repetition learning in neuroscience, the proposed adaptation method enables the agent to repeatedly review the learned knowledge of the source task, while learning the new knowledge of the target task. This ensures that the learning performance on the target task is high, while the deterioration of the learning performance on the source task is small. A comprehensive evaluation over several simulated tasks with varying difficulty levels shows that the proposed method can provide high and consistent performance on both source and target tasks, outperforming existing transfer learning methods.

Exposure Effects or Confirmation Bias? Examining Reciprocal Dynamics of Misinformation, Misperceptions, and Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines

This longitudinal study integrates exposure effects and confirmation bias under the theoretical framework of dynamic motivation activation (DMA) to examine the dynamic reciprocity of misinformation, misperceptions, and attitudes in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. Results from a three- national survey showed that misinformation exposure, misperceptions, and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines reinforced themselves over time. Further, misperceptions reduced subsequent pro-vaccine attitudes, and pro-vaccine attitudes in turn decreased subsequent misperceptions. Longitudinal mediation analysis also indicated that attitudes reinforced themselves through misperceptions. Surprisingly, we did not find a significant impact of misinformation exposure on subsequent misperceptions or effects of attitudes on subsequent misinformation exposure. These findings highlight the importance of addressing misperceptions regarding COVID-19 vaccines and provide insights for theoretical development in research on exposure effects and confirmation bias.

The Effects of a Disaster Preparedness app on Community Knowledge and Intentional Behavior in Hurricane Risk Areas

OBJECTIVE

With the advancement of technology, disaster preparedness related to hurricane hazards can be taught through an app. This study aimed to examine the effect of using an android-based disaster preparedness app on community knowledge and intentional behavior in hurricane risk areas.

METHODS

A quasi-experimental study was conducted from October to November, 2020 and a total of 80 respondents were recruited using cluster sampling. The treatment group was given the intervention in the form of the disaster preparedness app for 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the control group received home visits and conventional education about hurricane disasters twice throughout the same period. We then used a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test to analyze the pre-test and post-test and a Mann-Whitney U test to compare between treatment and control groups.

RESULTS

After the implementation of the SiBen app, we found a statistically significant difference in knowledge between treatment and control groups (P < 0.003) and intentional behavior between treatment and control groups (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The findings indicate that the disaster preparedness app was an effective educational program able to improve the knowledge and intentional behavior among community members in a hurricane risk area.

Examining the transition of novel information toward familiarity

Throughout their lives, humans encounter multiple instances of new information that can be inconsistent with prior knowledge (novel). Over time, the once-novel information becomes integrated into their established knowledge base, shifting from novelty to familiarity. In this study, we investigated the processes by which the first steps of this transition take place. We hypothesized that the neural representations of initially novel items gradually change over the course of repeated presentations, expressing a shift toward familiarity. We further assumed that this shift could be traced by examining neural patterns using fMRI. In two experiments, while being scanned, participants read noun-adjective word pairs that were either consistent or inconsistent with their prior knowledge. Stimuli were repeated 3-6 times within the scans. Employing mass univariate and multivariate similarity analyses, we showed that the neural representations associated with the initial presentation of familiar versus novel objects differed in lateral frontal and temporal regions, the medial prefrontal cortex, and the medial temporal lobe. Importantly, the neural representations of novel stimuli gradually changed throughout repetitions until they became indistinguishable from their respective familiar items. We interpret these findings as indicating that an early phase of familiarization can be completed within a few repetitions. This initial familiarization can then serve as the prerequisite to the integration of novel items into existing knowledge. Future empirical and theoretical works can build on the current findings to develop a comprehensive model of the transition from novelty to familiarity.

Evaluation of a Mobile-based Maternal Feeding Education Program for Overweight Prevention in Infants

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a mobile-based maternal feeding education program for overweight prevention in infants based on breastfeeding attitude, breastfeeding self-efficacy, breastfeeding duration, recognition of hunger and satiety cues of infants, and knowledge regarding providing solids foods.

METHODS

A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used for the study. Participants included 15 primiparas in the experimental group and 14 primiparas in the control group in all the follow-up tests. Using self-reported questionnaires in electronic format, data were collected four times (before the intervention, 1 month after childbirth, 3 months after childbirth, and 6 months after childbirth). Using SPSS 24 version, independent t-test and repeated-measures analysis of variance were used to test the effects of the mobile-based maternal feeding education program.

RESULTS

The experimental group showed significantly more positive breastfeeding attitude (F = 5.28, p = .008), higher breastfeeding self-efficacy (F = 3.50, p = .041), and increased breastfeeding duration (t = -2.09, p = .046) than the control group. In addition, the experimental group showed significantly improved knowledge regarding providing solid foods to the infants (F = 4.86, p = .009) in comparison with the control group. However, for education on recognizing hunger and satiety cues of infants, the mobile-based maternal feeding education program was not effective (F = 0.23, p = .878).

CONCLUSION

According to the results of this study, the mobile-based maternal feeding education program has the potential to contribute to overweight prevention in infants.

Multitasking Compensatory Saccadic Training Program for Hemianopia Patients: A New Approach With 3-Dimensional Real-World Objects

Purpose

To examine whether a noncomputerized multitasking compensatory saccadic training program (MCSTP) for patients with hemianopia, based on a reading regimen and eight exercises that recreate everyday visuomotor activities using three-dimensional (3D) real-world objects, improves the visual ability/function, quality of life (QL), and functional independence (FI).

Methods

The 3D-MCSTP included four in-office visits and two customized home-based daily training sessions over 12 weeks. A quasiexperimental, pretest/posttest study design was carried out with an intervention group (IG) (n = 20) and a no-training group (NTG) (n = 20) matched for age, hemianopia type, and brain injury duration.

Results

The groups were comparable for the main baseline variables and all participants (n = 40) completed the study. The IG mainly showed significant improvements in visual-processing speed (57.34% ± 19.28%; P < 0.0001) and visual attention/retention ability (26.67% ± 19.21%; P < 0.0001), which also were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than in the NTG. Moreover, the IG showed large effect sizes (Cohen's d) in 75% of the total QL and FI dimensions analyzed; in contrast to the NTG that showed negligible mean effect sizes in 96% of these dimensions.

Conclusions

The customized 3D-MCSTP was associated with a satisfactory response in the IG for improving complex visual processing, QL, and FI.

Translational Relevance

Neurovisual rehabilitation of patients with hemianopia seems more efficient when programs combine in-office visits and customized home-based training sessions based on real objects and simulating real-life conditions, than no treatment or previously reported computer-screen approaches, probably because of better stimulation of patients´ motivation and visual-processing speed brain mechanisms.

Computer-Assisted Avatar-Based Treatment for Dysfunctional Beliefs in Depressive Inpatients: A Pilot Study

Dysfunctional cognitions are a crucial part of depression. Cognitive therapy aims to modify dysfunctional beliefs. Typically, dysfunctional beliefs are questioned, and patients are trained to think of alternative functional beliefs. We developed a computer-assisted, avatar-based adjunct for cognitive therapy that aims to reduce dysfunctional beliefs and symptom severity. Besides, it aims to promote alternative functional beliefs. In a randomized controlled trial with 34 patients diagnosed with major depression currently undergoing inpatient treatment at the university psychiatric hospital in Regensburg, Germany, participants were randomly assigned to receive either treatment as usual (TAU) or computer-assisted avatar-based treatment for dysfunctional beliefs (CAT-DB) in addition to TAU. In CAT-DB participants are faced with a virtual avatar expressing their personal dysfunctional beliefs. Participants are asked to contradict these and express alternative functional beliefs. Assessments of conviction of dysfunctional beliefs, functional beliefs and symptom severity were done shortly before the intervention (pre-treatment), right after the intervention (post-treatment) and 14 days later (follow-up). The reduction in conviction of dysfunctional beliefs and symptom severity, and the increase in conviction of alternative functional beliefs at post-treatment and follow-up were significantly greater for the group receiving CAT-DB. Our study provides an indication in favor of the effectiveness of CAT-DB for depressive patients. It is a simple tool that could support classical cognitive therapy. Further studies at different centres, with larger sample sizes and varying therapeutic contexts are required to prove the effectiveness of our intervention.

Nasal povidone-iodine implementation for preventing surgical site infections: Perspectives of surgical nurses

INTRODUCTION

Preoperative nasal decolonization of surgical patients with nasal povidone-iodine (PI) has potential to eliminate pathogenic organisms responsible for surgical site infections. However, data on implementation of PI for quality improvement in clinical practice is limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation feasibility, fidelity and acceptability of intranasal PI solution application by surgical nurses using the Integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) conceptual framework.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using the i-PARIHS framework to frame questions and guide interview content areas, we conducted 15 semi-structured interviews of pre- and post-operative care nurses in two facilities. We analyzed the data using deductive content analysis to evaluate nurses' experience and perceptions on preoperative intranasal PI solution decolonization implementation. Open coding was used to analyze the data to ensure all relevant information was captured.

RESULTS

Each facility adopted a different quality improvement implementation strategy. The mode of facilitation, training, and educational materials provided to the nurses varied by facility. Barriers identified included lack of effective communication, insufficient information and lack of systematic implementation protocol. Action taken to mitigate some of the barriers included a collaboration between the study team and nurses to develop a systematic written protocol. The training assisted nurses to systematically follow the implementation protocol smoothly to ensure PI administration compliance, and to meet the goal of the facilities. Nurses' observations and feedback showed that PI did not cause any adverse effects on patients.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that PI implementation was feasible and acceptable by nurses and could be extended to other facilities. However further studies are required to ensure standardization of PI application.

Structural Covariance Changes of Anterior and Posterior Hippocampus During Musical Training in Young Adults

Musical training can induce the functional and structural changes of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is not a homogeneous structure which can be divided into anterior and posterior parts along its longitudinal axis, and the whole-brain structural covariances of anterior (aHC) and posterior hippocampus (pHC) show distinct patterns in young adults. However, little is known about whether the anterior and posterior hippocampal structural covariances change after long-term musical training. Here, we investigated the musical training-induced changes of the whole-brain structural covariances of bilateral aHC and pHC in a longitudinal designed experiment with two groups (training group and control group) across three time points [the beginning (TP1) and the end (TP2) of 24 weeks of training, and 12 weeks after training (TP3)]. Using seed partial least square, we identified two significant patterns of structural covariance of the aHC and pHC. The first showed common structural covariance of the aHC and pHC. The second pattern revealed distinct structural covariance of the two regions and reflected the changes of structural covariance of the left pHC in the training group across three time points: the left pHC showed significant structural covariance with bilateral hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, left calcarine sulcus only at TP1 and TP3. Furthermore, the integrity of distinct structural networks of aHC and pHC in the second pattern significantly increased in the training group. Our findings suggest that musical training could change the organization of structural whole-brain covariance for left pHC and enhance the degree of the structural covariance network differentiation of the aHC and pHC in young adults.

Effect of modified physiology laboratory sessions on the awareness and knowledge of obesity of health-related university students

BACKGROUND:

Obesity is a global health problem of immense magnitude. Increased awareness and knowledge about obesity in health-care providers are essential to addressing this global issue. The aim of the present study was to assess the baseline knowledge on obesity of university students in health-related programs and evaluate the effectiveness of modified physiology laboratory (MPL) sessions in enhancing the awareness of obesity of these students by repeated exposure to physiological differences between normal weight (NW) and overweight or obese (OW/OB) individuals.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

It was a quasi-experimental study in which three regular physiology laboratory exercises were modified (MPL) to address different aspects of obesity. A total of 319 students (181 male and 138 female) from health-related colleges taking the physiology course during academic session 2011–2012 were included in the study. A questionnaire on obesity served as a measure of prior knowledge and improvement of evolution of student knowledge. The questionnaire was administered thrice: Beginning of the first MPL session (pretest), at the end of the second session of the first MPL (posttest-1), and the end of second session of the final MPL (posttest-2). Correct knowledge (CK), perceived knowledge (PK), and accuracy of knowledge (KA) were evaluated. Students gathered and analyzed physiological data in these sessions to explore the differences between NW and OW/OB subjects.

RESULTS:

The students' level of PK on obesity was high, but KA was low in pretest. The three knowledge indices improved significantly (P <0.001) from pretest (PK = 77.2%; KA = 52.8%; CK = 40.5%) to posttest 1 (PK = 93.5%; KA = 70.1%; CK = 65.9%). However, from posttest 1 to posttest 2, only small but significant increments were observed in CK (10.5%) and KA (8.7%).

CONCLUSION:

The awareness and knowledge on obesity of health-related undergraduate university students at baseline were low, but significantly improved after MPLs. The students' knowledge did not only increase but also improved in accuracy. This increase in awareness and knowledge of obesity is expected to directly impact on the students' lifestyles and boost their confidence to counsel others on obesity.

Disordered directional brain network interactions during learning dynamics in schizophrenia revealed by multivariate autoregressive models

Directional network interactions underpin normative brain function in key domains including associative learning. Schizophrenia (SCZ) is characterized by altered learning dynamics, yet dysfunctional directional functional connectivity (dFC) evoked during learning is rarely assessed. Here, nonlinear learning dynamics were induced using a paradigm alternating between conditions (Encoding and Retrieval). Evoked fMRI time series data were modeled using multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) models, to discover dysfunctional direction interactions between brain network constituents during learning stages (Early vs. Late), and conditions. A functionally derived subnetwork of coactivated (healthy controls [HC] ∩ SCZ] nodes was identified. MVAR models quantified directional interactions between pairs of nodes, and coefficients were evaluated for intergroup differences (HC ≠ SCZ). In exploratory analyses, we quantified statistical effects of neuroleptic dosage on performance and MVAR measures. During Early Encoding, SCZ showed reduced dFC within a frontal–hippocampal–fusiform network, though during Late Encoding reduced dFC was associated with pathways toward the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). During Early Retrieval, SCZ showed increased dFC in pathways to and from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, though during Late Retrieval, patients showed increased dFC in pathways toward the dlPFC, but decreased dFC in pathways from the dlPFC. These discoveries constitute novel extensions of our understanding of task‐evoked dysconnection in schizophrenia and motivate understanding of the directional aspect of the dysconnection in schizophrenia. Disordered directionality should be investigated using computational psychiatric approaches that complement the MVAR method used in our work.

Role of the hippocampus in the spacing effect during memory retrieval

It is well known that distributed learning (DL) leads to improved memory performance compared with massed learning (ML) (i.e., spacing effect). However, the extent to which the hippocampus is involved in the spacing effect at shorter and longer retention intervals remains unclear. To address this issue, two groups of participants were asked to encode face-scene pairs at 20-min, 1-day, and 1-month intervals before they were scanned using fMRI during an associative recognition task. The pairs were repeated six times in either a massed (i.e., six times in 1 day) or a distributed (i.e., six times over 3 days, twice per day) manner. The results showed that compared with that in the ML group, the activation of the left hippocampus was stronger in the DL group when the participants retrieved old pairs correctly and rejected new pairs correctly at different retention intervals. In addition, the posterior hippocampus was more strongly activated when the new associations were rejected correctly after DL than ML, especially at the 1-month interval. Hence, our results provide evidence that the hippocampus is involved in better memory performance after DL compared to ML at both shorter and longer retention intervals.

Differential activation of the medial temporal lobe during item and associative memory across time

Studies have shown that the hippocampus plays a crucial role in associative memory. One central issue is whether the involvement of the hippocampus in associative memory remains stable or declines with the passage of time. In the majority of studies, memory performance declines with delay, confounding attempts at interpreting differences in hippocampal activation over time. To address this issue, we tried to equate behavioral performance as much as possible across time for memory of items and associations separately. After encoding words and word pairs, participants were tested for item and associative memories at four time intervals: 20-min, 1-day, 1-week, and 1-month. The results revealed that MTL activation differed over time for associative and item memories. For associative memory, the activation of the anterior hippocampus decreased from 20-min to 1-day then remained stable, whereas in the posterior hippocampus, the activation was comparable for different time intervals when old pairs were correctly retrieved. The hippocampal activation also remained stable when recombined pairs were correctly rejected. As this condition controls for familiarity of the individual items, correct performance depends only on associative memory. For item memory, hippocampal activation declined progressively from 20-min to 1-week and remained stable afterwards. By contrast, the activation in the perirhinal/entorhinal cortex increased over time irrespective of item and associative memories. Drawing on Tulving's distinction between recollection and familiarity, we interpret this pattern of results in accordance with Trace Transformation Theory, which states that as memories are transformed with time and experience, the neural structures mediating item and associative memories will vary according to the underlying representations to which the memories have been transformed.

Interplay of the long axis of the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in schema-related memory retrieval

When new information is relevant to prior knowledge or schema, it can be learned and remembered better. Rodent studies have suggested that the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are important for processing schema-related information. However, there are inconsistent findings from human studies on the involvement of the hippocampus and its interaction with the vmPFC in schema-related memory retrieval. To address these issues, we used a human analog of the rodent spatial schema task to compare brain activity during immediate retrieval of paired associations (PAs) in schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent conditions. The results showed that the anterior hippocampus was more involved in retrieving PAs in the schema-consistent condition than in the schema-inconsistent condition. Connectivity analyses showed that the anterior hippocampus had stronger coupling with the vmPFC when the participants retrieved newly learned PAs successfully in the schema-consistent (vs. schema-inconsistent) condition, whereas the coupling of the posterior hippocampus with the vmPFC showed the opposite. Taken together, the results shed light on how the long axis of the hippocampus and vmPFC interact to serve memory retrieval via different networks that differ by schema condition.