Inhibitory Control of Chemistry Misconceptions
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Authors
Lawton, Will
Date
2024-09-11
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Neuroscience , Misconceptions , Chemistry Education , Inhibition , Cognitive Control
Alternative Title
Abstract
Misconceptions are a significant hindrance to students across all levels of learning. They are difficult to remedy, contributing to persistent errors and clashing with factual information. Research investigating the neural correlates of misconceptions suggests that cognitive control and inhibitory processes are important for overcoming these persistent errors and promoting conceptual change, something that is especially important to the suppression of scientific misconceptions. The current work was designed to expand these findings to include a prevalent but understudied misconception among chemistry learners involving the use of arrows. The first study, outlined in Chapter 3, focused on novice post-secondary chemistry students and their misconceptions about curved arrows in organic reaction mechanisms. Findings from this study quantitatively supported the existence of this specific misconception and informed the following study, described in Chapter 4. In the principal study, electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking were used to study the neural correlates of this same misconception among chemistry experts. The replication of previous event-related potential (ERP) data as well as the novel use of eye-tracking and event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) analysis led to a nuanced set of findings that suggest that measures of cognitive control and inhibition are active as experts process stimuli that adhere to their ingrained, misconceived ideas. Overall, the findings presented in this thesis support previous EEG work on scientific misconceptions and expand them into the field of chemistry education. Our work also contributes to the knowledge of cognitive control processes in learning, providing further support that inhibitory control is an important factor in expertise, allowing individuals to suppress incorrect information and access scientific knowledge.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International