A Systematic Review on the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Students' Levels of Processing in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies

Abstract

In educational research, there is a growing interest in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine students' levels of processing. As there is a growing interest in the use of fMRI, a systematic review was conducted to examine how deep and surface levels of processing are operationalized within the neuroscientific field. In addition, we investigated how this operationalization impacts on the conceptualization of levels of processing within fMRI research. A systematic search was conducted within the MEDLINE, PubMed, ERIC, and Web of Science databases, and 25 studies were identified for this review. With regard to the operationalization, the review indicates that levels of processing were examined under highly controlled conditions with decontextualized and simplified language stimuli. Analysis of these studies revealed that there is a lack of conceptual clarity as, in half of the cases, no theoretical framework was explicitly mentioned, and no clear definition was given regarding levels of processing.

Study Behavior in Computing Education—A Systematic Literature Review

“…There have been some interesting developments on how log-file data can be used to identify cognitive processes, and calls have been made for further development into identifying effective indicators across disciplines [153] and for dealing with the invisible activities that happen in breaks of data [94]. There are also some developments in the field of learning analytics and multi-modal data in connection to cognitive processing that will be interesting for computing education to follow [21,55]. With the abundance of data available to computing education researchers through compilers, version control systems, and IDEs, computing education research is well situated to be a part of this development.…”