Uso do priming como recurso didático em aulas de neurofisiologia

Abstract

Memories are components of the learning process that can be acquired consciously and unconsciously. One of the ways to reactivate unconscious, or implicit, memories is through the priming effect. The priming effect refers to the way in which an initial stimulus can affect an individual's responses to subsequent stimuli, without the individual being aware of such influence. Although there is the potential benefit of using the priming effect in classrooms, most studies are carried out in a laboratory environment. In the present work, we developed a method for applying the priming effect in neurophysiology classes for the undergraduate medical course at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and tested whether priming would be able to improve performance in evaluative tasks. We adapted a methodology for applying the verbal priming paradigm through the use of Pavlov software, run on each student's cell phone. Content-related words were chosen as priming words in the experimental group. The control group was exposed to lists of words related to the academic environment. The assessment was carried out 24h or 1.5h after the priming task. We identified the priming effect in the classroom, in both control and experimental groups. However, we did not identify content-related priming with student performance in the assessment. Taken together, we conclude that it is possible to induce the priming effect in the classroom environment, regardless of whether the words are related to the content or not. However, we did not detect an improvement in learning and memory from the priming effect, commonly found in a laboratory environment. Our study reinforces the need to investigate classically known methods and strategies to promote memory and learning in the laboratory, in the classroom, which is in fact the formal environment where teaching and learning processes are expected to occur.