Meltem Karaca

Boston University | BU · Department of Neurology

Studies typically show that perceptual difficulties at the time of encoding lower memory predictions. One potential exception to this is the inverted-word manipulation, in which participants produce equivalent memory predictions for upright and inverted words, despite higher free-recall performance for the inverted words (Sungkhasettee, Friedman, &...

Interpolated testing can reduce mind-wandering and proactive interference, and improve note-taking. However, recent research using face-name-profession triads, has also shown that interpolated testing can impair new learning (Davis, Chan, & Wilford, 2017). In the current study, we further examined the impact of switching from testing to new learnin...

Research suggests that educators and students often hold erroneous beliefs about learning and brain function, referred to as neuromyths. The prevalence of these neuromyths may be problematic, leading people to spend resources on ineffective study methods and propagate misinformation. Therefore, we examined whether erroneous beliefs in neuromyths co...

Students and educators sometimes hold beliefs about intelligence and learning that lack scientific support, often called neuromyths. Neuromyths can be problematic, so it is important to find methods to correct them. Previous findings demonstrate that textual refutations are effective for correcting neuromyths. However, even after correction, errone...

Background There is a need for accessible and affordable ways to assess biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Event‐related potentials (ERPs) are associated with disease severity of AD (Fruehwirt et al., 2019) and are a candidate biomarker for AD (Olichney et al., 2022). There is, however, little understanding of how ERP components relate to neur...

When asked to predict how they will perform on an upcoming exam, students are often poorly calibrated, typically in the direction of overpredicting their performance. Research shows that low-performing students’ calibration tends to remain poor across multiple tests over the course of a semester. We tested whether these students remain confident in...

Background: Although engagement in cognitively-demanding activities is beneficial for older adults, research suggests that older adults may be less motivated to engage in these types of activities because of the increased age-related costs associated with task engagement and their perceptions of the task demands. Methods: Across three studies, w...

Any music educator understands the importance of a solid music education. Research has shown that learning and performing music provides cognitive and neuroscientific benefits, such as enhanced speech processing, verbal and visual memory, working memory, mathematical skills, processing speed, and reasoning performance. Considering these cognitive a...

General Audience Summary Educators and students may hold erroneous beliefs about some aspects of learning and brain function, referred to as neuromyths. For example, one common neuromyth is that students learn better when instruction is adapted towards their preferred learning style (be it visual or verbal, etc.). Misconceptions such as this one ca...