Content uploaded by Salvador R. Vazquez
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Salvador R. Vazquez on Jul 22, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
•
Relations Between Minority Status Stress, the Testing Effect, the Late Positive Potential,
and the Feedback Related Negativity
Salvador R. Vazquez1, Jaquelin Aquino2, Maddie Ward2, Joel P. Diaz3, & Jennie K. Grammer1,4
1UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, Human Development and Psychology; 2UCLA Department of Psychology, 3UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior,
4University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development
Testing Effect Task & Procedures
•Participants completed a Japanese vocabulary learning task during which EEG data was recorded using an ActiChamp system with 32 Ag/AgCl
electrode cap (ActiCap)."
•The Japanese vocabulary task consisted of 60 Japanese nouns and their English translations. Participants were exposed to both conditions—30
translation pairs and 30 multiple choice questions—for re-study 3 times."
•Participants’ learning was assessed by a test 5 minutes after the
learning task and again 1 week later.
Introduction
•There is no consensus on the relation between
stressors and cognition in educational settings."
•Among Latinx college students, race-based
stressors can be motivating factors in academic
performance, but research also indicates those
stressors may obstruct cognitive performance."
•We can investigate underlying cognitive
processes for students who report having
experienced race-based stressors by
measuring EEG during a learning task.
Research Aim
•This study aims to establish relations between
race-based stress, the feedback related
negativity (FRN) and the late positive potential
(LPP) as measured during a testing effect
language learning task among students who
report experiencing race-based stressors."
Participants
•83 undergraduate students (Mage = 19.96, SDage =
2.56)"
•73.5% female, 21.7% male, 3.6% non-
conforming, 1.2% questioning"
•57.8% Latinx, 42.2% White"
•All participants reported not knowing Japanese.
ERP Measures
•FRN: 300ms to 500ms after performance
feedback"
•Associated with feedback valence: negative
feedback > positive feedback."
•LPP: 500ms to 1000ms after learning feedback"
•Thought to indicate attention to emotional
stimuli and memory encoding.
Discussion"
•Minority status stress did not mediate or
moderate the relationship between test
performance and either the FRN or LPP."
•There was a significant relation between
testing effect and the LPP difference wave for
only the Latinx sample. Yet, the LPP during
incorrect trials was not significantly different
from correct trials."
•There was no significant relation between the
testing effect and the LPP difference wave for
White participants, but their LPP during
incorrect trials was significantly larger than
during correct trials. "
•The FRN difference relates to overall test
performance among White participants only,
with larger differences between positive and
negative feedback related to worse task
performance.
Survey Results
•On average, White participants reported fewer (M =
0.62) instances of Minority status stress than Latinx
participants (M = 2.49), F(1, 79) = 102.3, p < .001.
Testing Task Results
•Testing effect was present such that both groups remembered significantly more
test words than study words 1-week later (p’s < .001)"
•Only Latinx had a significant interaction indicating that performance between
both conditions was larger at 1-week (~8%) than at 5-minutes (~4%), F(1, 47) =
5.35, p < .05."
ERP Results
•Visual inspection indicated an FRN at Fz after receiving negative feedback and
an LPP at Pz after receiving learning feedback for both correct and incorrect
trials."
•No significant difference in the FRN when examined by race or gender."
•Significant difference between LPP such that White participants had larger LPP
at Pz, F(1,81) = 7.24, p < .01, and also larger difference between LPP during
correct and incorrect trials with LPP after incorrect trials being greater.
Testing Effect Predicts LPP for Latinx
•Testing effect was a significant predictor of LPP
difference waves only for Latinx participants, F(1,
46) = 6.41, p < .05."
•Larger LPP difference waves correlates with
stronger testing effect.
Contact
svazquez@ucla.edu"
https://www.uclabearlab.org"
www.srvazquez.com
-2.5
0.0
2.5
5.0
7.5
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Testing Overall Performance Diff
FRN Diff at Fz
Race
Latinx
White
Conclusion"
•Findings indicate associations between
learning and both the FRN and LPP."
•At the moment it is difficult to provide any
context as to why these differences exist."
•One possible reason could be language skills.
Multilingualism does explain some differences
above and beyond race."
•This may be in part because the task involves
language learning or because speaking
multiple languages has been associated with
cognitive control in the form of inhibition and
attentional shifting."
•These analyses are part of a larger effort to
examine a range of race-based stressors
including experiences with racial
microaggressions and acculturative stress."
•Further investigation is needed to assess if
these relations are a function of attention and/
or affective processes related to learning and
receiving feedback.
Fz
Pz
Cz
Incorrect Trials"
Correct Trials
Region of Interest
White
Latinx
Feedback Related Negativity (FRN)
Late Positive Potential (LPP)
cv