Volker Perlitz

The neurofunctional mechanisms of traumatic and non-traumatic memory in patients with acute PTSD following accident trauma

Neurofunctional alterations in acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and changes thereof during the course of the disease are not well investigated. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the functional neuroanatomy of emotional memory in surgical patients with acute PTSD. Traumatic (relative to non-traumatic) memories increased neural activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, lateral temporal, retrosplenial, and anterior cingulate cortices. These regions are all implicated in memory and emotion. A comparison of findings with data on chronic PTSD suggests that brain circuits affected by the acute disorder are extended and unstable while chronic disease is characterized by circumscribed and stable neurofunctional abnormalities.

Can contextual online exams in practical biomedical education increase comprehension and motivation? A pilot project

Abstract The exclusive reproduction of short-term learned and pool-based contents in examinations may impede development of in-depth understanding. This pilot project suggests an approach useful to overcome this shortcoming by enhancing students’ motivation for comprehensive learning using automatically added contextual questions in electronic examinations. Installed in practical courses teaching pain physiology, digital data acquisition and examination workstations were interlinked via a network connection. The data acquisition software was substantiated by algorithms that evaluated data acquired before their transmission to examination workstations. These data were used by the assessment software operating on these workstations to automatically compose new examination questions. Examinations thus combined pool questions with newly generated questions with authentic digitized data from the preceding course. This helped confront students with questions based on their individual data that had resulted from the courses examined. Formative evaluation showed an increase in motivation and alertness for practical tasks and acquired results. This suggests usefulness of this setting in examining the preparation and comprehension of course contents. There is reason to assume that this approach is suitable to be transferred to other practical courses using digital acquisition of practical and examination data.