reload

def test_invalid_first_week_ship_score       Swap.find(1).update_attributes(:swap_status_id => 1)      users(:jacob).update_attribute(:score, 1)     old_score = users(:jacob).reload.score      login_as :jacob     send_shipment_test(old_score)   end

the above example how the reload works users(:jacob) is a fixture actually what happened whether the fixture data is reload or update_attribute data is reload? please explain