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Neuroscience of Learning
2005
What is learning?
CHANGING the structure & actions of NEURONS so
they HOLD INFORMATION in LONG TERM MEMORY inTEMPORAL & PARIETAL
LOBES of the CORTEX
LEARNING requires NEURONS to CHANGE
Learning requires MANYneuron changes
BUT two major changes are1 Changing the amounts of neurotransmitters that neurons produce
2 Changing the connections between neurons
(1) Learning requires neurons to make MORE & LESS & DIFFERENT transmitters
(2) Learning requires neurons to make NEW LINKS & DELETE EXISTING LINKS with other neurons
+ & -
Bad News & Good News for Teachers
in Current Neuroscience Findings
4 important negative findings from neuroscience
5 important positive findings from neuroscience
4 NEGATIVES & 5 POSITIVES
Bad news finding # 1
WE HAVE NO INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION TO LEARN
ACADEMIC MATERIAL
We are motivated to LEARNLEARN to get 4 PRIMARY BODY REWARDS:
Food Water Sex
Drugs of Abuse
And we are motivated to LEARNLEARN to get 5 Primary Social Rewards
Feel pleasant touch (Rolls et al. 2003)
See attractive faces (Aharon et al. 2001)
Hear positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002)
Interact with others (Rilling et al. 2002)
Gain social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002)
Human motivation system
Rewarding experiences trigger amygdala activity trigger dopamine release trigger frontal lobe activity
AMYGDALA
Computes Emotional intensity of an experience
Degree of negative or positive emotion
Increased Dopamine ISIS the Reward
FRONTAL LOBE
Stores the reward value of experience
Activates behaviors leading to the most rewarded outcome
All other complex experiences are conditioned with primary rewards
$$USE OF MONEY
WORKING
LEARNING
FOLLOWING RULES
Motivation to Learn School Subjects is Conditioned
Most cultures condition children
with 3 primary rewards for successful learning using foodteacher & parent approvalincreased peer social status
Bad news finding # 2
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE
FOR LEARNING TRANSFER
Reviews of research show no evidence for learning transfer
Barnett & Ceci (2002 )Clement & Lecoutre (2004)
Dixon & Dohn (2003) Mayer (2004)
No transfer means no free lunch
NO SPECIFIC TRANSFER means Learning to add DOES NOT make
learning to divide easierNO GENERAL TRANSFER meansLearning math DOES NOT make
you a better learner “in general”
Bad news finding # 3
THERE IS NO EVIDENCE
FOR MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCES
Gardner’s 11 Total Intelligences
Linguistic, Musical, Logical-mathematical, Spatial,Bodily-kinesthetic, Personal, Naturalistic, Spiritual,
Existential,Mental Searchlight, Laser
Gardner’s Newest Intelligences
Existential = feeling at one with the cosmos
Mental Searchlight = people with high IQ test scores scan widely
Laser = artists and artisans “who generate the advances (as well as the catastrophes) of society”
Gardner Admits No Supporting Data Exists for Multiple Intelligences
Allix (2000) no evidenceJie-Qi Chen (2004) no evidenceGardner (2004) no evidenceGardner and Connell (2000, p.
292) conceded that “there is little hard evidence for Multiple Intelligences theory” (2000, p. 292)
NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
There is consistent significant evidence for a general intelligence factor G that appears to be working memory —this stands against Multiple Intelligences(Colom et al. 2004)
There is consistent significant evidence that brain systems for cognitive functions are overlapping —this stands against Multiple Intelligences (Lieberman, 2002)
NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH REFUTES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES, cont.
There is evidence for specific innate cognition modules (Gallistel, 2003)
1 Fast-mapping of word to object2 Person recognition of face, voice,
clothes3 Obligation computation of what we
owe others and what they owe us4 Imitation of all aspects of the behavior
of others
ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES STAND AGAINST MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
Each adapted cognition module is supported by evidence of its neural operations (MI intelligences are not).
A given adapted cognition module, like Mirror Neuron Tissue, operates using our vision, hearing, speaking, gesturing, social awareness—this combines parts of 4 of Gardner’s intelligences—thus negating their individual existences
Bad news finding # 4
EVERY SINGLE MEMORY WE HAVE
IS COMPLETELY UNSTABLE
Heraclitus was right
You cannot step into the same river twice
EVERY TIME YOU REMEMBER SOMETHING, IT IS A
DIFFERENT MEMORY, BECAUSE THE ACT OF
RECALL IS A RECONSTRUCTION
RECALL TRANSFORMS RECALL TRANSFORMS OUR MEMORIES OUR MEMORIES
When we Remember our brainTakes the memory
apart, Updates the memory, Brings the memory to
consciousnessThen makes new
proteins for a new structure for the memory as it goes back into long-term storage.
Good news findings # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Neuroscience research has found 5 promoter mechanisms whereby short term learning changes into long
term learning
5 major promoters of learning =
INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2003)
REPETITION of INFORMATION(Squire and Kandel, 2000)
EXCITEMENT at the time of learning (Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)
EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)
8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\
The first promoters are innate learning programs called ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES
SPECIALIZED BRAIN MODULES EVOLVED TO COMPUTE SPECIFIC INFORMATION OUTSIDE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS IN ORDER TO MAKE THAT PROCESS EASIER AND FASTER BECAUSE THOSE COMPUTATIONS HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT FOR OUR SURVIVAL
INNATE PROGRAMS = Adapted Cognition Modules are very specific computation systems
Adapted cognition modules promote quick and easy learning of certain types of information:
●We learn people’s faces, typical movements, voices, clothing, odors very easily because we have FACE RECOGNITION TISSUE in our temporal lobes
● We learn speech and tool use motor skills more easily because we have special MIRROR NEURONS in our frontal lobes that copy the speech and movements of others
ADAPTED COGNITION MODULES ALSO INCLUDE
COMPUTING FREQUENCIESBASIC COUNTING SKILLSCOMPUTING WHAT OTHERS OWE
US AND WHAT WE OWE THEMFAST MAPPING OF WORD LABEL TO
OBJECTS AND SITUATIONSCOMPUTING SOCIAL STATUS AND
INSULTS TO SOCIAL STATUS
The 2nd Learning Promoter is REPETITION
Squire & Kandel (2000) Reviewed neurobiology of learning
Brain forms long term memories depending on
“the number of times the event or fact is repeated”
REPETITION
Squire & Kandel (2000) Reviewed neurobiology of learning
Brain forms long term memories depending on
“the number of times the event or fact is repeated”
Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and LESS neurotransmitter
Repetition causes neurons to make MORE and FEWER CONNECTIONS with other neurons
ORIGIN OF TEACHING IS REPETITION
We all unconsciously repeat important information in conversations
All cultures teach important stories by verbal repetition
Chinese teachers were taught to say everything TWICE…
Most teachers discover that repetition is valuable
The 3rd learning promoter is EXCITEMENT
LeDoux has studied the brain for 30 years & reported (2002) that “we remember particularly well…those things that arouse our emotions”
Cahill & Gorski (2003) research
Excitement automatically increases certain neurotransmitters
Excitement sets NEURON CONNECTIONS in the “ON” position
The 4th learning promoter is EATING CARBOHYDRATES
Greenwood and Winocur (2001) research: high-fat diet impairs brain glucose metabolism needed to form long term memory
Korol (2002) research: eating carbohydrates enhanced memory
(Smith, 2003) research: lack of breakfast impairs learning
Eating carbohydrates gives the brain glucose to organize new synapse locations
Eating carbohydrates provides glucose to make glycoproteins that bind neurons to one another
EXTREME DIETING IMPAIRS LEARNING
A majority of young women age 12 to 30 yrs in the US are on fad diets.
During periods of dieting, their learning will be significantly slowed and it will be harder for them to retain information.
The 5th learning promoter is 8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP
SPECIAL ISSUE of the journal Learning and Memory (2004 V11, N6) reports a wide range of evidence for consolidation of learning during sleep
Macbeth (2.2.46-51)
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
SLEEP IS A FREE LEARNING TOOL
DREAMING SLEEP promotes differential strengthening of neurons in networks holding learned information
NON-DREAMING SLEEP activates calcium channels that biologically repeat the neural path of learning to force long term storage
DREAMING SLEEP causes differential strengthening by altering neurotransmitters
NON-DREAMING sleep causes new neuron CONNECTIONS to be automatically repeated
Research shows that TOO LITTLE SLEEP or IMPAIRED SLEEP = IMPAIRED LEARNING
Alcohol ingested after a day of learning inhibits dreaming sleep and impairs memory storage of the day’s information
Drugs of abuse used after learning have similar bad effects on sleep and the day’s learning
A majority of teens, college students and working adults in the US are sleep-deprived
Of the 5 major learning promoters
INNATE LEARNING PROGRAMS (Gallistel, 2002)
REPETITION of INFORMATION(Squire and Kandel, 2000)
EXCITEMENT at the time of learning (Cahill & Gorski, 2003; LeDoux, 2002)
EATING CARBOHYDRATES at time of learning (Korol, 2002)
8-9 HOURS OF SLEEP after learning (Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004)\
TEACHERS CAN CONTROL ONLY 2 PROMOTERS
Repetition &
Excitement
BUT TEACHERS CAN ALSO
PERMIT AND ENCOURAGE
HEALTHY CARBOHYDRATE
SNACKING AND
TALK TO STUDENTS AND PARENTS ABOUT THE
IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP
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