Upload
cicero
View
53
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Professor Steven Rose The Open University & Gresham College London. Neuroscience, Neuroeducation and Neuromyths. Themes. 1. What can neuroscience say about the developing brain and mind? 2. Some educational neuromyths 3. Drugging and enhancing children - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
Professor Steven RoseThe Open University &
Gresham College London
Neuroscience, Neuroeducation and Neuromyths
Themes1. What can neuroscience say about the
developing brain and mind?2. Some educational neuromyths3. Drugging and enhancing children4. Has neuroscience anything useful to say to
teachers and educationalists?
The developing brain and mind
Can you spot the difference?
Steven and the chimp are 98.8% genetically identical
But that doesn’t mean much
Steven is also about 35% genetically identical to a daffodil and has about the same number of genes (20000) as a fruitfly
Chimps and Children ComparedKanzi can construct
simple sentences to express wants….but can get no further
Mali and Saul can handle abstract concepts, discuss distant future plans…and will go on growing
The key lies in development
The key is neither genes nor environment as opposites (so called nature/nurture), but development, a process that engages both genes and environment in ontogeny
Ontogeny is an active process, in which organisms construct themselves within constraints.
This is autopoiesis
Human and Chimp Brains
Humans v ChimpsLong-livedSocialTheory of mindParenting/teachingNeotenousTool-usersSymbol-users
BothBothBothHuman alloparents- Hrdy Humans more soHumans more soOnly humans
The meaning of neotenyHumans born prematurely, like pigs, unlike ratsBrain weight at birth 25% adult (350g)At 6 months 50% of adultAt 1 year 60% At 2.5 years 75%At 6 years 90%At 10 years 95%At puberty 1250g girls, 1375 boysAverage adult weight 1300-1500g
Human Brain Development
Forest of Neurons
Entering the Brain
Some Numbers20,000 genes
100,000 proteins100,000,000,000 neurons100,000,000,000,000 synapses
50mm3 cortex contains:
5 million neuronsUp to 50 billion synapses22km dendrites220 km axons
And some systemsThe brain consists of a multitude of mini-organs,
massively interconnectedFor instance, there are about 30 different
‘modules’ in the visual cortex, each responsible for analysing one feature of the environment - colour, shape, motion, etc.
Problem - how are all these bound together?Is there a homunculus?
Central command? or self-organisation?
It used to be thought that all these regions ‘reported’ upwards to some command centre in the brain - a so-called homunculus
We now know there is no homunculus - the brain is a self-organising multiply reentrant system; brain and body in constant interaction
The brain is embodied, the person is embedded
Developing CompetencesForget ‘innateness,’ gene/environment
dichotomies, and think autopoiesis.In the first three years of life the baby has to
learn motor coordination, recognition of others especially care-givers, ‘theory of mind,’ speech, walking, memory…
These are the so-called sensitive periods NOT ‘CRITICAL’!
Baby becomes Infant
The day-old baby has to be a competent suckler and to become a chewing infant - harder than you might imagine!
SpecificityEye and brain
grow at different rates postnatally, so connections are continually being broken and remade, but orderly vision remains
Dynamics and Plasticity
The brain is highly dynamic both millisecond by millisecond and over a lifetime in response to experience. This is brain plasticity - the key to our survival as individuals and as a species
Plasticity
Our perception is shaped by experience, for instance, rural versus urban
Memory - eidetic versus linear
M Carreiras et al. Nature 461, 983-986 (2009) doi:10.1038/nature08461
The effect of literacy on brain structure.
Learning makes new connections in the brain
Some NeuromythsYou only use 10% of your brainOnce damaged, brain recovery is impossible‘Brain gyms’ and IQ supplementsLeft brain is cognitive, right brain emotionalMen are left brained, women right brainedMen’s brains are heavier than women’s
Magnetoencephalography
SQUIDS detect the minute magnetic fields around the brain - a billionth of the earth’s field
Supermarket Choices
Shopping Lights up the Brainactive regions over the first second when making a supermarket choice
Remembering and Choosing
Another Myth – Brain Gyms
Drugging Children?
The strange case of ADHDchildren with AD/HD .. disturb their parents and teachers
because their classroom achievement is erratic… a source of exasperation to the ...teacher. .. ..This is the pupil who never seems to be in his or her seat, who is constantly bothering classmates, and can be relied upon for little other than being generally off task. All categories can be frustrating to teach because of their apparent unpredictability; their failure to conform to expectations, and their tendency not to learn from their mistakes (Paul Cooper, educationalist)
The strange case of ADHD and ritalin
Increase in US ADHD diagnoses
1988: 500,000
2011: 5,400,000(9.5% of all US children)
Increase in UK ritalin prescriptions
1991 2000
1997 92,0002011 660,000
Enhancing Children?
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
So what are the ethical issues?Trading Ritalin in the playground?
Putting current across your child’s head?
Buying extra coaching or private education?
Some brain truths (or what we currently believe!)
Children’s brains are not miniature adultsBoys’ and girls’ brains mature at slightly different
ratesCulture and technology change brainsWe get slower as we get older, our brains shrink a
bit and neurons die offBut we go on learning and changing our brains
throughout our livesUse it or lose it!
Has neuroscience anything useful to say to teachers and educationalists?
To be frank, not much you didn’t know already
But on the other hand teachers and educationalists have a lot to teach neuroscientists!