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