Neuroscience of Learning

2005
 What is learning?

CHANGING the structure &

actions of NEURONS so
they HOLD INFORMATION in
LONG TERM MEMORY in
TEMPORAL & PARIETAL
LOBES of the CORTEX
 LEARNING requires
NEURONS to CHANGE
 Learning requires MANY
neuron changes

BUT two major changes are

1 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 NEGATIVES & 5 POSITIVES

4 important
negative
findings from
neuroscience

5 important
positive
findings from
neuroscience
 Bad news finding # 1

WE HAVE NO
INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION
TO LEARN
ACADEMIC MATERIAL
We are motivated to LEARN to get 4
PRIMARY BODY REWARDS:

Food
Water
Sex
Drugs of Abuse
And we are motivated to LEARN 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 IS 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 food
teacher & parent approval
increased 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 easier
NO GENERAL TRANSFER means
Learning math DOES NOT make you
a better learner in general
Bad news finding # 3

THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE
FOR
MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCES
Gardners 11 Total Intelligences

Linguistic, Musical,
Logical-mathematical, Spatial,
Bodily-kinesthetic, Personal,
Naturalistic, Spiritual,
Existential,
Mental Searchlight, Laser
Gardners 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 evidence
Jie-Qi Chen (2004) no evidence
Gardner (2004) no evidence
Gardner 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 object
2 Person recognition of face, voice,
clothes
3 Obligation computation of what we
owe others and what they owe us
4 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 awarenessthis combines parts
of 4 of Gardners intelligencesthus
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
OUR MEMORIES
When we Remember
our brain
Takes the memory
apart,
Updates the memory,
Brings the memory to
consciousness
Then 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 peoples 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 FREQUENCIES
BASIC COUNTING SKILLS
COMPUTING WHAT OTHERS OWE US
AND WHAT WE OWE THEM
FAST MAPPING OF WORD LABEL TO
OBJECTS AND SITUATIONS
COMPUTING 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
wellthose 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
ravelld sleave of care,
The death of each days life, sore labours
bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great natures second
course,
Chief nourisher in lifes 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 days information
Drugs of abuse used after learning have
similar bad effects on sleep and the
days 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