The Most Fascinating Things You Can Learn About Your Brain

5 minute read.

More emphasis needs to be placed on things like social inclusion and engagement in learning, project-based learning, and digital literacy and citizenship.

Every year, researchers uncover new evidence about learning and the brain that helps us develop more effective learning and teaching practices. Here are ten of the most important discoveries scientists have made about learning and the brain over the past year, in case you were not aware.

The goal here is not to just teach you how to fish (research, learn, and apply), but also to help you teach other people how to fish (research, learn, and apply).

The study involved more than 2000 healthy middle-aged volunteers who were asked to complete a series of memory tests. Those with higher levels of the hormone cortisol in their blood performed worse on the tests, and the researchers even found that they had a slightly shrunken brain volume when compared to the volunteers who had normal levels of cortisol.

The researchers found that we produce new neurons in the parts of the brain associated with learning, memory, and emotion throughout adulthood.

In addition to having exciting implications for the development of treatments for neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, these findings should serve as yet another reminder that we are never too old to learn something new.

Why? Because when we forget something and are forced to go back and retrieve the information, it will be more strongly imprinted on our memories.

In fact, the researchers discovered that every one degree Fahrenheit increase in the classroom temperature correlated with a one percent decrease in learning.

The reason for this is that it can be difficult to focus and learn when we are physically uncomfortable, so it’s important to have access to a comfortable study space where we will neither be too hot or too cold.

Generally speaking, multitasking is a terrible idea, because it’s impossible to focus on two things at once. So when we ‘multitask,’ all we’re really doing is switching back and forth between tasks, and getting less done than we would if we were to focus on one thing at a time.

Participants were assigned to either a multitasking or single-task group. The people in the multitasking group were told that they would need to work on two tasks, learning and writing, at the same time. The people in the single-task group were told they would work on one task that would test their learning and writing skills.

Oddly enough, participants who thought they were multitasking outperformed those in the single task group every time. They were also more focused and engaged with the task. The researchers explain that this doesn’t contradict previous findings that show multitasking has detrimental effects, but that it shows that our perception of multitasking can positively affect our performance.

So breaking down a larger task into its various components and viewing it as multitasking can help you complete the task more efficiently, even though you aren’t truly multitasking. For example, sitting in a meeting is viewed as one task, but you’re probably engaging in multiple tasks, such as taking notes while also listening and forming opinions.

At its most basic, learning can be traced to specific regions of the brain that process feedback and lead to learning. But the researchers explain that this doesn’t provide a complete picture of how learning works, because humans and even animals need to figure out what to learn from and how to differentiate valuable feedback from noise.

To study this, the researchers carried out a series of experiments with mice and were able to identify specific neurons that help the brain work out what it should pay attention to. The researchers note that these findings could provide exciting new opportunities for modulating learning.

Although virtual reality’s uptake in education has been slow, new research shows that it could soon prove to be a valuable tool for teaching and training.

Of course, this is just the beginning, but the researchers point out that their findings will open the door to further studies into VR-based teaching and training for students at all levels of education.

Although it’s nice to feel sure of something, new research from Yale University shows that we can learn a lot more from uncertainty.

This is why seeking out new experiences and opinions is a great way to stimulate brain activity and keep our learning going, because novelty encourages the brain to absorb more information.

Sitting up straight is important for your physical health, but new research shows that it can also do wonders for your academic performance.

Researchers explain that adopting a more confident and empowered body position can optimize your focus, especially when stress is involved.

For the study, participants were asked to work their way through a series of digital mazes in order to find a hidden gold coin. For each gold coin they discovered, they were paid one dollar. As the participants navigated their way through the maze, they were shown pictures of ordinary objects like an umbrella or coffee mug.

Participants were later given an unexpected test to see how well they could remember these objects. When the test was given 24 hours after they’d completed the mazes, they were able to remember the objects closest to the reward. Surprisingly, when they were tested immediately, the researchers found no such patterns.

So although the objects initially held no significance, they were later categorized as important because they were spotted closer to the reward. Researchers note that their findings offer new insights into the mechanisms of memory and decision making, and have important implications for education.

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Always keep leaping forward my friend.

NJ

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