Learning and the Brain

In perceiving that the most urgent social problem confronting our global society is that of the rapidly aging global population and the increasingly high incidence of dementia and other aging-related cognitive disability, we propose a solution in the form of a concept of innovative community-based well-being centers for elders with dementia and other forms of aging-related cognitive decline and comorbid sequelae. In this proposal we lay out the specific need for such centers and the unique, powerful curriculum provided by such centers grounded in the highly vetted principle of the enriched environment.

The vast majority of studies on the rehabilitative efficacy of the enriched environment are in the area of cognitive and physical rehabilitation in traumatic brain injury (TBI), from which studies of the efficacy of the enriched environment for recovery in other neurophysiological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, cerebrovascular accident (CVA, i.e., stroke), multiple sclerosis, depression, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), schizophrenia, and in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other forms of dementia have emerged. In our proposal for community-based well-being centers, the vast majority of studies that we cite for the efficacy of the enriched environment are studies in TBI rehabilitation. Because of the great efficacy recorded in these studies, researchers have gone on to examine the efficacy of the enriched environment in recovery from a wide range of neurophysiological disorders as mentioned above. Since these studies show equal efficacy based on the same principles, they illustrate the critical point that neurological damage presenting as a cognitive disorder and/or physical impairment responds positively to the enriched environment regardless of etiology, as the neurophysiological processes involved in both debility and recovery therefrom are the same in every case as an inherent function of neuroplasticity, as explained in the proposal. 

The proposed centers, while focused on dementia and aging-related cognitive/physical decline in consideration of the urgency in maintaining a viable functioning society in the face of the sheer number represented by the rapidly aging global population, can nevertheless effectively intervene in all cases of cognitive disorder regardless of cause and are open to all residents of the community requiring cognitive intervention and physical rehabilitation.

This proposal is intended to demonstrate the critical need for community-based well-being centers for elders with dementia, other aging-related cognitive decline and other conditions of impairment that disproportionately affect elders, and to demonstrate the scientifically vetted means by which aging-related lost functionality can be restored. The curriculum of the proposed well-being centers is grounded in the principles of Cognitive Neuroeducation (CNE), a modality we developed that can reverse the effects of dementia and restore cognitive functioning in elders based on a unique application of the enriched environment as derived from a comprehensive, rigorous synthesis of a wide corpus of studies extending over more than 70 years of solid scientific research as referenced herein. Though this proposal is written for implementation in Japan, the basic precepts are equally applicable to other nations experiencing the same demographic trajectory as Japan, perhaps not so acutely at present as Japan, but certainly threatening as a future crisis.

This study involved 18 participants enrolled in a college math methods class. Tooke and Lindstrom (1998) findings suggested that a math methods course would reduce math anxiety. For this study, Suinn's (2004) Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale of Adults (MARS) was administered the second week and the last week of the math method course. A Service-Learning pedagogy was used as a major vehicle for the delivery of this course. Pre-intern reflections of their Service-Learning experiences are in keeping with benefits identified by ...

The essay treats the origin of human languages, with emphasis on the history of English, the symbiotic development of the human brain and language, the past of development of English spoken in America, the advantage that language gave homo sapiens over their homo cousins, the evolution of writing, the archeological record, and prospects for the future.

Embodied/Enactive Cognition erfordert es, die ästhetische Erfahrung neu zu denken. Analysiert man den Beobachtungs-Prozess selbst, wird die aktive Konstruktion jeder Gestalt erkennbar. Aisthesis als kognitive Modellbildung dient somit der Selbst- und Welterschließung. Ein Action-Perception-Cycle ermöglicht durch „epistemische Handlungen“ (die auch unbewusst/verkörpert sein können) die Prognose von Handlungseffekten. Die Entwicklung von Hypothesen zu wahrscheinlichen Wirkungen (Forward Modelling) und möglichen Ursachen (Inverse Modelling) bilden so den Kern der Wirklichkeits-Konstruktion. Dabei kann es sich um gelingende oder misslingende Prozesse der kognitiven Modellbildung handeln. Im ersten Schritt wird der Basis-Mechanismus jeder ästhetischen Erfahrung formuliert. Dieser wird evolutionär als Lern-Verstärker interpretiert und ist evolutionär, neurobiologisch sowie lebensweltlich plausibel. Hiermit lassen sich positive ästhetische Erfahrungen präzise erklären – und bei Umkehrung der Prozessrichtung auch negative ästhetische Erfahrungen. Soll dieser Mechanismus als notwendige und hinreichende Bedingung fungieren, stellt sich die Frage: Warum empfinden dann nicht alle Menschen gleich? Im zweiten Schritt wird aus dem Basis-Prozess durch Iteration und Rekursion der Möglichkeitsraum ästhetischer Erfahrung und ein erweitertes Prozess-Modell abgeleitet. Es zeigt sich, dass konkurrierende Präferenz-Stile als Teilmengen dieses Möglichkeitsraumes zu verstehen sind. Meta-ästhetisch betrachtet ist selbst die Vorliebe für eine bestimmte (Bereichs-)Ästhetik ein solcher Präferenz-Stil, der als Mittel zu einem Zweck bestimmbar ist.

Adrian Raines is popularising a psychopathology that dehumanises criminals, based on certain ideas of stasis and the connection, first itemised by John Locke, of work, middleclass backgrounds and sanity. If you do not hold down a reasonable form of employment you are mentally ill. For Raines these represent the Other, or as described here Morlocks last seen in H.G. Wells The Time Machine.

Rapid development of neuroimaging techniques in recent decades has raised a wave of new insights about emotion, motivation, learning, development and thinking.  In the light of these new insights, educators can derive effective implications and principles for improving educational policies and practices based on biological foundation of learning and thinking.  In this paper is concentrated on some of those effective implications for improving students' conceptual thinking as a primary function of the cerebral cortex and a recognized form of thinking that includes aspects of critical, creative, and meta-cognitive thinking. This paper is introducing a framework for improving students' conceptual thinking based on how learning and thinking occur in the brain. Literature review revealed that designing instruction based on concepts, projects, problems, and themes are the most important brain compatible instruction design models in improving conceptual thinking.

رشد سریع فنون تصویربرداری عصبی، در سال¬های اخیر، امکان فوق¬العاده¬ای برای پژوهشگران فراهم کرده است  تا فهم  بهتري از ساختاروکارکرد مغز انسان به دست آورند. در پرتو بهره¬گيري از این فن¬آوري¬هاي تصويربرداري عصبي پيشرفته، یافته¬های پژوهشگران حیطۀ مغز، در زمینۀ تفکر، هیجان، انگیزش، یادگیری و رشد، موجی از بینش¬های جدید به دنبال داشته که تبیین¬های موجود دربارۀ موضوعات تربیتي را تحت تأثیر جدي قرار داده است. از اين رو، بسياري از متخصصان علوم اعصاب و تربيت ادعا مي¬كنند كه برقراری پیوند بین علوم اعصاب و علوم تربیتی مي¬تواند نقش عمده¬اي در بهبود دانش، سياست و عمل تربيتي ایفا کند . كاربرد و استدلال¬های-هاي تربيتي معتبر استنباط شده از یافته¬های علوم اعصاب نیز از اين ادعا حمايت مي¬كنند؛ اما با وجود اين ، به نظر برخي منتقدان، رابطۀ میان کارکردهای عصبی و عمل تربیتی بسیار محدود و شكاف بین علوم اعصاب و علوم تربیتی به قدري زياد است كه امكان برقراري پيوند مستقيم بين آنها وجود ندارد و بايد رشته¬های ديگري همچون «روان¬شناسي شناختي» و يا «علوم اعصاب شناختي» واسطۀ برقراري اين پيوند شوند. اما از چشم انداز تربيتي، ماهيت دانش تربيت ايجاب مي¬كندکه برای دستيابي به اهداف تربيتي، از علوم اعصاب ، همچون سایر علوم توصيفي (از قبيل روان¬شناسي و جامعه¬شناسي)، به عنوان يك دانش كاربردي استفاده شود كه اين امر از طريق استخراج مباني اعصاب شناختي تربيت و كاربردهاي تربيتي محقق خواهد شد. بنابراين، ايجاد پيوند بين اين دو دانش هم ضروري و هم امكان¬پذير است، زیرا از تعامل و تلفيق «فلسفۀ تربیتی»، «جامعه¬شناسی تربیتی»، و «روان¬شناسی تربیتی» با «اعصاب شناسی تربیتی(علوم اعصاب تربيتي)» مي¬توان برای بهبود دانش، سياست و عمل تربیت بهره گرفت. اما نكتۀ اصلی كه بايد به آن توجه جدي کرد، حفظ احتیاط و هشیاری در تفسير و استفاده از يافته¬هاي پژوهش¬ها دربارۀ مغزاست. بنابراين  اين يافته¬ها می¬بایست در محيط¬هاي تربيتي واقعي آزموده شوند كه تحقق اين امر هم مستلزم فراهم کردن زمينۀ تعامل و مشاركت سازنده و واقعی بين دانشمندان و پژوهشگران علوم اعصاب و تربيت ؛ و تلفيق علوم اعصاب شناختي و علوم اعصاب تربیتی  در برنامه هاي درسی علوم¬تربیتی و  تربيت معلم است.

The present paper assembles contributions from the areas of education,
psychology, cognitive science, and of course, neuroeducation itself to
introduce the basic principles of research in the field of neuroeducation
studies. It is particularly important, as such it is a useful way to justify
researchers about what neuroeducation as a specific domain do that no other field can do as well or cannot do at all. Based on the literature reviewed, neuroeducational research can be understood as an interdisciplinary endeavor to develop an insightful understanding and holistic picture of problems related to learning and education. It thus epistemologically is based on an integrated methodological pluralism paradigm. This requires researchers to understand multiple methods and methodologies and employ as they formulate their own research projects. Researchers have a critical role to play in providing systematic evidence and conclusions that are scientifically valid and reliable and educationally relevant and usable. One significant implication of this argument is the need to strengthen the quality of the research component in graduate programs of the field and train interested researchers in the identification and formulation of relevant research questions.

This extract from von Hartmann's seminal work, which finds itself halfway between Schopenhauer's theory of the Will and Freud's theory of the Subconscious, presents a thoroughly researched scientific explanation of the nerve-centres and their functioning with the human brain. Of course, what von Hartmann writes of is based on the conclusions of anatomical study of the brain, physiology and the new science (at that time) of psychology. In this detailed and scientifically sound addition to his study of the 'Unconscious', von Hartmann analyzes in depth the functioning of the brain through the study of (among other things): nerve-fibres, ganglion cells, the spinal cord, reflex responses (of various kinds), the morphology of the brain, nerve-centres, space-senses, the cerebellum and the fore-brain. Beyond this, he also delves deeper into the nature of the brain as an organism and how it might be that the physiological person has what is sometimes called a 'Soul'. This essay is a truly remarkable piece of work for when it was published (the second half of the nineteenth century) and rewards its study. Some of the science may seem antiquated but in fact the science has hardly at all been misplaced. All it lacks is a diagram to elucidate some of the points. - The 'Annotations' section from Volume II of 'The Philosophy of the Unconscious' has been appended to the end of this essay as numerous notes are relevant to this essay.

The 'hard' problem of consciousness is addressed by considering the ability of the brain to control focus of attention. The control of focus of attention has a neuronal network functional equivalent which is the ability of the brain to use the wave patterns generated within the brain to focus and select other specific functional areas of the brain. The wave patterns detected from brain activity are not just the results of brain activity but play an active role in the operation of the brain.

The individual can focus attention on visual, auditory or other sensory inputs or focus on internal thought processes. This has implications for the process of learning which requires focus of attention and also for the process of recall.

... The use of students' and teachers' perception of their educational environments can assist ... Brunei Darussalam, a Classroom Environment Survey and an Attitude towards Mathematics Survey ... analyses were used in determining the actual environment and students' preferences. ...