All input to your brain originally
comes from your five senses…but
then what?
The vast majority of your sensory
input gets filtered out
Your brain’s first filter
allows you to focus
Without this, you would be constantly be bombarded
with EVERY piece of information about the outside
world!
SENSORY
OVERLOAD!
Brain Anatomy
1. Reticular activating system (your first filter)
2. Amygdala (emotion processor)
3. Prefrontal cortex (conscious thinking)
Reticular Activating System (RAS)
-This filtering system is part of your lower brain and
does not involve conscious thought.
-You don’t choose what makes it through the filter.
Reticular Activating System (RAS)
-Sensory input that is threatening or novel makes it
through your RAS filter
Reticular Activating System (RAS)
-input that the RAS does not think is novel will enter
the lower brain, but will not make it to complex,
conscious thought
The Amygdala – the Emotion
Processor
 When the amygdala is in a state of fear, stress, or
frustrated overload, any new sensory input from the
RAS does not go to the Prefrontal Cortex for
complex thought and processing
 It acts as a second filter of information
Sensory input in an “average” brain
What will happen when each input enters Homer’s brain?
Will it reach the PFC (PreFrontal Club neuron party)?
PFC (PreFrontal Club Party – where every input wants to go!)
Amy G. Dala (the good feeling guardian)
RAS (Ralph Arnold Schwarzenegger) the Bouncer of Boring
Our first contestant – The Journal
of Neuroscience
Write your prediction on your
whiteboard!
H for “Hasta la Vista,
Baby”
N for “No Problemo”
Our first contestant – The Journal
of Neuroscience
“Hasta la Vista, Boring”
The journal did not pass the Reticular Activating
System!
Our second contestant – a tiger
Write your prediction on your
whiteboard!
T for “Terminated”
N for “No Problemo”
Our second contestant – a tiger
“No Problemo, Tigers are Novel”
(and maybe threatening to some)
The tiger passed the Reticular Activating System!
Our second contestant – a tiger
Write your prediction on your
whiteboard!
A for “AHHHH! So scary!
I can’t process this!”
B for “Boop Boop Be Doo”
Our second contestant – a tiger
“AHHH! So scary! I can’t process
this!”
The tiger caused the Amygdala to register fear and
wouldn’t allow the information to enter the Prefrontal
Club
Our last contestant – a doughnut
Write your prediction on your
whiteboard!
G for “Get Out”
M for “Mmm…doughnut”
Our last contestant – a doughnut
“Mmmm…Doughnut”
The novel pink doughnut passed the Reticular
Activating System!
Our last contestant – a doughnut
Write your prediction on your
whiteboard!
S for “Sprinkles cause me
stress”
M for “Mmm…doughnut”
“Mmm…Doughnut”
Amy G. Dala stayed in her positive mood and allowed
the information to enter the Prefrontal Club!
PreFrontal Cortex Party – All kinds of
conscious thought and memory encoding
To summarize…
 If the sensory input is threatening or novel,
it will make it through the Reticular
Activating System
 If the Amygdala is in a positive emotional
state, the input will make it to the
Prefrontal Cortex
 In the Prefrontal Cortex, the brain
performs conscious tasks and makes strong
memories
Amy G Dala
blocks entry to
the thinking brain
(PreFrontal Club)
in response to
Negative
Emotions. These
are processed in
the lower brain.
When students are
experiencing NEGATIVE
EMOTIONS
FEAR
STRESS from frustration
STRESS from boredom, they can
not engage in and remember
the lesson.
No learning here!
Or here!
Stress can be produced quite
inadvertently. Learning is easily
sidelined.
Even small facial cues
determine students’
learning
Images of
a threatening
face or friendly
face viewed
before memory
task.
•Reading: Students who first viewed the smiling
face, were able to recall a greater number of the
originally seen vocabulary words on average 17% more
effectively than those who viewed the frowner.
•Math: Similar results occurred for those solving
math problems.
What the brain looks like solving
academic problems under stressed
and unstressed conditions
B: Stressed subjects show heightened activity in the amygdala and much less
cortical activity
A: During the unstressed state, increased activity in prefrontal cortex and
memory storage regions.
The effect of stress
 A chemical – TMT (trimethyltin) – is released into the
brain;
 TMT disrupts brain cell development;
 STM and work efficiency are impaired;
 With extended periods of stress, LTM is impaired;
(Kato &
McEwen in Willis 2006)
 In a hypermetabolic state, information can not pass from
sensory awareness into the memory connection and
storage regions of the brain, and learning does not occur
Stress on Students Looks like:
• fatigue
• anger
• fear
• boredom
General strategies to calm your
emotions and counteract stress:
 visualize a place where you’ve felt happy; this
increases dopamine and brings pleasure to the
amygdala;
 write down your distracting thoughts on a piece of
paper to deal with them later;
 take short syn-naps to give your synapses time to
recharge-do something different & active - toss a nerf
ball to a classmate while reciting lesson-related
vocabulary with each toss.
More General Strategies to Quell
Stress
 Practice. To master a basketball shot, you shoot it
1,000 times. In the same way, practice multiplication
facts or science vocabulary. When you do this,
dendrites actually grow between the nerve cells in the
network that holds that memory. Each time you
review, the memory becomes stronger.
 Relax. Practice deep breathing as you enter a situation
you know to be stressful.
Even More Strategies
•Visualize content.
•If you are studying
history, imagine how the
people were dressed and
the appearance of the
buildings and land.
•For vocabulary, visualize
the words and network
what you know about it
& similar words to it.
Counteract Stress to Increase Neurotransmitter
production- Develop Positive Emotions
 act kindly towards others;
 laugh;
 listen to someone read to you;
 interact with friends;
 recognize your progress;
 take pride in what you do.
 use your skills to do projects you enjoy;
 and…
Of course…
• Get plenty of
sleep - dendrites
grow and become
stronger while
you are sleeping.
Signing off from the PFClub
Amy G Dala, guardian of
good feeling
RAS, Ralph Arnold
Schwarzenegger
And your buds - Mike, Linda, and Beth