Understanding Development
and Learning
The Brain—
The Hardware of Learning
Fred Travis, PhD
Chair, Maharishi Vedic Science Dept
Dir, Center for Brain, Consciousness
and Cognition.
Wholeness
Our 100 billion brain cells (neurons)
participate in larger groups (neural
cell assemblies) to accomplish
specific tasks—so called processing
modules. These modules are
functionally distinct and enable us to
experience outer objects, inner
thoughts, and even pure
consciousness—inner, self-referral
awareness.
Draw-a-Brain Refresher…
Learning Cycle: Kolb
Concrete (sensory)
Experience
Active
Experimentation
Reflective
Observation
Abstract
Hypothesis
Paired Reading
 Read:
Basic Brain Facts (pg. 53-
61)
 Identify brain areas associated
with Kolb’s experience learning
cycle.
Thinking
and action
CEO
Emotions
Concrete
Experience
(p. 42)
Midbrain
RAS
Thalamus
Cingulate
Gyrus
N100 Stimulus Registration

See the blind spot…. (p. 43)
oHow can you
explain your
experience by
the opponent
process model?
(remember lateral
inhibition)
• Snakes “see” infrared.
Human eye is sensitive to a
small range of the total frequency.

Main Point
Concrete experience is the first
step of Kolb’s Experiential
Learning Cycle. Sensory input
is transformed into conscious
experience through brain
functioning.
Learning Cycle: Kolb
Concrete (sensory)
Experience
Active
Experimentation
Reflective
Observation
Abstract
Hypothesis
Where
What
Beauty and the brain
Parietal
Insula
Amygdala
Main Point

Reflective observation is the
second stage in Kolb’s
Experiential Learning Cycle.
Understanding the nature of the
immediate experience is
necessary for transcending that
experience.
Learning Cycle: Kolb
Concrete (sensory)
Experience
Active
Experimentation
Reflective
Observation
Abstract
Hypothesis
Thinking
and action
CEO
Emotions
Frontal Cortex
Medial FrontalEmotions
Dorsal LateralWorking
Memory, Model
Building
Orbital FrontalInhibition,
Emotional
Modualtion
Main Point

Abstract hypothesis is the
third stage in Kolb’s
Experiential Learning Cycle.
Transcending is a process of
going beyond concrete
experience to symbolic
thought.
Learning Cycle: Kolb
Concrete (sensory)
Experience
Active
Experimentation
Reflective
Observation
Abstract
Hypothesis
Motor Cortex
Basal
Ganglia
Cerebellum
oSpecificity of
the
somatosensory
(touch) system
Main Point
Active experimentation completes
the learning cycle by initiating
another experience and so on.
This is how learning occurs. In
Maharishi Vedic Science
Knowledge is the coming together
of the knower and known through
the process of knowing.
Emotions
Emotions
 Class
Reading: (pg. 44-48)
 Human
Emotion and Memory:
Learned
Response
Izard Four-tier model of emotion
Practical tip
 Preparing
the brain to take a
test. (pg. 49)
 Effect of Multi-tasking (pg. 5052)
Main Point
The amygdala tags highly
emotional experiences so they
are more readily remembered
(hippocampus). The feeling
level guides decisions
according Maharishi Vedic
Science.
End-of-Session Review
1. Write a sentence that summarizes the
most important idea of the session.
2. Relate this idea to you knowledge of the
full development of consciousness.
3. Illustrate the two sentences with a
graphic, cartoon, or diagram.
4. One or two, illustrate on the board and
read our your summaries to the group.
5. Everyone, show your summaries to each
other.
Unity Chart: The Structure and
Functioning of the Brain
1..
2. Parts of the brain work together to
create conscious experiences and
states.
3. Transcendental Consciousness: is the
silence between each brain process,
and each state of consciousness.
4. Wholeness moving within itself:
Unity Chart: The Structure and
Functioning of the Brain
1. Different brain modules perform different
functions.
2. Parts of the brain work together to create
conscious experiences and states.
3. Transcendental Consciousness: is the silence
between each brain process, and each state of
consciousness.
4. Wholeness moving within itself: In Unity
consciousness, brain functioning supports
the reality that everything seen and unseen is
a fluctuation of subjectivity—of one’s infinitely
silent and infinitely dynamic Self.
Homework
Illustrate:
Create “cartoon characters”
or “avatars” that graphically
depict the function of three
different brain parts and draw
how they might interact.
Add 3 areas of frontal