Enhancing Learning
Neurobics,
Memory and
Video Games
Ann Anzalone
ann.anzalone@gmail.com
Neurobics
The New Science of Brain Exercise
activities to develop and maintain brain connections
 present the brain with unexpected experiences using
various combinations of physical senses (sight, sound,
smell, touch, taste) and emotional sense
 cause the brain to produce neurotrophins that increase the
size and complexity of nerve cell dendrites
 deliberately create new associative patterns; associations
are the building blocks of memory and the basis of
learning
 activate many different brain areas in novel ways to
increase the range of mental motion
 use senses in novel ways to break out of everyday routines
Associations
 representations of events, people and places that form when the
brain decides to link different kinds of information
 raw material originates from the five sense or emotional or
social cues; interactions with other people trigger emotional
responses
 if input is to two or more senses close together in time, the
brain will automatically link the sensations
 once associations are formed, they reside in the brain as longterm memory which can be accessed by experiencing the
original stimulus
 provide the cortex with the raw materials to create new and
potent associations; form multisensory associations; often rely
too heavily on one or two associations
 based on odors form rapidly and persist for long periods of
time; the olfactory system is the only sense that has direct
connections to the cortex, hippocampus and limbic system
involved in processing emotions and storing memories
3 KEYS
1. involve one or more of your sense in a novel context
blunt one of the senses you normally use, forcing yourself to rely
on other senses to do an ordinary task
2. engage attention
stand out from the background of everyday events; make the brain
go into alert mode; activity has to be unusual, fun, surprising,
engage your emotions, or have meaning for you
3. break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial
way
Activities
 Change your olfactory association ~ vanilla, citrus, peppermint,
rosemary; nutmeg or cinnamon enhances productivity
 Shower with your eyes closed
 Without looking, choose your shoes
 Read aloud; when we read aloud or listen to someone reading, we use
different brain circuits than when reading silently; listening activates 2
distinct areas in the left and right hemispheres; speaking activates the
motor cortex of both sides of the brain; looking at words activates one
area of the cortex in the left hemisphere
 Making introductions fosters social interactions crucial for a healthy
brain
 Brainstorm
 Play the 10 thing game: use an ordinary object and demonstrate 10
things that object might be
 Grow a garden
Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D. and Manning Rubin. Keep Your Brain Alive. New York: Workman
Publishing Co. 1999.
Head -Toes -Knees –Shoulders Game
Claire Ponitz University of Virginia
Megan McClelland Oregan State University
Self-regulation, or the ability to control behavior, was measured with the Head-ToesKnees-Shoulders task, a structured observation requiring preschool or kindergarten
children to perform the opposite of a response to four different oral commands in a five
minute span of time. Children were instructed to touch their toes if told to touch their
head, and vice versa. Students who performed well on this behavior task in the fall
achieved strong scores in reading, vocabulary and math in the spring, compared to
students who had low performance on the task.
p://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608162547.htmRead
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/game_predicts_ki
ndergarten_achievement#ixzz0SRJpzwNt
MEMORY
THERE CAN BE NO LEARNING WITHOUT MEMORY.
The difference between novices and experts in a field appears to be that experts tend –
because of a great deal of experience in a field – to organize information into much larger
chunks, while novices work with isolated bits of information.
Benjamin Bloom
LS DTVF BIJ FKU SA
A high proportion of all learning takes place at the subconscious level.
EMOTION is the basis on which memory is organized. Short term memory is
primarily an electrical activity and long term memory involves a predominantly
chemical process
3 R’s of Memory
Kinds of Memory
1. registration
2. retention
3. recall
1. procedural
2. episodic
3. semantic
The process of rehearsal involved in subvocalization is critical to transferring information
from short to long term memory. Unless an item is rehearsed, it is lost out of the short
term memory and does not enter the long term memory. Repetition has little value unless
it involves activity. The processing and transfer to long term memory needs adequate
time for the encoding and consolidation of the new information into the storage networks.
We file information by similarity and retrieve by difference.
Patterns
Are the key to intelligence.
Patterning information really means
Organizing and associating new information with
Previously developed mental hooks.
Your Child’s Growing Mind, Jane Healy
Mental patterns are built on networks of sensory connections.
Learning is experience. Everything else is just information .
Albert Einstein
Memory Optimizer
Vera F. Birkenbihl
1. Memory is what you actively construct and re-construct.
2. Each memory must either be autobiographical or be made autobiographical
by conscious mental activities.
3. Each autobiographical construct must contain a story about the world or you in
the world.
4. These stories make up your generic memory about your world and your role in
this world.
5. Stories about the world are called knowledge and know-how.
6. Familiarity with your own personal stories are the foundation of yourself and the
basis of good communication with others.
7. All of your stories together comprise your personality.
8. The more stories you have the more you may lose in old age without drastically
affecting your personality.
9. Create your stories while you still can!
Expect more students with memory loss.
Eric Jensen
1. Constantly make something important to the brain (say, "Wow, this is so good that…"
Or, "If you learn nothing else all day, listen closely and remember this…")
2. Get students out of their seats for a quick energizer every 8-15 minutes (it bumps up
cortisol, dopamine and norepinephrine, all of which help strengthen memory
formation.)
3. After every single key idea, say this "Repeat after me…" (or, "Now we just learned
there are four seasons. How many seasons are there?")
4. Use acronyms.
5. Use priming ALL day long ("Earlier I said we have 4 seasons and the coldest one is
W-I-N _ _ _?") They spell out the rest of the word.
The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Nicholas Carr
The natural state of the human brain is one of __________________.
The art of _________________ is the art of thinking.
William James
Short term memory produces a change in the function of the
_______________. Long term memory requires _________________
changes.
Long term memory is the seat of _______________. Long term memory
stores facts and complex concepts or schemas by organizing scattered bits
of information into _________________of knowledge.
Memory exists in ______________. The act of recalling a memory appears
to restart the entire process of consolidation. Once one brings explicit long
term memories back into _________________ memory, it becomes a short
term memory again. When reconsolidated, it gains a new set of connections,
a new context.
As we build up our personal stores of __________________, our minds
become sharper
The brain processes information long after it is received. The quality of
memories depends on how information is processed.
____________________ memory is alive.
The key to memory consolidation is ________________. The sharper the
attention, the sharper the memory. _________________is the first step in
the process of synthesis. Erasmus
Learning how to think really means learning how to _________________
_____________ and _______________ you think. It means being conscious
and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how
you construct meaning from experience.
PlayStation Nation
Protect Your Child From Video Game Addiction
Olivia and Kurt Bruner
Video game addiction symptoms: entranced stare
Irritability when asked to stop playing
Temper tantrums when made to stop
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Does your child play video games every day?
Are they played for long periods (over 2 hours at a time)9
Does your child get restless and irritable if he/she can't play?
Does your child avoid social and sporting activities to play the video games?
Does your child play instead of doing homework?
Does your child try to cut down his or her video gaming but can't?
Video games are about adrenaline;
• slowing the ''blink rate", dilating the pupils, and producing dopamine
• change brain chemistry by increasing the activity of dopamine; dopamine is
released during the anticipatory or appetitive phase of motivated behavior
• patterns of reinforcement established in the brain work independently of the
desired object
• create unconscious craving and pleasure chemical reaction in striatum
• heart rate and blood pressure rise; must play over and over to achieve same levels of
pleasure
• excites psychoneurological receptors causing the person to feel the excitement, to
feel a high and then to become addicted to whatever is giving the high
• creates visual cues in the brain that cause craving for the desired activity
Video Games' Driving Forces
•
•
•
•
beating the game
mastery
high score
relationships
competition
exploration
story-driven role play
The brain tries to protect itself from prolonged intensity, agitation and excitement. As the
states become the brain's expected routine intensified by the infusion of dopamine the brain
goes from feedback to habituation to adaptation leading to attachment. Regardless of how
an addition begins, the longer it lasts, the more powerful it becomes,
The earlier a child plays electronic games, the sooner he/she is exposed to the patterns of
addiction. Those who are introduced to the dopamine inducing high of prolonged video
game exposure become bored with any other form of recreation.
www.mediafamiSy.org
www.pluggedinonline. org
www. VideoGameTrouble. org
How Computer Games Help Children Learn
David Williamson Shaffer
The New Literacy: Innovation
Innovation: skills, knowledge, identity, values and epistemology
New technologies change the speed and kind of information we exchange; thus changing
the way we interact with each other and the world.
Since 1980 the number of science and engineering jobs have grown 4x faster
than the labor force as whole.
% of undergraduate students getting degrees in science and engineering
China: 59%
Japan: 66%
U.S.
32%
The competitive edge comes from innovation to produce products, services, and
technologies that are new, special, nonstandard. The value of this kind of
innovation is in knowledge. A standardized problem can be solved anywhere.
Standardized testing produces standardized skills.
Children’s books, movies and video games demand strategic thinking,
technical language and sophisticated problem-solving skills.
Play is the essence of learning.
Games teach a set of rules and a specialized language; use a process of learning by doing;
rather than learning first and doing later and move players from interest to understanding.
Epistemic computer games provide the players with opportunities to learn how to think
and problem solve in innovative ways.
www.epistemicgames.org
Epistemic Games are built by asking the questions:




What is worth being able to do in the world?
Who knows how to do it?
How did they learn how to do it?
What kinds of thinking will matter to success, happiness and ability to
make the world a better place?
Epistemic Games:
Civilization www.civilization.com
Digital Zoo SodaConstructor www.sodaplay.com
The Political Machine www.politcalmachine.com
Escher’s World and Geometer’s Sketchpad access through www.epistemicgames.org
Roller Coaster Tycoon
A Force More Powerful www.afmpgame.com
A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acuff, Daniel. Ph.D. and Robert H. Reiher, PhD. Kidnapped. How Irresponsible
Marketers Are Stealing the Minds Of Your Children. IL: Dearborn Trade
Publishing. 2005.
Amen, Daniel, M.D. Making a Good Brain Great. New York: Crown Publishing 2005.
Bronson, Po and Ashley Merryman. NutureShock. New Thinking About Children.
New York: Hachette Book Group. 2009.
Bruner, Olivia and Kurt. PlayStation Nation. NY: Hachette Book Group. 2006.
Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. New York:
Norton. & Co. 2010.
Davis, Devra. Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry
Has Done to Hide It and How to Protect Your Family. NY: Dutton Adult.
2010.
Dennison, Paul E. and Gail E. Dennison. Brain Gym. Teacher's Edition. California:
Edu-Kinesthetics Inc. 2010.
Gurian, Michael. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! CA: Jossey-Bass. 2001.
Hannaford, Carla. Smart Moves. Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head.
Utah: Great River Books. 2005
Hopkins, Kathleen Ricards. Teaching How to Learn in a What-to-Learn Culture. CA:
Jossey-Bass. 2010.
Jensen, Eric. Brain Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching. CA: Corwin Press. 2008.
Lemov, Doug. Teach Like A Champion. 49 Techniques That Put Your Students On the
Path to College. CA: Jossey-Bass. 2010.
Melillo, Robert. Dr. Disconnected Kids. New York: Penguin Group. 2009.
Ratey, J. John. M.D. with Eric Hagerman. SPARK The Revolutionary New Science of
Exercise and the Brain. N.Y. Little, Brown and Co. 2008.
Walsh, David. PhD. Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids. NY: Free Press. 2011.
Shaffer, David Williamson. How Computer Games Help Children Learn. NY: Palgrave
Macmillan. 2006