Professor Steven RoseThe Open University &

Gresham College London 

Neuroscience, Neuroeducation and Neuromyths

Themes1. What can neuroscience say about the

developing brain and mind?2. Some educational neuromyths3. Drugging and enhancing children4. Has neuroscience anything useful to say to

teachers and educationalists?

The developing brain and mind

Can you spot the difference?

Steven and the chimp are 98.8% genetically identical

But that doesn’t mean much

Steven is also about 35% genetically identical to a daffodil and has about the same number of genes (20000) as a fruitfly

Chimps and Children ComparedKanzi can construct

simple sentences to express wants….but can get no further

Mali and Saul can handle abstract concepts, discuss distant future plans…and will go on growing

The key lies in development

The key is neither genes nor environment as opposites (so called nature/nurture), but development, a process that engages both genes and environment in ontogeny

Ontogeny is an active process, in which organisms construct themselves within constraints.

This is autopoiesis

Human and Chimp Brains

Humans v ChimpsLong-livedSocialTheory of mindParenting/teachingNeotenousTool-usersSymbol-users

BothBothBothHuman alloparents- Hrdy Humans more soHumans more soOnly humans

The meaning of neotenyHumans born prematurely, like pigs, unlike ratsBrain weight at birth 25% adult (350g)At 6 months 50% of adultAt 1 year 60% At 2.5 years 75%At 6 years 90%At 10 years 95%At puberty 1250g girls, 1375 boysAverage adult weight 1300-1500g

Human Brain Development

Forest of Neurons

Entering the Brain

Some Numbers20,000 genes

100,000 proteins100,000,000,000 neurons100,000,000,000,000 synapses

50mm3 cortex contains:

5 million neuronsUp to 50 billion synapses22km dendrites220 km axons

And some systemsThe brain consists of a multitude of mini-organs,

massively interconnectedFor instance, there are about 30 different

‘modules’ in the visual cortex, each responsible for analysing one feature of the environment - colour, shape, motion, etc.

Problem - how are all these bound together?Is there a homunculus?

Central command? or self-organisation?

It used to be thought that all these regions ‘reported’ upwards to some command centre in the brain - a so-called homunculus

We now know there is no homunculus - the brain is a self-organising multiply reentrant system; brain and body in constant interaction

The brain is embodied, the person is embedded

Developing CompetencesForget ‘innateness,’ gene/environment

dichotomies, and think autopoiesis.In the first three years of life the baby has to

learn motor coordination, recognition of others especially care-givers, ‘theory of mind,’ speech, walking, memory…

These are the so-called sensitive periods NOT ‘CRITICAL’!

Baby becomes Infant

The day-old baby has to be a competent suckler and to become a chewing infant - harder than you might imagine!

SpecificityEye and brain

grow at different rates postnatally, so connections are continually being broken and remade, but orderly vision remains

Dynamics and Plasticity

The brain is highly dynamic both millisecond by millisecond and over a lifetime in response to experience. This is brain plasticity - the key to our survival as individuals and as a species

Plasticity

Our perception is shaped by experience, for instance, rural versus urban

Memory - eidetic versus linear

M Carreiras et al. Nature 461, 983-986 (2009) doi:10.1038/nature08461

The effect of literacy on brain structure.

Learning makes new connections in the brain

Some NeuromythsYou only use 10% of your brainOnce damaged, brain recovery is impossible‘Brain gyms’ and IQ supplementsLeft brain is cognitive, right brain emotionalMen are left brained, women right brainedMen’s brains are heavier than women’s

Magnetoencephalography

SQUIDS detect the minute magnetic fields around the brain - a billionth of the earth’s field

Supermarket Choices

Shopping Lights up the Brainactive regions over the first second when making a supermarket choice

Remembering and Choosing

Another Myth – Brain Gyms

Drugging Children?

The strange case of ADHDchildren with AD/HD .. disturb their parents and teachers

because their classroom achievement is erratic… a source of exasperation to the ...teacher. .. ..This is the pupil who never seems to be in his or her seat, who is constantly bothering classmates, and can be relied upon for little other than being generally off task. All categories can be frustrating to teach because of their apparent unpredictability; their failure to conform to expectations, and their tendency not to learn from their mistakes (Paul Cooper, educationalist)

The strange case of ADHD and ritalin

Increase in US ADHD diagnoses

1988: 500,000

2011: 5,400,000(9.5% of all US children)

Increase in UK ritalin prescriptions

1991 2000

1997 92,0002011 660,000

Enhancing Children?

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

So what are the ethical issues?Trading Ritalin in the playground?

Putting current across your child’s head?

Buying extra coaching or private education?

Some brain truths (or what we currently believe!)

Children’s brains are not miniature adultsBoys’ and girls’ brains mature at slightly different

ratesCulture and technology change brainsWe get slower as we get older, our brains shrink a

bit and neurons die offBut we go on learning and changing our brains

throughout our livesUse it or lose it!

Has neuroscience anything useful to say to teachers and educationalists?

To be frank, not much you didn’t know already

But on the other hand teachers and educationalists have a lot to teach neuroscientists!