Lecture 9 - Neuromyths

Question 1

what is a neuromyth

Answer 1

○ First by OECD (2007) in report ‘Understanding the brain: the birth of a learning science’
○ Commonly-held false belief about how the brain and mind function
○ Translation of sound scientific evidence into misinformation regarding information
○ No exhaustive list of neuromyths

Question 2

why are neuromyths critical?

Answer 2

ake science
○ Compromised/mistaken scientific findings on the brain
○ Foster stereotypes, lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
○ Educators, teachers, parents, etc, have great enthusiasm for brain sciences shedding light on learning

Question 3

Exemplary neuromyths: Left vs right brain thinkers

origin

Answer 3

○ Observation that cognitive skills impaired specifically after damage to left or right brain damage (e.g. language, Broca, 1867)
○ Lateralised brain activation for specific tasks (e.g. attention, language, etc, Herve et al., 2013 for a review)
○ Lateralisation differs across individuals

Question 4

Exemplary neuromyths: Left vs right brain thinkers

but:

Answer 4

○ Lateralisation not exclusive - even for language, phonological processing in left hemisphere primarily, context, intonation also right hemisphere
○ Individuals don’t show a general dominance of one or the other hemisphere (e.g. Nielsen et al., 2013)

Question 5

Exemplary neuromyths: Left vs right brain thinkers

myth or hit?

Answer 5

neuromyth

Question 6

Exemplary neuromyths: Fish oils improve learning

origin

Answer 6

○ Essential fatty acids (e.g. omega 3/6) make up around 20% of dry brain weight, but body cannot produce themselves
○ Essential for brain functioning
○ Supplementing fish oils boosts learning in typical but also/especially atypically developing children (e.g. with ADHD)

Question 7

Exemplary neuromyths: Fish oils improve learning

but:

Answer 7

○ Few studies on typically/atypically developing children
○ Evidence inconclusive, small and transient effects
○ If at all, seemingly more beneficial for children with ADHD

Question 8

Exemplary neuromyths: Fish oils improve learning

myth or hit?

Answer 8

• Neuromyth but may be useful for children born preterm, older people

Question 9

Exemplary neuromyths: Physical exercise enhances learning

origin

Answer 9

○ Research from 1970s and 80s showing that exercise helps prevent cognitive decline
○ Most evidence from animal studies (e.g. rodents)
○ BMI negatively associated with academic performance (Castelli et al., 2007, 3rd and 5th graders)
○ Degree of physical activity related to math and verbal skills, intelligence, etc (Sibley and Etnier, 2003)
○ Fitter children learn better!

Question 10

Exemplary neuromyths: Physical exercise enhances learning

but:

Answer 10

○ Caution is needed as regards specific exercise programs such as Brain Gym aiming at better integrating left and right hemisphere function
○ 88% of UK teachers think that bouts of coordination exercise helps integrating left and right hemisphere function

Question 11

Exemplary neuromyths: Physical exercise enhances learning

myth or hit

Answer 11

○ Effective and easy to implement
○ Improving cognitive functions through brain plasticity (Hillman et al., 2008)

Question 12

Exemplary neuromyths: Different children have different learning styles

origin

Answer 12

○ Combines two related ideas:
1. Students have different preferred ways of how learning material is presented
2. When material is presented in preferred way, learning is improved
○ Implies individual learning styles
○ Learning is enhanced when material is presented matching one’s learning style

Question 13

Exemplary neuromyths: Different children have different learning styles

but:

Answer 13

○ Studies report no significant association between students’ reported learning style and their performance (Coffield et al., 2004; Rohrer and Pashler, 2012)
○ 66% of 347 UK schools report teaching according to preferred learning style (Sabba et al., 2007)

Question 14

Exemplary neuromyths: Different children have different learning styles

myth or hit

Answer 14

myth

Question 15

Exemplary neuromyths: girls and boys have different brains and thus cognitive abilities

origin

Answer 15

○ Existing gender differences for some cognitive skills
§ Female advantage for word fluency (e.g. Weiss et al., 2006)
§ Male advantage for mental rotation (e.g. Voyer et al., 1995)
○ Empathy systemising quotient (Auyeung et al., 2009) for children
§ Girls show larger preference for person-oriented activities (empathising)
§ Boys for systems and machines (systemising)
These differences are claimed to be rooted in our brains

Question 16

Exemplary neuromyths: girls and boys have different brains and thus cognitive abilities

but:

Answer 16

○ Gender similarities hypothesis (Shibley-Hyde, 2005): men and women are more alike than they are different
○ National assessment of educational progress (US) found 4 point difference on a 300 point scale
○ Differences rather due to differences in preferences and strategies used (e.g. navigating by landmarks vs geometric information, Spelke, 2005)

Question 17

Exemplary neuromyths: girls and boys have different brains and thus cognitive abilities

myth or hit

Answer 17

○ The impact of society (maths as an example)
§ Women poorly presented in STEM jobs after university (e.g. 94% maths professors male in UK, London mathematical society)
§ Societal expectations and attitudes important when not aptitude
§ By age 8-9 years girls and parents rated their maths lower than boys - even though no achievement difference was observed (Herbert and Stipek, 2005)
§ Stereotype threat

Question 18

Exemplary neuromyths: the first 3 years are a critical phase for learning

origin

Answer 18

○ 0-3 year movement - first 3 years critical period for brain development –> deprivation results in persistent deficits
○ There are sensitive periods in all animals studied including humans (Knudsen, 2004 for a review)
○ Critical phases in which specific learning must take place

Question 19

Exemplary neuromyths: the first 3 years are a critical phase for learning

but?

Answer 19

○ Sensitive periods for very basic things like language sounds exist but extend up to 4 years or older (Werker and Hensch, 2015)
○ Extreme neglect necessary to cause persisting deficits
○ Brain development goes on till adolescence and beyond (Giedd et al., 1999)

Question 20

Exemplary neuromyths: the first 3 years are a critical phase for learning

myth or hit?

Answer 20

• Neuromyth
  ○ Important but no critical phase in the narrower sense

Question 21

Exemplary neuromyths: do we only use 10% of our brains?

origin

Answer 21

○ Willian James (1890) talking about reserve mental energy
○ Intuitive appeal as we like believe that we have huge untapped reserves to be activated
○ Popular movies (e.g. lucy, limitless)
○ We do not use our full mental capacity

Question 22

Exemplary neuromyths: do we only use 10% of our brains?

but:

Answer 22

○ fMRI studies show we use all of our brains (though not all neurons are active all the time/at the same time)
○ With only 2% of our body mass, the brain accounts for about 20% of energy consumption (up to 60% in infants)

Question 23

Exemplary neuromyths: do we only use 10% of our brains?

myth or hit

Answer 23

• Neuromyth
  ○ But great potential through brain plasticity

Question 24

Exemplary neuromyths: train your brain with digital games

origin

Answer 24

○ Brain training is a multi billion business (Adkins, 2015)
○ Evidence that playing action games improves visual attention (e.g. Green and Bavalier, 2008 for a review)
○ And even changes brain connectivity (e.g. super mario, Kuhn et al., 2014)
○ Educational games found to enhance, for instance, working memory (Holmes et al., 2009)
○ But also domain specific skills, for instance, magnitude understanding in children with dyscalculia (Kucian et al., 2011)
Digital games effectively promote learning in the brain

Question 25

Exemplary neuromyths: train your brain with digital games

but:

Answer 25

○ Sometimes limited transfer effects
○ More effective when training content meets game mechanic
○ Potential negative effects of violent video games

Question 26

Exemplary neuromyths: train your brain with digital games

myth or hit?

Answer 26

hit

Question 27

neuromyths and educational levels

Answer 27

• Training/education decreases but does no eliminate beliefs in neuromyths (MacDonald et al., 2017)

Question 28

how relevant are neuromyths in educational practice?

Answer 28

• Believing in neuromyths does not differentiate award winning from not-award winning teachers
  
  • Krammer et al., 2021 found that academic achievement of to be teachers at university does not differ significantly between those believing or not believing in neuromyths
  • How relevant are neuromyths to good teaching?
    ○ Neuromyths itself may not necessarily be detrimental
    ○ May more be that neuromyths lead to stereotyping of students into (not warranted) categories, that then affect their instruction