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Advances in neuroscience mean that our knowledge of the brain, how it develops and works, is rapidly improving. But what is our current level of understanding of the brain, what developments in related technology are taking place and what are the potentialimplications for education and learning?

Some experts now believe that neuroscience can help the way we learn. This is particularly true of cognitive neuroscience – the field concerned with awareness and thought - which looks into areas such as language, emotion, memory, cognitive control and attention.

However, these same experts join forces with a myriad of other voices from science and education to warn that we still have a long way to go before we can really understand the link. “Whenever we find out something about the brain, it’s not very interesting educationally unless we understand its significance in terms of the mind. The psychology of learning has to be combined with what we discover about the brain in order to make it meaningful,” says Dr Paul Howard-Jones, Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol. In other words, knowing that a particular part of the brain is active only really helps if it sheds light on the cognitive model that you use to understand learning. “And the cognitive model of course is often very helpful in terms of developing improved education.”

Nonetheless many people do claim to have designed brain-based educational programs. Probably the most widely known is the popular commercial training program Brain Gym, created by Paul and Gail Dennison. Its premise is that all learning begins with physical movement and that specific physical exercise can positively influence neural mechanisms, thus making it possible to overcome learning challenges. However, few such educational programmes can support those claims with hard evidence.

“The science of Brain Gym is very flawed and it would be very difficult to find a reputable scientist who would support the explanations that are given as to why it would work. The other problem with the Brain Gym is that we don’t have reliable educational evidence of it working,” says Dr Howard-Jones. “Yet I think the idea of regular exercise breaks to wake children up and make them more alert is very sensible. A lot of schools are using it, not least as a way of introducing more exercise into the curriculum.” However, he thinks that more research is needed on the usefulness of exercise breaks to improve learning.

And research is currently continuing at a pace. For example, as cognitive neuroscience advances, we are gaining a better understanding of whether children are likely to suffer from dyslexia. The detection of such indicators can then lead to appropriate support being offered at an early stage. Moreover, neuroscience has shown that the brain continues to change throughout our life and not just in our formative years. Teenagers, for example, show a ‘pubertal dip’, thus they may lose the ability to match pictures of facial expressions to descriptors – a task which they could do better when younger. The recognition of this effect could be taken into account when designing educational experiences for young people of this age.

Technology is constantly improving our understanding of the brain. While functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) now gives us an insight into the different parts of the brain, Electroencephalography (EEG) helps scientists to identify when and what type of neural activity is happening. EEG works by recording the electric voltage of millions of brain cells as they pass messages within the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp. These are then converted to a digital display showing the electrical activity within the brain. The frequency of this activity, or ‘brainwaves’, is measured in Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second, and shows the conscious state of the person monitored. The most commonly known brainwaves are the slow delta, theta and alpha waves, and the faster beta and gamma waves. While delta (up to 4 Hz) is mostly present when in deep sleep, theta (4-8 Hz) is present in early sleep stages and associated with drowsiness. Alpha (8-12 Hz) is associated with being awake and relaxed, while beta (12-30 Hz) is present when a person is awake and actively processing information. Gamma (26-70 Hz) is associated with perception.

Neurofeedback uses EEG to provide a real-time visualisation of our brainwave activity, with the aim of influencing that activity. It can be used to identify instances when the desired brain activity is used and then provide positive (‘reward’) feedback. Rewards and reinforcement depend on the protocol of the system used – they can, for example, take the form of a simple change in the pitch of a note or determine the actions of a character in a PC game. Gaming and learning are two areas where neurofeedback has become increasingly popular. In neurofeedback-based games, developers are attempting to make a game where the computer challenges the player to control their brainwave activity or relax in order to perform set tasks. In some games, the brain could effectively become a joystick.

One such game is Mindball, in which two players sit at opposite sides of a table with a ball on it. Each player wears a headband that monitors their brainwaves, and the aim is to become relaxed and focused, thus generating more alpha and theta waves than your opponent. Doing this will move the ball towards your opponent’s goal.

Another example that uses the neurofeedback principle is EmotivEPOC, a computer fantasy game in development by the American company Emotiv Systems. Wearing a headset with 14 electrodes attached to it, players can control and manipulate objects and change environments according to their emotional state. Furthermore, the creatures in the game react to players’ facial expressions in real time. Another is the NASA-inspired educational system Play Attention, available in the UK from Games for Life, which is aimed at children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The idea is to help participants to increase their focus and concentration by using specifically-designed activity sessions.

In the UK, Devon-based Alpha-Active specialises in neurofeedback technology for therapeutic applications and training in sports performance. The company is developing a game system called i-Mind™ which will use its HeadCoach™ EEG brainwave measuring platform. The idea is that this can be used to play games based on sports, puzzles, life scenarios and fantasy. These games will target people of all ages and it is hoped that they will increase focus and improve learning by allowing players to practice generating the necessary alpha waves associated with this state.

While Alpha-Active's HeadCoach™ is already on the market, the games and the software interface between the game and the machine still need to be developed fully. Nonetheless, Dr Keith Barfoot, Managing Director of Alpha-Active, claims that it is based on a robust product platform. “You can wear it when you are moving around playing sports. With what we have seen of other EEG games, the players seem to be sitting in chairs. With ours, you can actually be ducking and diving and it still works.”

While these sorts of games have yet to be proved to have any real effect on learning, studies have shown that neurofeedback can enhance musical performance. The Royal College of Music (RCM) in London ran a project from 1999 until 2002, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, called ‘Zoning In: Motivating the Musical Mind’. Its aim was to improve performance and manage high stress levels during performances. Over 150 students were introduced to different types of training including neurofeedback. The experiments were carried out under Professor John Gruzelier, who works at the Department of Psychology at the University of London’s Goldsmiths College. His research group devised several types of training. One was based on the slower brainwaves, alpha and theta, where students had to wear electrodes on their scalp and headphones, through which they would hear sounds they were supposed to ‘target’. The second type of training involved faster beta brainwaves. Students would see objects like a Pac-Man on a screen and, when they produced the required beta brainwave activity, they could move these objects. The training went on for several weeks and the results were impressive, especially with those students receiving slow wave training.

“We saw that those students receiving this type of training were generally improving by about two degree classes in those performances, compared to before their training and with students that did not take part. There were generic improvements to their performance quality as a whole,” explains Dr Aaron Williamon, Head of the Centre for Performance Science (CPS) at the RCM. “But we also saw some significant improvement in areas we tend to associate with better states of creativity, so we saw students’ ratings on things such as interpretative imagination and musical understanding improve.”

Gruzelier has since carried out more studies with musicians, dancers, artists and children with ADHD. All these studies showed a significant improvement, but Williamon is cautious about the implications for education. “Within education, there is a desire for solutions from neuroscience, but we have to be very careful. To date, there is very little that we can draw directly from neuroscience to have a direct impact on music education. What we are doing here at the Royal College of Music in the Centre for Performing Science is exploring a number of implications from many different sciences and looking into how they might impact on the practical music-making that we do here every day.”

So, even with so much development and research taking place, it is still hard to say if or when brain-computer interaction will become widely available and part of everyday learning. Studies like ‘Zoning In’ show promising signs of its effectiveness, and the idea of using the brain as a joystick is a very attractive idea for computer game developers, as it provides them with new possibilities for sophisticated PC games. However, it’s not possible to conclude if any of these developments will have any effect on education and learning. In the meantime, educators will have to be content with the prospect of a device that enables students - especially those with learning and behavioural difficulties - to get into a more relaxed and focused state, even if all it can prove to achieve is a more relaxed and less stressful teaching environment.

Links

Emotiv Systems – www.emotiv.com
Mindball - www.vivifeye.com/mindball/index.html
Games for Life - www.gamesforlife.co.uk
Alpha-Active Ltd - www.staplethorne.co.uk/eeg.htm

Further reading

Paul Howard-Jones (2007). Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities. Teaching and Learning Research Programme Economic and Social Research Council

Aaron Williamon (ed) (2004). Musical Excellence: Strategies and Techniques to Enhance Performance. Oxford University Press

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Uta Frith (2005). The Learning Brain. Lessons for education. Blackwell Publishing

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