Is Homework Good for You?

Even if you enjoy the challenge of learning new things, have you ever thought about what might be going on in your brain when you read, work on math problems, or study other subjects?

Orange dots represent multiple synapses on a single neuron

Recent studies in neuroscience provide some insight into what might be going on in your brain as you

learn new information

Learning is how we acquire new information.

Memory is the process that results in storage of learned information. Learning and memory are fundamentally related:

.

After R. Lynch, 2004. <http://www.colorado.edu/epob/epob3730rlynch/image/figure17-4.jpg>

new information

short term memory

Practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

new information

short term memory

long term memory

Practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

new information

short-term memory

long-term memory

practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

short-term memory: lasts for less than 30 seconds, ex. dialing a phone number you just looked up in the phone book.

new information

short-term memory

long-term memory

practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

Read the following sequence silently, pausing at each dash:

MT-VVC-RC-IAU-SAB-MW

Look away from the computer and write down any letters

from this sequence that you can remember.

Now, read the following sequence silently, again pausing at each dash:

MTV-VCR-CIA-USA-BMW

Look away from the computer and write down any letters

from this sequence that you can remember.

Take another look at the two sequences:

MT-VVC-RC-IAU-SAB-MW

MTV-VCR-CIA-USA-BMW

Notice anything?

The letters are the same in each sequence.

Yet, you most likely found it a lot easier

to remember the second sequence. Why?

Most people can hold about 7 meaningful pieces of information in their short-term memory. Meaningful pieces of information could be numbers, words, faces, objects, or any other “chunks” of information.

While short-term memory is important, it is long-term memory that really matters when it comes to learning.

How does short-term memory become long-term memory?

Practice (also called rehearsal) of information is required to convert short-term memory into long-term memory.

Without practice, short-term memory is forgotten.

new information

short-term memory

long-term memory

practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

Practice? That sounds an awful lot like studying.

What kind of practice? How much practice is necessary to develop long-term memory? It depends on what you want to learn...

Input

Something changes!

Source: V. Murthy. 2005. Harvard University

Ex. London taxi drivers:

-Have to “memorize” the roads- based on earlier studies, including the results you have already analyzed, researchers expected that they would see changes in the size of the hippocampus.

frontal lobe

thalamus

hypothalamus

hippocampustemporal lobe

cerebellum

occipital lobe

corpus collosum

parietal lobe

cerebral cortex

Source: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/125-133.htm

ResultsExamine the graph below. VBM is a measure of density in the brain. Higher values of VBM mean the brain contains more nerve tissue in a particular region.

What changes appear to be related to the amount of time each man has been a licensed taxi driver?

Sources: Maguire et al., 2000, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/8/4398; http://www.londontaxitour.com/

What can we learn from London taxi drivers?

Besides helping us find our way around London, these taxi drivers teach us some important things about the human brain.

The researchers concluded that the connections between neurons in the hippocampus had been rearranged so that drivers could store a “mental map” of London in the posterior hippocampus.

thalamus

hypothalamus

temporal lobe

cerebellum

occipital lobe

corpus collosum

parietal lobecerebral cortex

frontal lobe

hippocampus

Results of taxi driver studies show that the adult brain can change due to mental activity

The results you have analyzed suggest that the brain grows in response to experience. In this case, taxi drivers showed structural changes in the part of their brain where they stored their “mental map” of London. Other regions of the brain remained unchanged.Other studies show that different regions of the brain are active during different activities.

How might these activities affect growth in the brain?

brai

n gr

owth

time and experience

Input?

How does the brain respond?

new information

short term memory

long term memory

Practice

usually lost rapid retrieval

forgetting remembering

slower retrieval

Is homework good for you? When you do homework, you are giving your brain a workout. This workout gives your brain the opportunity to practice, or convert short-term memory into long-term memory. Does this practice change your brain?

What do you think?

The Nervous SystemThe Nervous System

CNS: CNS: central nervous systemcentral nervous system brain: made of lobesbrain: made of lobes spinal cordspinal cord

PNS: PNS: peripheral nervous systemperipheral nervous system sensory pathwayssensory pathways motor pathwaysmotor pathways

CNSCNS

processingprocessing centre: receives messages centre: receives messages from nervesfrom nerves

processes information and responds by processes information and responds by sending data to muscles and glands via sending data to muscles and glands via PNSPNS

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Mammal BrainsMammal Brains

Divisions of the Brain Master Watermark Image: http://williamcalvin.com/BrainForAllSeasons/img/bonoboLH-humanLH-viaTWD.gif

CerebrumCerebrum

Makes up the left and right hemispheres of Makes up the left and right hemispheres of a vertebrate forebrain.a vertebrate forebrain.

Responsible for integrating memory, Responsible for integrating memory, learning, emotions and other complex learning, emotions and other complex functions of the brain.functions of the brain.

largest division of the brainlargest division of the brain

Cerebrum

Cerebrum

Cerebrum

Cerebellum

http://williamcalvin.com/BrainForAllSeasons/img/bonoboLH-humanLH-viaTWD.gif

Cerebral Cortex

Cerebral Cortex

Cerebral Cortex - The outermost layer of gray matter making up the superficial aspect of the cerebrum.

http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-6.tif.jpg

Lobes of the Brain (4)Lobes of the Brain (4)

FrontalFrontal ParietalParietal OccipitalOccipital TemporalTemporal

* Note: Occasionally, the Insula is considered the fifth lobe. It is located deep to the Temporal Lobe.

http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-8.tif.jpg

Lobes of the Brain - FrontalLobes of the Brain - Frontal The Frontal Lobe of the brain is located deep to the The Frontal Lobe of the brain is located deep to the

Frontal Bone of the skull.Frontal Bone of the skull.

(Investigation: Phineas Gage)

• It plays an integral role in the following functions/actions:

- Memory Formation

- Emotions

- Decision Making/Reasoning

- Personality

Investigation (Phineas Gage)

Modified from: http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-8.tif.jpg

Lobes of the Brain - Parietal LobeLobes of the Brain - Parietal Lobe

The Parietal Lobe of the brain is located deep to The Parietal Lobe of the brain is located deep to the Parietal Bone of the skull.the Parietal Bone of the skull.

• It plays a major role in the following functions/actions:

- Senses and integrates sensation(s)

- Spatial awareness and perception(Proprioception - Awareness of body/ body parts in space and in relation to each other)

Modified from: http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-8.tif.jpg

Lobes of the Brain – Occipital LobeLobes of the Brain – Occipital Lobe

The Occipital Lobe of the The Occipital Lobe of the Brain is located deep to the Brain is located deep to the Occipital Bone of the Skull.Occipital Bone of the Skull.

• Its primary function is the processing, integration, interpretation, etc. of VISION and visual stimuli.

Modified from: http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-8.tif.jpg

Lobes of the Brain – Temporal Lobes of the Brain – Temporal LobeLobe The Temporal Lobes are located on the sides of the The Temporal Lobes are located on the sides of the

brain, deep to the Temporal Bones of the skull.brain, deep to the Temporal Bones of the skull.

• They play an integral role in the following functions:

- Hearing- Organization/Comprehension of language

- Information Retrieval (Memory and Memory Formation)

Modified from: http://www.bioon.com/book/biology/whole/image/1/1-8.tif.jpg

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Hindbrain

• autonomic system –regulating breathing and vomiting, etc.

• activates the brain maintaining arousal or reduces arousal for sleep

• mood control and alerting response

• Cerebellum – coordination of voluntary movements, eye saccades, and simple learning

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Limbic System: Your Lizard Brain

• Hypothalamus– Controls eating, drinking,

sexual, etc. behaviors

• Hippocampus– Formation of new memories

• Septum– Emotion and emotional

memories

• Amygdala– Aggression, fear, social

interactions, raw emotions– Sexual orientation?– Anxiety?

CNS in (unconscious) action: reflex arc Simple connection of neurons that results in a

reflex action in response to a stimulus Very rapid Depend on only 3 neurons Not under voluntary control, happens before your

brain “processed” what happened Usually response to hot/sharp objects