Neuroscience - the iBrain

This month's Scientific American Mind issue contains an (Oct./Nov. 2008) article by Gary Small (dir. UCLA Memory & Aging Research Center) and Gigi Vorgan (also Small's wife) "Your iBrain: How Technology Alters Your Mind" offers some interesting research about how your brain processes conventional reading differently than internet surfing (information gathering). Essentially, the experienced ("computer-savvy") Google searchers showed activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left front part of brain) while the "computer naive" subjects did not. When the "computer-naive subjects" were exposed to five one hour Google sessions over five days (remember, these subjects are in an MRI tube!), these subjects quickly developed the same neural activity in that left frontal area that the computer-savvy users had at the baseline. According to researchers, this suggests that "the neural circuit training occurs relatively early and then remains stable." (p. 46) The authors also say the the dorsolateral PFC "is involved in our ability to make decisions and integrate complex information" and is "thought to control our mental process of inegrating sensations and thoughts, as well as working memory, which is our ability to keep information in mind for a very short time - just long enough to manage an internet-searching task . . ." (p. 42) Obvioulsy, I will need to read Small's full book iBrain to learn more about this interesting research. I can see educational applications of this research in that, as Fran and I work to create an information literacy (research) model for our "21st century" students, we will want to consider that this internet surfing is a different process than reading hard copy text. I don't know what this means, exactly, but I think this may be significant in building our approach to teaching students pre-research reading strategies - strategies that build a schema for selecting and de-selecting information.

I am also reading Marc Iacoboni's Mirroring People about mirror neurons that guide our social relationships. One of the key researchers whom Iacoboni references is Giacomo Rizzolatti, a member of the Italian reserach team that shook up the world of neuroscience with its "discovery" of mirror neurons, completely upturning views of how neurons can operate. Rizzolatti has published his own book, Mirrors in the Brain, which I will have to read as well. I think this research could have important implications for teaching and learning - especially as we integrate more social networking and live group work into our instruction. As I read more about mirror neurons, I will post any hypotheses and strategies I develop based on those hypotheses. I would be interested to know if any education researchers are working in this area of neuroscience as it applies to learning and teaching.