I was lucky enough to attend two of Dr. Rosen’s sessions at the Learning and the Brain Conference this weekend. In addition to presenting his own research, he also summarized other recent studies. Here are the questions, answers, and other tidbits I found interesting:
- Why are “screens” so appealing to humans? And when it comes to reading, what is the neurological reason our kids prefer to search Google than read a book? Dr. Gary Small of UCLA conducted fascinating research studying students’ fMRIs when they were asked to do two separate things: read a hard copy book and search the internet using Google. He found that kids’ brains almost fully lit up (almost all areas were stimulated) when they used Google, but that only a very small portion was activated when reading a book. The internet produces a hyperactivity of the brain; it makes people more engaged and stimulated.
- The more friends you have on Facebook, the more gray matter (associated with memory) in your brain. Also, those with a large amount of friends were more likely to have a larger amygdala (part of the brain associated with emotion). Here’s a good visual of brain maturation. Although association doesn’t mean causation, most here at the conference believe there is a causative affect.
- Children who play violent video games have less activity in their brains that regulate emotion and aggression. The effects can last for a week after last playing a game.
- Furthermore, people who are addicted to video games have disrupted brain connections in the areas of emotion, decision-making, and attention.
When it comes to attention, a recent study by Rosen looking at the habits of 279 middle, high school, and college students found the following when the students were observed studying for 15 minutes:
- All groups could only attend to the task for 3-5 minutes before losing focus. They were able to refocus at about 6 minutes, but then were highly distracted between 8-10 minutes. They became highly focused at approximately 14 minutes, probably because they realized they had just a short time left before the time was up.
- The most interesting finding was that the number of windows the student had open, the more off task they were.
- Off-task behavior was highly correlated with lower grade point average (GPA). On-task behavior was correlated with higher GPAs.
In a nutshell, Rosen found that the following factors in the study predicted good school performance:
- How much time the student spent on task.
- If the student had strategies for studying (more on this in my next post).
And the following factors predicted poor school performance:
- Switched from task to task often (multi-tasking).
- High amount of daily media consumption.
- And most amazingly, whether the student checked Facebook just ONCE during the 15 minutes. This is the factor that was most correlated with lower GPA.
The question isn’t whether technology is good or bad, it’s about how kids can use it wisely. Part of that includes something called “meta-cognition” which is a fancy way of saying “thinking about thinking”. In order for students to regulate their own online habits they must know how they learn and pay attention best. More on the latest on meta-cognition in my next post.
Questions or comments? Please post them below!
Ann Dolin, M.Ed. — President — EC Tutoring