1. Learning & The Brain Notes from 2/10 Conference
Lynn Fishman Hellerstein, O.D.,
FCOVD, FAAO

2. Neuroplasticity Research
Our brain is a dynamic system that has the capability of significant growth.
Rudraprosad Chakraborty, M.D.
J Indian Med Assoc 2007;105(9)
Neuroplasticity research
Lets you rewire and remodel your rain
Judy Willis

3. Neuroplasticity Research
Neuroplasticity research has established, beyond doubt, that instead of being a static cell mass, our brain is actually a dynamic system of neural networks that has the capability of significant growth under favorable circumstances.
Rudraprosad Chakraborty, M.D.
J Indian Med Assoc 2007;105(9)

4. Neuroplasticity Research
Research shows that adults do, in fact, exhibit neuroplasticity. You can use this innate ability to treat a variety of visual system disorders.
Dominick M. Maino, O.D., M.Ed.
Review Optometry (1/09)

5. Neuroplasticity & Visual System Disorders
Neuroplasticity as a Proposed Mechanism for the Efficacy of Optometric Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation
Huang JC. J Behav Optom 2009;20:96-100
…70% all sensory input fibers to brain is related to vision and visual processing, optometrists can play a major role in the rehabilitation of visually-related deficits

6. Research - Stress Relaxation response physical and emotional responses
to stress can be changed
State of deep rest that decreases metabolism, slows the heart beat, relaxes the muscles, slows breathing, reduced BP, increases nitric oxide

7. Research Stress If practiced-lasting effects
Herbert Benson’s Harvard “Relaxation Response”

8. Research Emotions, Mind & Body - Candace Pert PhD
Emotions are both energy and matter and are the communication bridge between the mind and body.
Suggests the body is the subconscious
Emotions and thoughts effect our body, but are not permanently hard- wired

9. The 2nd Brain Dr. Michael Gerson
Chair Anatomy & Physiology Columbia Medical Center
100M Neurons in the gut
Esophagus-Anus
Gut does much more than digests
Impacts emotions & moods

10. Research - Visualization
Same parts of the brain light up on MRI when person looks at an actual object,
or if they imagine the same object
in their mind
Basketball Study
Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind by
Dr. Joe Dispenza 2007
“What the Bleep”

11. Research - Visualization
We can release our emotions and thoughts and rewire our neuro-networks
This is how visualization can affect physical/brain changes

12. Is Vision Therapy Just for Kids?
Lots of people have vision problems.
Neuro-scientist-professor at Mt. Holyoke-teaches vision
Shows theories of vision incorrect-supported by Dr. Oliver Sacks
Dr. Susan Barry

13. 12 Brain Rules – John Medina Ph.D.
The brain is an amazing thing. Most of us have no idea what’s really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know.
Dr. John Medina- Developmental Molecular Biologist
Improve thinking skills- move
2. Don’t have 1 brain in our head- 3. Started with “lizard rain” to keep us breathing, then added a brain like a cat’s, then topped those thie the thin layer of Jell-O known and the cortex-the 3rd and powerful “human brain”
No 2 people’s brains store the same information in the same way in the same place- great number of ways of being intelliegnet many of which don’t show up on IQ tests
Brain’s attentional “spotlight” can focus on ly one things at a time: no multitasking. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. The brain has many types of memory systems. The more elaborately we encode a memory during its initial moments, the stronger it will be.
Most memories disappear within minutes, but those that survive the fragile period strengthen with time. The way to make long-term memory more reliable i
Exercisers outperform couch potatos in long-term memory, reasoning, attention, and problem solving tasks (etting rid of PE at school)s to incorporate new information gradually and repeat it in timed intervals.
Powerpoint- seconds to grab someone’s attention and only 10 miins. To keep it.
Brain needs a break (stories)
Fatigue at 3PM?- brain wants to atake nap.
Sleep well
Why terrible twos are a child’s powerful urge to explore.

14. 12 Brain Rules Exercise boosts brain power Human brain evolved too
Every brain is wired differently
We don’t pay attention to boring things
Repeat to remember
Remember to repeat
Improve thinking skills- move
2. Don’t have 1 brain in our head- 3. Started with “lizard rain” to keep us breathing, then added a brain like a cat’s, then topped those thie the thin layer of Jell-O known and the cortex-the 3rd and powerful “human brain”
No 2 people’s brains store the same information in the same way in the same place- great number of ways of being intelliegnet many of which don’t show up on IQ tests
Brain’s attentional “spotlight” can focus on ly one things at a time: no multitasking. Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. The brain has many types of memory systems. The more elaborately we encode a memory during its initial moments, the stronger it will be.
Most memories disappear within minutes, but those that survive the fragile period strengthen with time. The way to make long-term memory more reliable i
Exercisers outperform couch potatos in long-term memory, reasoning, attention, and problem solving tasks (etting rid of PE at school)s to incorporate new information gradually and repeat it in timed intervals.
Powerpoint- seconds to grab someone’s attention and only 10 miins. To keep it.
Brain needs a break (stories)
Fatigue at 3PM?- brain wants to atake nap.
Sleep well
Why terrible twos are a child’s powerful urge to explore.

15. 12 Brain Rules Sleep well, think well
Stressed brains don’t learn the same way
Stimulate more of the senses
VISION trumps all other senses
WE SEE WITH OUR BRAINS
Male and female brains are different
We are powerful natural explorers
The brain is in a constant state of tension between cells and chemicals that try to put you to sleep and cells & chemicals that try to keep you awake. People vary in how much sleep they need and when they prefer to get it- biological drive for an afternoon nap is universal. Too much sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and motor dexterity.
Your body’s defense system- release of adrenaline and cortisol-is build for an immediate response to a serious but passing danger (saber-tootherd tiger). Chronic stress, sucha as hostility at home, dangerously deregulates a system built only to deal with short-term responses. The worst kind of stress is the feeling that you have no control over the problem-you are helpless. Emotional stress has huge impacts across society on children’s ability to learn in school and on employees’ productivity at work.
We absorb info about an event through our senses, translate it into electrical signals (some for sight, others from sound, etc), disperse those signals to separate part of the brain, then reconstruct what happened, eventually perceiving the event as a whole. Our senses evolved to work togethrer – vision including hearing, for example0which means that we learn best if we stimulate several senses at once.
VISION IS our dominant sense, taking up half of our brain’s resources. What we see is only what our brain tells us we see-its not 100% accurate. We learn and remember best through pictures, not through written or spoken words
Men’s & women’s brains are different structurally and biochemically. They respond differently to acute stress: Women activate the left hemisphere’s amygdala and remember the emotional details. Men use the right amygdala and get the gist.
Babies are the model of how we learn-not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation, hypothesism experiement, and conslution.

16. Brain Research
Create an education environment opposed to what the brain is good at
Classroom
Create a business environment opposed to what the brain is good at doing
Cubicle
Want to change things?
Start over!

17. Intelligence Is Biology Richard Haier, PhD
Brain structure and metabolic efficiency may underlie individual differences in intelligence
Imaging research is pinpointing which regions are key players

18. Intelligence Is Biology Richard Haier, PhD
Smart brains work in different way Women and men with same IQ show different underlying brain architectures
Individual’s pattern of gray and white matter might underlie his specific cognitive strengths & weaknesses

19. Intelligence Is Biology Richard Haier, PhD
What about new drugs & tools for cognitive enhancement?
Scans instead of SAT?

20. Heredity, Environment, & Race Differences in IQ
U. Michigan professor- writes about intelligence and cultural psychology

21. Heredity, Environment, & Race Differences in IQ
Black – white IQ gap is NOT hereditary
Adoption and intervention programs produce substantial lasting effects on black IQ
At-risk kids- need intervention

22. Mindset – Robert Brooks

23. Mindset – Robert Brooks
Assumptions & Expectations we have about self and others guide our behavior
Strategies are worthless unless you believe in them & yourself

24. Mindset – Robert Brooks
With kids with learning problems, need to change their mindsets
Motivating environment:
People being cooperative
Willing to learn from each other
Willing to take risks because they feel safe & secure
All parties feel a sense of ownership

25. Cultivating Emotional Intelligence

26. Charlotte Reznick, Ph.D

27. Cultivating Emotional Intelligence
Emotions guide cognitive learning
Helps kids to build a set of academic “intuitions” about how, when, and why to use their new knowledge

28. Cultivating Emotional Intelligence
11% increase in standardized testing with Social Emotional Learning
Bathing suit study
Relaxation

29. How Your Child Learns Best

30. How Your Child Learns Best
What is the biggest fear of students?
Not being liked by the teacher
Bad grades
Making a mistake in front of the class

31. How Your Child Learns Best
What is the biggest fear of students?
Making a mistake in front of the class

32. How Your Child Learns Best
Everything we learn comes to the brain through our senses
Brain can’t process billions of bits of info every sec.
Equipped with filters to protect from overload & focus on the data most critical for survival.

33. How Your Child Learns Best
Helping your child turn information into KNOWLEDGE
RAD Learning =
RAS + Amygdala + Dopamine

35. How Your Child Learns Best
RAS – Reticular activating system
Located at brain stem (lower back of brain)
Receives input from nerves from arms, legs, trunk, neck, face, internal organs
Sets the state of arousal alerts brain to change & gets it primed

36. How Your Child Learns Best
Selects for intake the sensory input (info) it “values” for survival or pleasure
RAS responsive to novelty, surprise, color, curious events
Lectures, drills & worksheets are NOT novel or engaging- don’t power info thru RAS brain filter

37. How Your Child Learns Best
Amygdala – next filter
Sensory data passes through brain’s emotional core, limbic system (amygdala & hippocampus)
Emotional significance is linked to info
Kennedy

38. How Your Child Learns Best
When stress is high, amygdala diverts info to the reflex automatic system, non-thinking reactions (flight/fight)
When amygdala is in a safe state and emotions are positive, info is passed on to the memory-making and thinking networks in the brain

39. How Your Child Learns Best
Stress, boredom, frustration or confusion block the flow of info through amygdala to the thinking brain
When learning is associated with pleasure, the amygdala “stamps” that info with increased memory impact

40. How Your Child Learns Best
Dopamine – Neurotransmitter
Carry info across synapses
Released when experience is pleasurable

41. How Your Child Learns Best
Dopamine – Neurotransmitter
Elicited through humor, friends, achievement
Increases focus, attention and executive function in the frontal lobes

42. How Your Child Learns Best
You need brain-friendly strategies to empower your child to respond to the most useful sensory input from the environment and turn that data into retained knowledge

43. Dr. Judith Willis “I guide students in activities that help
them focus and achieve positive moods
to prime themselves for learning.
We practice techniques
to increase mindfulness.”

44. Dr. Judith Willis “For example, students learn to do visualizations,
deliberately recalling
in detail a place where they felt
happy, calm, and safe.”

45. Dr. Judith Willis The more learners practice visualizing
their particular calming place, the stronger
the neural network holding that memory
becomes;

46. Eventually, the students can easily
Dr. Judith Willis
Eventually, the students can easily
return to that memory
whenever they feel
stressed.

47. Dr. Judith Willis Returning to that safe place enables learners to
let new information
that someone is presenting
flow into their thinking brain
rather than being filtered out.

48. Neuroplasticity
When the action is repeated, the more dendrites sprout to connect new memories to old ones, stronger the connections become, the more efficient the brain becomes at retrieving that memory or action

49. How Your Child Learns Best
This teaches students how they can change their intelligence by teaching them about their brains
I study because
I CAN CHANGE MY BRAIN

50. How Your Child Learns Best

51. PERMANENCE Practice Makes
Physical change of building, revising or extending neuronal networks in response to stimuli and mental manipulation

52. Neurons that fire together,
Neuroplasticity
Neurons that fire together,
Wire together

53. Learning Promotes
Learning!