1. Brain Imaging Studies of Intelligence and Creativity: What is the Picture for Education? By: Richard J. Haier and Rex, E. Jung Brain Imaging Studies of Intelligence and Creativity: What is the Picture for Education? By: Richard J. Haier and Rex, E. Jung

56.  Differences in the brain between males and females imply that not all brains think the same way

57.  Could be revolutionary for education because it demands a neuroscience approach that recognizes the importance of individual differences and the necessity to evaluate each student as an individual (Haier, 2007)

58. Another PET finding by Haier, White and Alkire, 2003 Scores on the RAPM were correlated to brain activity in the posterior visual processing areas even during a passive non- reasoning task

59. Suggests that smarter people process incoming stimulation differently even before reasoning about the information occurs

60. IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION  Educational strategies can be developed and targeted to individual students based on an empirical assessment of how their brain processes stimuli

61.  PET studies are difficult to interpret  Sample sizes are quite small because of the high cost per scan and each task used during the uptake of the radioactive sugar will have its own pattern of activity

62.  PET studies and fMRI findings reveal consistencies across studies of intelligence  fMRI ( Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – a noninvasive, relatively new method that measures

63. physiological signs of neural activation using a strong magnet to pinpoint blood flow. Functional because the participants perform tasks while in (or under) the magnet, allowing measurement of the functioning brain rather than the activity of the brain at rest.

64. VOXEL-BASED MORPHOMETRY A technique which allows us to look for gray and white matter distributions throughout the brain and correlate them to intelligence test scores voxel by voxel

65. Voxel – smallest unit of a brain image Gray matter – what we see when we look at a brain and is mostly composed of nerve cells and its primary function is processing information.

66. White matter – found within the deeper parts of the brain and is composed of connective fibers covered in myelin, the coating designed to facilitate communication between nerves and is primarily responsible for information transfer around the brain.

67. FINDINGS 1.More gray and white matter in several areas is associated with higher intelligence scores (Haier, Jung, Yeo, Head and Alkire, 2004)

68. young and older adults (Haier, et. al., 2004) men and women ( Haier, et. Al., 2005)

69. 2. The more g-loaded the test, the more brain areas have correlations between gray matter and test scores ( Colom, Jung, and Haier, 2006a, 2006b)

70. g-factor - a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks and is regarded as an estimate of a person’s IQ score (Spearman, 1904)

71. INTERPRETATION Having more gray matter in key areas results in having more resources to work a problem and this results in those areas working less hard or more efficiently

72. IMAGING STUDIES AVAILABLE WITH INTERESTING RESULTS ABOUT FACTORS WHY SOME BRAINS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS FOR: Memory – Rypma, Berger and D’ Esposito, 2002; Rypma and D’Esposito, 1999) Learning – Breitenstein et al., 2005; Chein and Schneider, 2005; Kelly, Hester, Foxe, Shpaner and Garavan, 2006; Little & Thulborn, 2005; Shelton & Gabrieli, 2004) Intelligence – (Geake & Hansen, 2005; Jung et al, 2005; Lerch et al, 2006; Schmithorst & Holland, 2006; Shaw et al., 2006) Writing – (Xue, Chen, Jin & Dong, 2006) Reading – Leonard, Eckert, Given, Virginia & Eden, 2006)

73. RESEARCHERS’ VIEW There is not yet any educational use of these observations but they support the idea that individual differences in brain function and structure are related to individual differences in specific cognitive abilities and to intelligence

74. CAN INFORMATION ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL’S BRAIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION BENEFIT HIS OR HER EDUCATION?

75. Main Findings from the neuroimaging studies a.Not all brains work the same way

76. b. Some optimal combination of tissue density and activation in frontal and more posterior brain regions appear to underlie both intelligence and creativity c. In some cases, LESS IS MORE, best characterizes neuroimaging results in terms of efficiency.

77. IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION 1.Neuroscience findings now point to ways of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of individual brains so that education can be more precisely targeted to individual students

78. 2. Patterns in MRI scanning of gray and white matter may predict either the best subjects to focus on or the best educational strategies to help a person learn a specific subject

79. 3. As neuroscience suggests that there may be neural factors that increase the growth of regional gray matter or white matter, drugs can be developed to stimulate them. - would these drugs work best during childhood or perhaps even in the adult brain?

80. Controversial/Ethical Issues – drugs used by regular students to augment attention and concentration

81. 4. Using brain data my result to better educational decisions and fewer harmful mistakes

82. 5. Brain information in general and for specific individuals may improve education from the baseline of current practices

83. 6. Educators must work with brain researchers to design the proper studies to establish how neuroscience information can translate into the classroom.

84. Educators may apply new knowledge about the brain and how it works during the learning and education processes.

85. A challenge that will require a reexamination of old ideas and continuing education about new research techniques so that our

86. deliberations and good intentions are informed by the best science available (Goswani, 2006).

87. Thank you!