Solving problems with insight is a function of the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) within the prefrontal cortex. The ACC also allocates attention resources and modulates motivation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans show increased metabolic activity in this region when subjects think about how to solve a problem. A recent study (Subramaniam, Kounios, Bowden, Parrish, & Jung-Beeman, 2009) showed that even before the subjects realized the answer, the ACC showed increased activation, predicting their subsequent awareness of the insight. Positive emotional states increased greater baseline activity in the ACC and were associated with more successful problem solving. A related study (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003) demonstrated expanded peripheral vision during positive emotional states and more creative problem solving. Negative emotions, on the other hand, narrowed peripheral vision and appeared to similarly limit insight.
Reversing negative attitudes toward math may take months if your students have been repeatedly stressed to the point of feeling helpless and hopeless. If your students are anxious during math class, information entering their brains is less likely to reach the conscious thinking and long-term memory parts of the prefrontal cortex, and learning will not take place. Stress is the primary filter blocker that needs to be overcome. Perception of a real or imagined threat creates stress, as does the frustration of confusion or the boredom of repetition. Stress blocks the fl ow of information through the amygdala in the brain’s limbic system (i.e., the part that controls emotion) to the PFC, and it diverts sensory input into the automatic, reflexive parts of the lower brain. These are the unconscious, more primitive brain networks that prepare the body to react to potential danger, where the only possible responses are fight, flight, or freeze. Under stressful conditions, emotion is dominant over cognition, and the rational-thinking PFC has limited influence on behavior, focus, memory, and problem solving (Kienast et al., 2008). Prior negative experiences also impede the flow (through the amygdala) of stored memories needed to understand new, related information and to use foundational knowledge to solve new problems (LeDoux, 1994).
The implications of stress-related thinking and memory problems are beginning to be understood at the neural level, where emotions enhance or impair cognition and learning (Goleman, 1995). When students are stressed, they can’t use their thinking brains. Therefore, a reduction in math-related stress is key to success.
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