If you're a chapter 5 expert, please post your summary of the chapter as a comment to this post. Everyone is encouraged to read each summary and chime in with questions and/or ideas.
Ch 5 discusses the relationship between learning and emotions/feelings.
Brains talk to the rest of our body through
1. cellular wires that carry signals. The brain senses what is happening in and around body, then sends instructions to the body on what to do.
2. chemicals are dumped in to the bloodstream. These are messengers about what the brain is experienceing, and body parts also produce chemicals to send messages to the brain. This method is slower than the wire signals. These chemicals send information on EMOTIONS to the brain.
FEELINGS occur when we become aware of our emotions.
For example, "fight or flight" eventually leads to feeling fear, but not usually until the immediate danger has passed. Or, a low sugar level sends a message to brain that we are feeling hunger. This feeling makes us want to eat.
CONNECTION BETWEEN BODY, FEELINGS, AND THINKING
"My gut tells me" or "Something bothers me about this"
Reason can not occur without emotion.
In doing a math problems, how do you KNOW an answer is right? We may check and recheck our answer, but we don't move on until we FEEL that we are correct. We feel confidence if it is something we can do (or we feel anxiety at the slightest mention of math), if our answer is challenged, we feel uncertainty (a form of fear), then we feel motivated to prove our answer.
The AMYGDALA is set up to influence memory, ideas, plans, and judgment.
Some emotions overpower cognition. Or, our emotions influence our thinking more than our thinking influences our emotions.
Feelings can interfere with rationality. Even if we are progessively learning, an emotion can easily interfere with the process. Some feelings are more compelling than others.
For example, we may have trouble paying attention if our amygdala is sending danger signals or pleasure signals (i.e., we might get chewed out if called on and answer incorrectly OR we see an attractive member of the opposite sex.) These sensory signals compete physically, and the strongest ones win.
Feelings can be especially distracting when we CARE about the answer to a problem. For example, scientists constantly battle with the "hope" they are right vs. applying reason to what they are seeing.
We can discipline our brains if we FEEL that discipline is what we want the most. We must encourage our learners to WANT to use their reason.
MEMORY
How long does learning last?
If we don't use or repeat things, our memory grows dim.
SHORT TERM MEMORY is our "working memory" It is more about forgetting than remembering. It enables us to complete everyday tasks, then empties to make room for more information like where you parked your car at Target.
LONG TERM MEMORY is not just extended short term memory, it is an INFORMATION SOURCE.
EXPLICIT - stuff we are conscious of knowing. SEMANTIC memories are facts, labels, names (multiple choice exam stuff.) EPISODIC memories are stories. They are memories we "reweave and recreate."
IMPLICIT - stuff we don't realize we know. These memories influence how we feel, respond, and can do (walking and breathing.) This means that people know more than they can express.
MEMORIES "live" in multiple places in the brain.
HIPPOCAMPUS - remembers location and makes connections between feelings and formation of explicit memories.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an example of how intense feelings can dammage the memory, causing you to "block out" those memories.
• Emotions and feelings are not the same. When we become aware of our emotions we call them feelings. Emotions in the brain produce feelings in the body. • Our emotional centers trigger our hypothalamus. • The hypothalamus is responsible for the release of chemical signals from the brain into the bloodstream, i.e. it sends messages about the emotional state of our brain out into the body. • It is suggested that the amygdala is set up to influence memory, ideas, plans, and judgment. • More connections run from the amygdala to the cortex than those that run the other way. This means our emotions influence our thinking more than our thinking influences our emotions. • All structures known to influence emotion and feelings are connected with each other and with the entire neocortex. • Different sensory signals (logic and pleasure) physically compete for attention in the brain, the strongest winning out. If reason is to win it must produce stronger feelings than the competition. • It is not a sign of weak character when our reason is distorted by our feelings; it is simply nature at work.
Memory
• Short term memory/working memory-using memory to accomplish a task rather than as an information source. o We need to empty short term memory in order to put something else there. • Long term memory is a mix of feeling and fact which allows us to recall or reassemble information that comes from a lifetime of learning. o Explicit memory-memories we are conscious of. What we as teachers want to see when we are trying to help people learn o There are two types of explicit memory, episodic and semantic. Episodic- stories or events, episodes in our life. Semantic- facts, labels, and names. Ex: birthdays, addresses. o Implicit memory-things we do unconsciously, like walking. Implicit memories influence how we feel, how we respond, and what we can do. o Behaviors, beliefs, and feelings can all be stored in implicit memory. As teachers we must watch for these, as well as for what students remember explicitly.
It is suggested that there is a connection between feelings and formation of explicit memories. Teachers need to consider how such feelings could influence learning. Feelings always affect reasoning and memory. Feelings can help us remember and make us forget. Much depends on the feelings of our learners.
Sensory input finds its way to the hippocampus in the form of images, patterns, faces, sounds, and location. This info is assembled in to a "big picture" of the event. It becomes a memory when all parts of the event are associated with each other. This memory is stored in the cortex.
The curved tail of the hippocampus, called the fornix, ends up in the basal structures which are buried in the frontal cortex. The fornix also sends signals to the pleasure centers such as the septum and the nucleus accumbens.
I can't help but wonder what specific groups might think about this chapter. . . I'm thinking of proponents of stoicism, yoga and others who deal with pain and/or emotion. Perhaps they could even expand on it in a new direction.
I think feelings are the cognitive awareness of the brain's chemical emotions. We can 'feel' them or deny them. Frankly, I think our ability to feel our emotions honestly is what makes us human - otherwise we are just reacting to the impulses.
6 comments:
Ch 5 discusses the relationship between learning and emotions/feelings.
Brains talk to the rest of our body through
1. cellular wires that carry signals. The brain senses what is happening in and around body, then sends instructions to the body on what to do.
2. chemicals are dumped in to the bloodstream. These are messengers about what the brain is experienceing, and body parts also produce chemicals to send messages to the brain. This method is slower than the wire signals. These chemicals send information on EMOTIONS to the brain.
FEELINGS occur when we become aware of our emotions.
For example, "fight or flight" eventually leads to feeling fear, but not usually until the immediate danger has passed. Or, a low sugar level sends a message to brain that we are feeling hunger. This feeling makes us want to eat.
CONNECTION BETWEEN BODY, FEELINGS, AND THINKING
"My gut tells me" or "Something bothers me about this"
Reason can not occur without emotion.
In doing a math problems, how do you KNOW an answer is right? We may check and recheck our answer, but we don't move on until we FEEL that we are correct. We feel confidence if it is something we can do (or we feel anxiety at the slightest mention of math), if our answer is challenged, we feel uncertainty (a form of fear), then we feel motivated to prove our answer.
The AMYGDALA is set up to influence memory, ideas, plans, and judgment.
Some emotions overpower cognition. Or, our emotions influence our thinking more than our thinking influences our emotions.
Feelings can interfere with rationality. Even if we are progessively learning, an emotion can easily interfere with the process. Some feelings are more compelling than others.
For example, we may have trouble paying attention if our amygdala is sending danger signals or pleasure signals (i.e., we might get chewed out if called on and answer incorrectly OR we see an attractive member of the opposite sex.) These sensory signals compete physically, and the strongest ones win.
Feelings can be especially distracting when we CARE about the answer to a problem. For example, scientists constantly battle with the "hope" they are right vs. applying reason to what they are seeing.
We can discipline our brains if we FEEL that discipline is what we want the most. We must encourage our learners to WANT to use their reason.
MEMORY
How long does learning last?
If we don't use or repeat things, our memory grows dim.
SHORT TERM MEMORY is our "working memory" It is more about forgetting than remembering. It enables us to complete everyday tasks, then empties to make room for more information like where you parked your car at Target.
LONG TERM MEMORY is not just extended short term memory, it is an INFORMATION SOURCE.
EXPLICIT - stuff we are conscious of knowing. SEMANTIC memories are facts, labels, names (multiple choice exam stuff.) EPISODIC memories are stories. They are memories we "reweave and recreate."
IMPLICIT - stuff we don't realize we know. These memories influence how we feel, respond, and can do (walking and breathing.)
This means that people know more than they can express.
MEMORIES "live" in multiple places in the brain.
HIPPOCAMPUS - remembers location and makes connections between feelings and formation of explicit memories.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an example of how intense feelings can dammage the memory, causing you to "block out" those memories.
Important points here Christy. Question: how does the hippocampus "know" which feelings experiences are important to connect?
EDUU 606
Zull Chapter 5
Feelings
• Emotions and feelings are not the same. When we become aware of our emotions we call them feelings. Emotions in the brain produce feelings in the body.
• Our emotional centers trigger our hypothalamus.
• The hypothalamus is responsible for the release of chemical signals from the brain into the bloodstream, i.e. it sends messages about the emotional state of our brain out into the body.
• It is suggested that the amygdala is set up to influence memory, ideas, plans, and judgment.
• More connections run from the amygdala to the cortex than those that run the other way. This means our emotions influence our thinking more than our thinking influences our emotions.
• All structures known to influence emotion and feelings are connected with each other and with the entire neocortex.
• Different sensory signals (logic and pleasure) physically compete for attention in the brain, the strongest winning out. If reason is to win it must produce stronger feelings than the competition.
• It is not a sign of weak character when our reason is distorted by our feelings; it is simply nature at work.
Memory
• Short term memory/working memory-using memory to accomplish a task rather than as an information source.
o We need to empty short term memory in order to put something else there.
• Long term memory is a mix of feeling and fact which allows us to recall or reassemble information that comes from a lifetime of learning.
o Explicit memory-memories we are conscious of. What we as teachers want to see when we are trying to help people learn
o There are two types of explicit memory, episodic and semantic.
Episodic- stories or events, episodes in our life.
Semantic- facts, labels, and names. Ex: birthdays, addresses.
o Implicit memory-things we do unconsciously, like walking. Implicit memories influence how we feel, how we respond, and what we can do.
o Behaviors, beliefs, and feelings can all be stored in implicit memory. As teachers we must watch for these, as well as for what students remember explicitly.
It is suggested that there is a connection between feelings and formation of explicit memories. Teachers need to consider how such feelings could influence learning. Feelings always affect reasoning and memory. Feelings can help us remember and make us forget.
Much depends on the feelings of our learners.
Sensory input finds its way to the hippocampus in the form of images, patterns, faces, sounds, and location. This info is assembled in to a "big picture" of the event. It becomes a memory when all parts of the event are associated with each other. This memory is stored in the cortex.
The curved tail of the hippocampus, called the fornix, ends up in the basal structures which are buried in the frontal cortex. The fornix also sends signals to the pleasure centers such as the septum and the nucleus accumbens.
I can't help but wonder what specific groups might think about this chapter. . . I'm thinking of proponents of stoicism, yoga and others who deal with pain and/or emotion. Perhaps they could even expand on it in a new direction.
I think feelings are the cognitive awareness of the brain's chemical emotions. We can 'feel' them or deny them. Frankly, I think our ability to feel our emotions honestly is what makes us human - otherwise we are just reacting to the impulses.
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