«“Without emotion, there would be no inquisitiveness, no concentration, no learning and no recall.”». Francisco Mora

Current advances in neuroscience are enabling us to better understand the functioning of the brain – nowadays this vast field of knowledge is impinging on areas as varied as economics, manufacturing and education. Thus we have seen neural architecture, neural marketing, and neuropsychology all becoming more popular in recent years. It is undeniable: neuroscience has become fashionable, so much so that we already talk about neuro-couture, political neuroscience, and neural spirituality.

In view of this trend we can not help but wonder if we will see a dumbing-down of this field of study. José Ramón Alonso, INCYL scientist, points out that “since all human activity is governed by the brain, everything, too, can be related back to neuroscience”.
 
TO LEARN SOMETHING, ENGAGE YOUR EMOTIONS

Scientists and educators are now launching joint research projects that aim to explore the crossover between biology and education. We are therefore witnessing the dawn of a new age: the era of ‘educational neuroscience’. Educational neuroscience uses a multifaceted model of intelligence, wherein emotions, memory and learning are all closely intertwined.

The researcher and neuroscientist Francisco Mora says that emotion plays an essential role in the learning process, as “you can only learn what you love.” “The emotion-cognition pairing,” he adds, “is indissoluble and intrinsic to the anatomical and functional structure of the brain.” It is becoming clearer and clearer that our ability to acquire information is directly proportional to the emotions that it is capable of awakening in us. Therefore, the more frequent this experience is, the deeper the learning will be.

Dr. Melanie Sekeres, researcher at Bauylor University, says that “if we want to memorize something, we have to experience emotions, repeat and share the experience as many times as possible, and do it all in the shortest possible time.” In addition, she adds: “actively reproducing the information and sharing it with someone else generates a rewarding memory”, this pattern is what the brain gives priority to since socialization is a very rewarding activity on an emotional level.

 
C. Fernández
 
FUENTES:
Neuroeducación (Cristina Sáez)
BIOTMR
La Vanguardia
 

Mamen