The Role of Emotion and Reflection in Student Achievement: (The Frontal Lobe/ Amygdala Connection)

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Ever since President George Bush Sr. declared the 1990s The Decade of the Brain I have been intrigued and at the same time bothered by the emotionally impulsive behavior exhibited by young and old alike in this culture. Being a teacher and seeing this emotionally impulsive reactive behavior in children and teen-agers in the late 70s and into the 80s, I was understandably upset since many times these emotional behaviors interrupted the normal teaching and learning process in my classroom. I thought to myself. What is going on here?

But when the number and severity of these impulsive behaviors began to exhibit themselves in classrooms all throughout the United States in the 80s and 90s, I started to look more closely at how these emotionally driven behaviors— inattention, distractibility, and impulsivity in children in schools and in the culture at large were affecting teaching and learning. What had happened to the brains of an alarming number of children that they were no longer able to do what most normal children had been doing for ages past—to reflect, think and control themselves? What I began seeing was alarming and at the same time challenging.

What I saw were many similarities and connections between what I was observing in dysfunctional school behavior labeled as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and LD (Learning Disorders), and the behavior I was also seeing on television and reading about in newspapers and magazines exhibited by teen-agers and adults in everyday social interactions throughout our nation. I began wondering, could there in some way be a connection?

My awareness of these connections had already been growing since in the past 25 years I had also been following brain research and reading about the brain and learning. While reading many articles and books I began picking up bits and pieces of information that seemed to clearly indicate that these emotional behaviors that I was seeing in school were connected to the areas of the emotional limbic system and the reflective, thinking frontal lobe cortex.

In particular I noticed that the areas in the brain especially related to school learning, the frontal and prefrontal cortex, the area that controlled such things as organization, concentration, impulse control, working memory, self-awareness, and problem-solving—all skills vitally necessary for school related learning to take place—seemed to be involved in students with Attention Deficit Behavior, Hyperactivity Disorder, and several other Learning Disorders.

At the same time I was reading in health-related research that such illnesses affecting our young people, such as depression, schizophrenia, autism, and anxiety involved these same emotional areas of the limbic system and the connections to the frontal lobe circuitry. It was at this point that I decided to find out more about the role that emotions play in the behavior of young people, especially in regard to learning.

In the following diagram the parts of the brain deep inside that go by the name limbic system are shown sitting on top of the brain stem. Only the areas considered to be part of the limbic system are included:

THE LIMBIC SYSTEM

Key words concerning dysfunctional emotional behavior would keep popping up in my investigations—chemicals in the brain (dopamine and serotonin), areas of the brain ( frontal lobe, pre-frontal cortex, and limbic system), and structures in the brain (amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, striatum, basal ganglia, cingulate gyrus, and nucleus accumbens), that were involved when emotional dysfunctional behavior was involved. Could all these different kinds of dysfunctional emotional behaviors only be the symptoms and instead in some way the causes were really related to chemical imbalances or structural abnormalities in the brain? Could the emotional part of the brain be triggering these behaviors? Is this what’s preventing many young people from using other parts of their brain to control emotionally impulsive behavior so that they can effectively learn in school situations?

The following diagram shows the parts of the brain that are known as the striatum. The striatum also goes by the name basal ganglia and includes the Putamen, Globus Pallidus, and Caudate Nucleus. The Thalamus, the sensory relay system of the brain, is included to show how closely connected the thalamus of the limbic system is to the striatum.

These are the regions that influence motion, impulse inhibition, and other self-regulatory executive functions governing behavior such as planning, abstract reasoning, problem-solving, attention, concentration, and controlling short term behavior to achieve long term goals.

After several years of study and investigation I believe that I have identified a key to understanding the problem of emotional dysfunctional symptomatic behavior and its relationship to school achievement. The problem lies in the relationship of emotion and reflection as it is expressed in the circuitries, chemicals, and structures of the brain, primarily in the areas of our limbic system and its connections to the frontal-prefrontal circuitry of our brain. We are genetically endowed with certain unconscious brain functions that help us to survive, but also with other conscious brain functions that help us to think and feel as well. This ebb and flow of emotion and reflection marks our existence and drives our behavior. The brain drives our behavior through complex inter-connected circuitries of brain cells and their electrical/chemical communication to one another. Another way of looking at these two systems is to see them as Two Poles of School Experience—one driving emotion and one driving reflection and emotional control both constantly in flux with one another. These are the keys to understanding learning and behavior, not only in the classroom, but outside as well.

When I realized that these two poles of emotion and reflection were driving all our behavior I decided to learn as much as I could about how they worked. First, and most importantly, I learned that at the most basic level there are two circuitries that motivate, execute, and control all our behavior. These behavior circuitries (and probably several sub-circuitries) are involved in ALL our experiences that control and motivate behavior. Simply put, one circuitry creates and motivates impulsive, reactive emotional behavior. The other circuitry creates reflective, thoughtful, rational behavior.

Now at first this information might seem very simple or to some people even self-evident. But the power and complexity of these two systems to unconsciously as well as consciously control all our behavior cannot be underestimated. These two systems in and of themselves control almost ALL the behavior that takes place on this planet. Our understanding of how these two systems are programmed to work separately and in opposition to one another is crucial for our understanding of their role in what goes wrong with the brain in times of emotional behavioral dysfunction and the disruption of rational, reflective, experience so much needed to be a successful school achiever in school and in other settings of life.

Like many other systems of the brain, these two circuits are separate parallel systems operating independently of one another, but at certain times they interact. It is when they are interacting that the trouble begins.

When these two systems are operating in parallel with one another a homeostatic balance occurs, each system is allowed to carry out its genetic pre-programmed functions without a problem. But, in certain situations (such as danger or a highly emotionally engaging experience) one learning system is programmed to function first (the emotional one) and in order to do so, it must shut down the other learning system (the rational reflective one) in the process. This unconscious battle of opposing forces in the brain is the reason why reflec—tive, rational, thoughtful behavior is not allowed to occur in some brains and school learning and achievement is affected.

Students and adults can protect themselves from these disastrous results by consciously and unconsciously practicing the functions of stopping feelings with their thoughts, thinking about future goals, holding information in their minds and thinking about it, learning how to wait, and reviewing in their minds what their yesterday’s experience was like. These are just a few of the kinds of activities that people can do to strengthen their rational, reflective learning system to allow it to work properly.

I call these two systems simply LEARNING CIRCUITRY # 1 and LEARNING CIRCUITRY #2. LEARNING CIRCUITRY # 1 is the impulsive, sensory and emotionally reactive, fight, flee, or freeze system driven by the emotional trigger, the amygdala in the limbic system. LEARNING CIRCUITRY #2 is the reflective, rational, thoughtful, semantic system driven by the frontal lobe circuitry and its language connections in the temporal lobe and to the hippocampus memory connections in the limbic system.

When each works to help us survive and control our personal learning behavior, there is balance and homoeostasis is preserved. When they are out of balance, and the limbic system completely shuts down the frontal lobe system, preventing rational learning behavior from occurring, out of control behavior results.

Knowing as much as we possibly can about how these two systems are programmed to work, how their interaction occurs when emotions run wild, and how we can use both these systems to improve learning and instruction is crucial to our understanding of classroom instruction and its relationship to higher school achievement.

Why are we seeing more out of control emotionally driven behavior on the part of students? I believe the reason is that the Frontal Lobe Circuitry has and is being hi-jacked from completing its normal growth and development by the social and cultural experiences presently shaping the brain in this 21st Century electronic environment. As such, many young brains are not getting the developmental experience necessary to grow strong circuitry of the Frontal Lobe System in order to control aggressive, impulsive, out of control behavior of the limbic structures of the brain that interferes with behavior and school achievement. Thus, young people become easy victims, clearly at the mercy of their emotional learning system and the reactive triggers of their sensory environment.

Other reasons for seeing more out of control emotionally driven behavior in the culture and in schools has been attributed to 1) genetic factors (ADD/ADHD behavior, alcoholism, and various forms of addiction have been shown to have a strong genetic link), 2) the increase of stressful events in all of our lives and the speeded up information flow and pace of life have all contributed to people losing it, and developing the array of stress-related disorders we see in the culture today, including lower school achievement, and, 3) the emotionally engaging electronic media (TV, movies, computers, inter-active video games, sporting events, celebrity behavior, cell phones, chat rooms, and the kinds of electronic experiences found on the internet).

How has this happened? I believe that as a nation we are ignorant about how the young brain develops, how powerful experience is in shaping and wiring the brain for learning, (especially the shaping and developing the circuitry of the frontal and prefrontal lobes), and how much the two poles of emotion and reflection drive our behavior in and out of school. That ignorance has put blinders on us that prevent us from clearly seeing the dangers we unknowingly surround our young people with at critical developmental stages of their brain growth, and undermined the importance of protecting and developing the frontal-prefrontal lobe cortex executive functions of the brain involved in learning.

I also contend that the brains and therefore the behavior, especially the dysfunctional behavior, of young people, especially those with ADD/ADHD, provide us with insights into what areas of the brain and which functions of the brain need to be emphasized in early and later school learning and instruction for higher school achievement.

And finally, I believe that there is ample research evidence to suggest that what I have stated about the importance of the two learning systems of emotion and reflection in learning is quite plausible and that dysfunctional behaviors seen in schools affecting learning are largely aided by the lack of development of the frontal and pre-frontal areas of the cortex and the unchecked emotionalism of the limbic system.

In this book we will take a look at each of these brain circuitries and how they work and what happens when emotions run wild. An understanding of the theory will help us later to understand the reasoning involved for using the various applications based on the theory that I suggest later in the book for increasing school learning skills and school achievement.

By examining the dysfunctional behaviors in school settings of ADD/ADHD disorders and looking at their relationship to the two poles of emotion and reflection in the brain, I will establish the connection between the lack of functional development of the frontal-prefrontal lobe cortex in ADD/ADHD and school achievement. And finally, I will suggest instructional pre-requisites necessary in setting up a classroom for higher school achievement, and propose several instructional strategies that are key to improving school skills and therefore school achievement.

My organizational style is to work from the general to the specific. I will first lay out my theoretical concepts and arguments and then give a few specific examples that support my theory. I then repeat these arguments and major concepts in slightly different ways throughout the book by giving more and more specific examples and details in the process to support my theory. I do this in an effort to help you understand and learn about these important issues concerning what I consider to be the causes of these dysfunctional symptomatic behaviors we see in our classrooms, their relationship to the frontal-prefrontal cortex, and the relationship of the frontal-prefrontal executive functions to school achievement.

Once the groundwork has been laid for establishing the theoretical basis for this relationship between the limbic system and the frontal-pre-frontal lobe circuitry as the cause of most of the dysfunctional behavior that we see in schools affecting school achievement, I will move to explaining how certain strategies can be applied to use this theory in the classroom to improve student attention, engage students in their learning, and help them to store and remember important school related information thereby improving their school achievement. But I want to emphasize that NO improvement of learning achievement in the schools can be expected to last if the people implementing the improvements (most notably teachers) fail to understand the theoretical basis for why the improvements work in the first place.

The plan of this book is to first explain the Two Learning Systems—Learning System #1, the emotionally driven, impulsively reactive, system and Learning System # 2, the rational, reflective, declarative system, and give some description and examples of how these two systems are programmed to work.

Next, I will explain the Out of Balance relationship that takes place between these two systems when they begin to work in competition with one another where emotions running wild lead to the different kinds of dysfunctional behavior we see in this culture and in schools when the emotional system hi-jacks the reflective system and the two systems work in opposition to one another.

Next, I will explain what has to happen for a healthy, strongly wired frontal lobe brain circuitry to develop, one that will provide a person with the best chance of preventing the emotional, impulsive brain circuitry from taking over.

In the next segment of the book I will explain what it looks like when dysfunctional behavior occurs in the classroom setting and the relationship of dysfunctional behavior of the student in developing school skills necessary for school achievement.

And finally, in the last half of the book I will suggest instructional pre-requisites for setting up a classroom for developing student skills for school success— safety, quality work, Brain Compatible Learning Principles and Brain Compatible Teaching Axioms. In addition, I will explain how important it is for instruction for teachers to understand how the brain works for learning. Finally, I will share specific examples and practical applications of instructional strategies to use in the classroom to improve instruction and achievement by using these two theoretical poles in cooperation with one another.

CHAPTER ONE

THE TWO LEARNING SYSTEMS

"Our civilization is still in a middle stage,

scarcely beast, in that it is no longer guided

by instinct, scarcely human in that it is not

yet wholly guided by reason."

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie, 1900

For many years now I have been working on a new model for teaching and learning. Throughout my forty years of working with young people of all ages from elementary age to college age I have dedicated myself to finding ways to help students learn more easily. In my investigations to solve the kinds of learning problems students presented me with in the classroom, it gradually became very clear to me that there were really two systems directly involved in learning—the one system of emotions and the other system of thoughts.

The first problem for me in explaining this theory was that most people, especially teachers, have been trained to think of learning as only one of these systems—the conscious cognitive thinking system guided by reflective, rational thought. What I had discovered in my research and in my teaching and interacting with students was that the other system—the unconscious, emotionally guided, feeling driven, active-reactive system—was really guiding and many times actually interfering with what we in education call conscious learning.

Even though I intuitively knew that this unconscious emotional system was driving most of the learning going on in my classroom, at the time there was little evidence to prove it, nor was there any reason to be looking for it. None of my preparation for going into the classroom in undergraduate school or graduate school ever mentioned this second system of learning through feeling. I, like many other teachers, had to discover it for myself, the hard way.

For most of us training to be teachers, teaching was presented as learning the content of a subject matter area and then mastering various organizational plans for presenting lessons using mostly didactic approaches for teaching the content. Even if you were training to be an elementary teacher where your focus was more on the learner and the learners’ needs, the prevailing philosophy then and even today in American education ls still based on the stimulus-response paradigm of motivate, teach, test and