Predominantly beginning from the 1950s, research into brain syncronicity (left and right hemispheric dominance) has contributed its role in changing the perspective of how learn we view the process of cognitive development. Cognitive science, a hybrid of neuroscience, physics, psychology and education has become a dominant paradigm of looking at ways to harness the 3lb. universe: the human brain. Colin Rose (1985), theoretician and practitioner in the field of cybernetic approach towards learning, wrote in Accelerated Learning:
It is only in the last two dozen years ... that the true implication of the left/right split has gradually become apparent, through the work of a number of researchers. The most famous are probably Dr. Roger Sperry and Dr. Robert Ornstein of the California Institute of Technology. Their work has won them a Nobel Price (p. 10).
As in many a Nobel Prize winning research, in this Sperry-Ornstein research was build upon the foundation laid, in fact as early as 450 B.C. in the time of Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Hippocrates proclaimed that the human brain has a mental duality (Herrmann, 1990). Milestones in the brain duality conception, from the time of Hippocrates to management theorist Henry Mintzberg pointed out to the idea of laterality of the brain (see Appendix). Ned Herrmann, who chroniched the research findings above concluded about those who contributed to our understanding of this left-right dominance, particularly highlighting Mintzebrg’s Work:
Most of those men were scientists, doctors, and neuro-psychologists of some note. But it was a medical layman who in 1976 made the most profound impact on my appreciation of the brain and its role in business creativity. Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University, asked the key question: “Why are some people so smart and so dull at the same time?” This immediately brought into practical focus my thoughts about individual variations in brain dominance (pgs. 28-29).
A plethora of research and writings related to the concept of brain-based learning, teaching and training have been documented especially after the Sperry-Ornstein’s seminal work. The idea that the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left become axiomatic in neuroscientific principles of understanding processes dominant and inherent in the respective hemispheres. Michael Hutchison (1991) in Mega Brain: Tools and Techniques for Brain Growth and Mind Expansion wrote about this ‘synchronization’:
The revelation of brain lateralization studies - that the left and right hemispheres of our cortext operates in different modes and different rhythms - led scientists to conclude that humans generally emphasize half their brains at a time, dominance flickering back and forth depending on the task at hand (pg. 5)
And as brain lateralization theories drawn upon education - teaching and learning - , a range of seminal work in this field can be found in those such as Robert Ornstein (1986) Psychology of Consciousness, Peter Kline (1988) The Everyday Genius, Colin Rose (1985) Accelerated Learning, Bobbi dePorter and Mike Hernacki (1992) Quantum Learning, Tony Buzan (1988) Make the Most of Your Mind and an earlier pioneering work of Georgi Lozanov of the Institute of Suggestopedia in Bulgaria.
References
Rose, Colin, 1985). Accelerated Learning. New York: Dell Publishing Co.
Herrmann, Ned. (1988). The Creative Brain. Lake Lura, N.C.: Brain Books.
Hutchinson, Michael. (1991). Mega Brain: Tools and Techniques for Brain Growth and Mind Expansion. New York: Ballantine Books.
Kline, Peter. (1988). The Everyday Genius Arlington, Va.L Great Ocean Publisher.
De Porter, Bobbi and Mike Hernachi. (1992). Quantum Learning: Unleashing the Genius in You. New York: Dell Publishing.
Buzan, Tony. (1988). Make the Most of Your Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Ornstein, Robert. (1972). The Psychology of Consciousness. San Francisco: Freeman.
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Research at American University shows meditating students react better to stress, are less fatigued, have more 'integrated' brains Transcendental Meditation may be an effective non-medicinal tool for students to buffer themselves against the intense stresses of college life, according to a new study to be published in the February 24 issue of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Psychophysiology.
"Effects of Transcendental Meditation practice on brain functioning and stress reactivity in college students" is the first random assignment study of the effects of meditation practice on brain and physiological functioning in college students.
The study was a collaboration between the American University Department of Psychology in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.
The study investigated the effects of 10-weeks of Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice on "Brain Integration Scale" scores (broadband frontal coherence, power ratios, and preparatory brain responses), electrodermal habituation to a stressful stimulus, and sleepiness in 50 students from American University and other Washington, D.C., area universities.
Physiological and psychological variables were measured at pretest; students were then randomly assigned to a TM or control group. Posttest was 10 weeks later—just before final exam week. At posttest, the meditating students had higher Brain Integration Scale scores, less sleepiness, and faster habituation to a loud tone—they were less jumpy and irritable.
"The pressures of college can be overwhelming—44% of college students binge drink, 37% report use of illegal drugs, 19% report clinical depression, and 13% report high levels of anxiety," said Fred Travis, lead author and director of the MUM brain research center.
Travis said the data from the non-meditating control group showed the detrimental effects of college life on the students. "The control group had lower Brain Integration Scale scores, indicating their brain functioning was more fragmented—which can lead to more scattered and disorganized thinking and planning. The controls also showed an increase in sympathetic reactivity and sleepiness, which can correspond to greater anxiety, worry and irritability" he said.
In contrast, Transcendental Meditation practice appeared to buffer the effects of high stress.
"From pretest to posttest, Brain Integration Scale scores increased significantly, indicating greater breadth of planning, thinking, and perception of the environment. The sympathetic reactivity and sleepiness decreased among the TM group, which corresponds to greater emotional balance and wakefulness.
"These statistically significant results among college students suggest that the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique could be of substantial value for anyone facing an intense and challenging learning/working environment." Travis said.
Patricia Spurio, one of the students in the TM control group, was carrying a full credit load, had a part-time internship, and helped organize a large rally on campus. "For me the greatest benefit was being able to have these two 20-minute periods of meditation. I could feel my whole body releasing the stress of the day. When done, I felt rested and ready for more activity. TM helped me get through it all in a more healthy and balanced way."
ABOUT THE STUDY
1. Higher Brain Integration Scale includes three brain measures:
Frontal coherence, a measure of coordinated functioning of executive brain areas;
Higher alpha and lower gamma EEG, a change in processing style from attention to outer boundaries (gamma EEG) to attention to one's inner state of well-being (alpha EEG);
More appropriate cortical preparatory response, a measure of efficiency of applying mental and motor resources to the task.
2. Faster habituation to a loud tone as measured by skin conductance response:
The sympathetic nervous system responds to loud new tones. However, when you hear the noise again, you do not have to respond to it again. The person who is more balanced habituates—stops responding—very quickly. The person who is more anxious and worried will continue to respond to the tone. This is what was seen in the non-meditating students.
3. Less sleepiness:
The posttest was at the end of the semester—one week before Finals Week—the time of greatest pressure and stress for a student. Those students who practiced TM and regularly experienced the state of restful alertness during the practice were more awake. They reported less chance of dozing in eight common situations, on a standardized sleepiness scale.
4. Implications of higher scores on the Brain Integration Scale
Higher scores mean greater frontal coherence, more alpha activity, and better match of brain activation and task demands. Higher scores indicate more optimal brain functioning to support more successful action. High scores on the Brain Integration Scale are correlated with:
higher emotional stability,
higher moral reasoning,
more openness to experience, and
decreased anxiety.
Preliminary research indicates that professional athletes (Norwegian), who won gold in World games and Olympic games, had higher Brain Integration scores. Top-level managers also have higher Brain Integration scores. Thus increasing one's Brain Integration Scale scores can provide a new basis for success, a new foundation to deal with the challenges we face in an ever-accelerating world.
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