Chemicals in the Brain that Impact Learning and Memory feedback
Guided Response: Review two of your classmates' posts and analyze the connections they have made between the findings of their article and the textbook. Do you agree or disagree with their findings and interpretation? Why or why not? Relate the findings to your own experience (either personally or professionally).
by: Linda Webster
For this week's discussion I was assigned to the group whose last name started with T-Z article 5 on Dopamine. I found two articles on how dopamine affects learning and the brain. The first article is "Dopamine and Learning: What the Brain's Reward Center Can Teach Educators" by Martha Burns, Ph. D (2012) and the second article is "What is Dopamine and What is its Function? by Examined Existence (2016).
The article "Dopamine and Learning: What the Brain's Reward Can Teach Educators" by Martha Burns (2012) talks about the chemical in our brain called dopamine. As we learn new things the chemical called dopamine is released in our brain because it helps us to obtain the information of the new material. It is like we are on a new adventure. Reinforcement is actually on of the best ways to increase dopamine levels and assure retention of information (Burns, 2012). As teachers if we make our lessons exciting to learn and addicting then our students will be addicted to learn. It is said that when we are excited the dopamine is like an addiction so we want our students to be addicted to what we are teaching them.
The second article "What is Dopamine and What is its Functions? by Examined Existence (2016) talks about how dopamine is released in our brain and what is its function to our brain. Known to many as the "feel-good" chemical, the catecholamine neurotransmitter dopamine is not as plentiful as it has been conceived to be (Examined Existence, 2016). It is said that about 0.3% of millions of neurons is produced in our brain. Here is four vital body functions that dopamine affects they are: circadian rhythm, memory, motor function, and prolactin secretion. When the brain is presented with an unexpected reward, dopamine increase, promoting the limbic system to take note and remember how to repeat such positive experiences (Examined Existence, 2016).
References:
Burns, M., Ph. D (2012). Dopamine and Learning: What the Brain's Reward Center can teach Educators. Retrieved from https://www.scilearn.com/blog/dopamine-learning-brains-reward-center-teach-educators
Examined Existence. (2016). What is Dopamine and What is its Function? Retrieved from https://examinedexistence.com/what-is-dopamine-and-what-is-its-function/
By: Elsie Goycoolea
This week we have learned that the neurotransmitter dopamine has a role in increasing motivation. Willis and Mitchell (2014) argue that on a perpetuating cycle, people's predictions resulting in pleasure will program them to want to further seek these actions. This would mean that students receiving pleasure from learning would want to keep on learning.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter most well known for its role in emotion regulation, but it is also possible that it has an impact on cognitive processing and motivation equally as important as dopamine. Izqueirdo et al. (2012) measured how a depletion of serotonin would affect how rats would continue their efforts in climbing a ladder to seek food after being food deprived; as well as, how easy it would be to reverse the previous reward seeking training.
The authors suggest that serotonin interacts with dopamine and thus results in a combined learning of reward mechanisms. Izquierdo et al. (2012) state, "it has been shown that 5-HT in frontal cortex can increase attention selection, decrease impulsive responding, and mostly likely interacts with DA mechanisms in support of reward learning". Serotonin may play a role in sustaining attention by helping not to focus on irrelevant sensory inputs.
The ability to find intrinsic motivation had been attributed to dopamine's role in increasing working memory, but it is possible that serotonin can help with inhibition control. Given that the amygdala responds to emotional cues, the presence of serotonin can help students refrain from engaging in impulsive activity (Izquierdo et al., 2012).
In the classroom it is important to understand how serotonin and dopamine may interact with each other. Strategies that promote a positive environment may not only increase dopamine levels and encourage students to learn, but can affect serotonin levels helping students avoid negative learning experiences. Willis and Mitchell (2014) state, "research also indicates that stress changes the regulation of serotonin. This evidence would seem to suggest that decreasing stress and negative emotion in the classroom can be helpful in promoting memory construction". For this reason, focusing on creating a community, encouraging students to perform journaling exercises and bringing in fun and active activities would help establish this positive climate.
References
Izquierdo, A., Carlos, K., Ostrander, S., Rodriguez, D., McCall-Craddolph, A., Yagnik, G., & Zhou, F. (2012). Impaired reward learning and intact motivation after serotonin depletion in rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 233(2), 494-499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2012.05.032
Willis, J., & Mitchell, G. (2014). The neuroscience of learning: Principles and applications for educators. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.