Consultant's corner
By Steve Barden, Head of Consulting, Epic
Are we all Information Junkies?
A recent article in New Scientist highlights
how neuroscience took a step forwards in identifying what whets
our appetite to learn ….
The article claims humans are ‘Inforvores’
– that is we derive pleasure from seeing and understanding
something. Accordingly, I got really excited about this, and my
multiple Googlings, made me ecstatic….
From the work of Irving Biedermann (University
of Southern California) and Edward Vessel (New York University),
who coined the term ‘Infovore’, comes the revelation
that they have identified how our neural pathways through which
we learn about the world tap into the same pleasure networks that
are activated by drugs like heroin. They claim this craving sits
immediately above our base instincts, and that is why we get a kick
out of learning something new.
It all boils down to chemistry. Apparently, the
key is through specific receptors in parts of our brain (the mu-opioid
receptor, if you really want to get excited), which are activated
by natural (and other) endorphins. These receptors occur in the
areas that process sensory information and memories, increasing
in number along the pathway that processes basics like colour through
to conscious recognition.
It is exactly these areas of the brain that are
engaged when we are trying to interpret information it is receiving
– being that words, pictures or sounds. They suggest that
the activity releases the endorphins that create the feeling of
pleasure. What’s more, the greater the memory - triggered
by the most meaningful information - the greater the level of pleasure.
This is what drives us to seek new information.
Now I’m really enjoying this - because
it confirms what we already knew as to what makes a great learning
experience. CONTEXT provides the most significant
memories and is now scientifically proven to teach the parts
other learning cannot reach.
It gets better. Interestingly, they also seem
to have proven that repetition creates a less stimulating response
unless the information was not understood the first time. The ‘aha’
moment or ‘click’ of comprehension is the pinnacle and
it’s all downhill from there on. That is why reading a book
or watching a film may not be so enjoyable the second time around;
also why children, who take longer to ‘click’, enjoy
those bedtime stories being (endlessly) repeated. Equally, children
may enjoy Sesame Street's fast pace because they get a "click
of comprehension" from each brief scene. There was a lot of
good learning design in those muppets!
Of course - if you can just contain your excitement
- we already know that meaningful images and audio are better than
words in conveying information quickly, and the scientist’s
work in this area is working on how the brain associates new images
with old while also responding strongly to new ones. Maybe that
is why so much of today's technology is driven by the human appetite
for pleasure through visual and auditory stimulation – and
why great learning makes much more use of these media.
Therefore, to summarise:
Be happy – learn something today.
Epic Consulting is focused on building the capability of our clients
by providing practical advice on all aspects of learning strategy,
interactive design, blending, implementation and evaluation processes
as well as the wider needs for integration with IT systems and other
business processes. For an initial discussion on how our consulting
service could help your organisation, please contact: consulting@epic.co.uk
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