This paper deals with the effects of general experiences and specific educational practices on the structure and functioning of the central nervous system. The dynamic relationships among various regions of the brain are expressed in the interdependence of such cognitive functions as motor skills, perception, language, and memory and in the integration of information within and among modalities and of receptive and expressive functions. Anatomic and physiological research has demonstrated, moreover, that emotional and attentional processes are inseparable from cognitive ones. What we now know about the brain supports certain educational practices and suggests certain methods for the teacher (e.g., when there is a hemispheric deficit). The brain can change, and the teacher is responsible in part for providing the environment in which these changes can occur.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adey, W.R., Kado, R.T., McIlwain, J.T., Walter, D.O., The role of neuronal elements in regional cerebral impedance changes in alerting, orienting and discriminative responses: The role of neuronal elements in these phenomena. Experimental Neurology, 1966, 15, 490–510.
2.
Adey, W.R., Spontaneous electrical brain rhythms accompanying learned responses. In F.P. Schmitt (Ed.), The Neurosciences: Second Study Program. New York: Rockefeller University Press, 1970.
3.
Adey, W.R., The sensorium and the modulation of cerebral states: Tonic environmental influences on limbic and related systems. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1977, 290, 396–420.
4.
Bruner, J.S., The growth and structure of skill. In K.J. Connolly (Ed.), Mechanisms of Motor Skill in Development. New York: Academic Press, 1970.
5.
Cravioto, J., Nutritional deprivation in psychological development: Studies in man. In Deprivation and Psychological Development, Publication 134, Pan-American Health Organization, 1966.
6.
Cravioto, J., De Licardie, E.R., Environmental and learning deprivation in children with learning disabilities. In W.M. Cruickshank and D.P. Hallahan (eds.), Perceptual and Learning Disorders in Children (Vol. 2, Research and Theory). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
7.
Diamond, J., Cooper, E., Turner, C., Macintyre, L., Trophic regulation of nerve sprouting. Science, 1976, 193, 371–377.
8.
Dru, D., Walker, J.P., Walker, J.B., Self-produced locomotion restores visual capacity after striate lesions. Science, 1975, 187, 265–266.
9.
Gaddes, W.H., Neurological implications for learning. In W.M. Cruickshank, D. Hallahan (eds.), Perceptual and Learning Disorders in Children (Vol. 1). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
10.
Garey, L.J., Pettigrew, J.D., Ultrastructural changes in kitten visual cortex after environmental modification. Brain Research, 1974, 66, 165–172.
11.
Golgi, C., Opera omnia. Milan, Italy: U. Hoepli, 1903.
12.
Greenough, W.T., Enduring brain effects of differential experience and training. In M.R. Rosenzweig, E.L. Bennett, (eds.), Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976.
13.
Hanley, J., Sklar, B., Electroencephalographic correlates of developmental reading dyslexias: Computer analysis of recordings from normal and dyslexic children. In G. Leisman (Ed.), Basic Visual Processes and Learning Disability. Columbus, Ohio: Charles C Thomas, Pubilisher, 1976.
Hebb, D.O.,The Organization of Behavior. New York: John Wiley, & Sons, Inc., 1949.
16.
Hyden, H., Nerve cells and their glia: Relationships and differences. In G.B. Ansell, P.B. Bradley (eds.), Macro-molecules and Behavior. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1973.
17.
Ingvar, D.H., Functional landscapes in the brain in normals and in patients with brain disorders. Current Concepts of Cerebrovascular Disease, 1977, 12, 1–4.
18.
John, E.R., Killam, K.F., Electrophysiological correlates of avoidance conditioning in the cat. Journal of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, 1959, 125, 252.
19.
Konorski, J.,Integrative Activities in the Brain.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967.
20.
Koupernik, C., MacKeith, R., Francis-Williams, J., Neurological correlates of motor and perceptual development. In W.M. Cruickshank, D. Hallahan (eds.), Perceptual and Learning Disabilities in Children: Research and Theory, (Vol. 2). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
21.
Luria, A.R., The functional organization of the brain. Scientific American, 1970, 222, 66–78.
22.
Luria, A.R., The frontallobes and the regulation of behavior. In K.H. Pribram, A.R. Luria (eds.), Psychophysiology of the Frontal LobesNew York: Academic Press1973.(a)
23.
Luria, A.R.,The Working Brain. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1973.(b)
24.
Luria, A.R.,The Neuropsychology of Memory. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1976.
25.
Magoun, H.W., Advances in brain research with implications for learning. In K.H. Pribram (Ed.), The Biology of Learning. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1969.
26.
Monokov, C.V., Die Lokalisation in der grosshim rinde und der Abbau der Funktion durch corrticale Herde. Wiesbaden, Germany: J.G. Bergmann, 1914.
27.
Noback, C.R., Demarest, R.J.,The Human Nervous System. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1975.
28.
Olds, J., Do reward and drive neurons exist? In G. Serban (Ed.), Psychopathology of Human Adaptation. New York: Plenum Press, 1976.
29.
Ornstein, R.E., The Psychology of Consciousness. San Francisco: Freeman, 1972.
30.
Piaget, J.,The Psychology of Intelligence. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1950.
31.
Pribram, K.H., The primate frontal cortex—executive of the brain. In K.H. Pribram, A.R. Luria (Eds.), Psychophysiology of the Frontal Lobes. New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1973.
32.
Raisman, G., Field, P.M., A quantitative investigation of the development of collateral reinnervation after partial deafferentiation of the septal nuclei. Brain Research, 1973, 50, 241–264.
33.
Rose, G., Lynch, G., Cotman, C., Hypertrophy and redistribution of astrocytes in deafferentated dentate gyrus. Brain Research Bulletin, 1976, 1, 87–93.
34.
Rosenzweig, M.R., Bennett, E.L., Enriched environments: Facts, factors, and fantasies. In L. Petrinovich, J.L. McGaugh (eds.), Knowing, Thinking, and Believing. New York: Plenum Press, 1976.
Rutledge, L.T.,Synaptogenesis: Effects of synaptic use. In M.R. Rosenzweig, E.L. Bennett, Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976.
37.
Scheibel, M.E., Scheibel, A.B.,Some thoughts on the ontogeny of memory and learning. In M.R. Rosenzweig, E.L. Bennett, Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976.
38.
Tarnopol, L., Tarnopol, M.,Brain Function and Reading Disabilities.Baltimore: University Park Press, 1977.
39.
Thatcher, R.W., John, E.R.,Functional Neuroscience: Foundations of Cognitive Processes (Vol. 1). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1977.
40.
Tyler, T. (Ed.), Brain and Learning. Stamford, Conn.: Greylock, 1978.
41.
Volkmar, F.R., Greenough, W.T., Rearing complexity affects branching of dendrites in the visual cortex of the rat. Science, 1972, 176, 1445–1447.
42.
Wallon, H., Les origines de charactere chez L'enfant. Paris: Boivin, 1934.
43.
Wilson, M., Wilson, W.A., Jr., Intersensory facilitation of learning sets in normal and brain operated monkeys. Journal of Comparative Physiology and Psychology, 1962, 55, 931–934.
